For a house to home construction project, you’ll want to have a checklist in place. As you cross your t’s and dot your i’s, you’ll feel good about the development of your dream home. Even if you’re years away from constructing a home, starting your checklist now will prepare you for the future.
Research Different Loans You Can Get for Your New Home
If you’re building your home from the foundation up, you’ll need to figure out a way to finance your new home during house to home construction. Not only do you need to finance building the home, but you also need to think about how you’ll afford the land itself. Unless you’re being gifted land from a relative or friend, you’ll probably have to purchase the loan yourself. Since land comes at a hefty cost, you probably won’t be able to buy land outright with cash. Instead, you should look into options like land loans to make affording the land where your house will be built more affordable and attainable.
For many first-time home buyers and even seasoned home buyers, purchasing land and financing can be confusing. As totalmortgage.com explains, “If you want to buy land with an existing house, you may need a mortgage. However, if you plan to purchase land and then build a home, you might need a land loan. A land loan is used to purchase a plot of land which is then typically used to build a home or business.” Land loans aren’t quite as straightforward as your average traditional mortgage since land lacks a home that can take the place of a collateral asset to qualify for the loan. There are also multiple kinds of land loans that you might consider. For every land loan you review, you’ll find unique qualification requirements and hoops through which you’ll have to jump as a hopeful future landowner.
What’s more, some people mix up the concepts of land loans and construction loans while undergoing house to home construction. Since construction loans and land loans can seem like the same thing at first glance, it takes a trained eye to spot the difference between these two financing options. For those who have grand plans of constructing a house as soon as possible, construction loans could be a better choice since they cover quicker builds. For those who want to take their time and construct a house over a year or more time, you may want to think about a land loan as your preferred option. Consulting with a financial adviser and mortgage specialist might be your best bet for determining which type of loan will truly suit your needs in the most effective way possible.
Rent a Dumpster for Any Construction You Plan to Have
No matter what your construction needs may be during your house to home construction, you’ll have to have somewhere to put all of the waste and garbage that will accumulate during a construction project. Even for basic items like coffee cups and everyday trash like tissues from the construction crew, you’ll want to look into dumpster rentals. If you’ve never rented a dumpster before, you might not have any clue as to what you need to do to rent the dumpster for your construction project. Thankfully, there are some professionals out there who let us know what we should do if we want to rent a dumpster.
Before you do anything else, you’ll need to select the appropriate sized dumpster for your needs. As dumpsters.com shares, “Selecting the right container size is one of the most important steps in the dumpster rental process. You don’t want to overload your bin and have items hanging over the sides, but you also don’t want to overspend on a dumpster that’s too large.” The article continues to share that “The most common roll-off dumpster sizes across the country are 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40-yard bins. However, sizes will vary by market, so check what’s available in your area.”
If you’re renting a dumpster from a company, you can ask them to make recommendations based on what you plan to throw away. You may also want to consider choosing recycling bins to be more friendly to the environment. No matter how you intend to dispose of your materials in the construction project, you should also look into local laws about throwing away certain kinds of waste such as hazardous materials. If your local municipality requires that you recycle certain items, your construction project could end up costing you more than you anticipated if you start racking up fines for inappropriately disposing of waste in the event of the house to home construction.
Discuss if You Need to Remove Any Trees With an Expert
If you’re trying to remove trees that get in the way of your dream construction project, you should not attempt to remove the trees yourself. As someone inexperienced or unqualified to remove trees, you could seriously injure yourself or even get killed by attempting to take down a tree. Trees are large, unpredictable items that may fall and damage people, property, and the environment if they aren’t properly removed. Before you take a stab at removing a tree yourself, call up your local tree services to remove the trees. For all you know, you may not even have to remove the trees if there’s a way to complete your construction project without taking them down.
If the main reason why you’re considering doing tree removal yourself instead of enlisting the experts is money, you may be surprised to know that tree removal might not be as expensive as you anticipate it to be. As thisoldhouse.com explains, “Tree removal typically costs between $341 and $1,523 for a roughly 50-foot tree.* The average cost to cut down a tree is $657. However, your total tree removal price depends on several factors including the tree’s size. Big trees generally cost more to remove than small ones.”
For some homeowners who are looking to cut corners, it may be possible to come across tree removal services that charge less than the going rate that other tree removal professionals charge during house to home construction. As you probably know, cheap doesn’t always mean better. Sometimes, paying less now means paying more later to fix a poor job done by someone who was charging what they were worth in terms of experience and ability.
Decide if You Need French Drains
For some homes, installing french drains is an aesthetic choice. For others, it’s a necessary part of ensuring that moisture and water drain effectively from your home and related structures. If you have water in an area like your crawl space, it’s probably time to call a French drain company. There are plenty of other reasons why a French drain might be the most appropriate choice for your home’s drainage system. These range from living on a steep slope to sinking into your yard from all the water that has accumulated.
According to totalhomeperformance.com, “If you’re tired of waiting for your lawn to dry out to enjoy your yard or shoveling your driveway back into place after every rainstorm, you probably want to look into a French drain. Not only will you be better able to enjoy your property, but think of the frustration you’ll be able to avoid in the future! A shallow French drain will intercept the water and direct it around and away from the problem area. If your retaining wall is on a hillside or slope, you’ll want to install a French drain behind the first course of the wall to keep water from building up at the bottom or running toward your house.”
Of course, there are other reasons why it might be best to install a French drain. Ultimately, your team of construction contractors will know best as you undergo house to home construction. If you have any doubts about their expertise, you can get a second opinion and see if it’s possible to install other types of drains that may handle your load of water and moisture better.
Know the Contact Information for a Plumber
Before you end up with a plumbing emergency, you should have the contact information for a local emergency plumber saved. Even if your home isn’t fully built yet, there’s a lot that can go wrong in house to home construction if you consider how the pipes might burst or run into another issue. Without an emergency plumber in your phone or address book, you could scramble and panic as the plumbing issue balloons into something that’s not possible for you to address. With an emergency plumber on call, you’ll be able to handle these types of concerns quickly and efficiently. This will keep these problems from becoming much more serious. Since water damage can be hard to manage, you should prioritize finding a plumber who can help you with all of your plumbing needs on an urgent and non-urgent basis sooner rather than later.
Determine if Your Home Requires Septic Work
Depending on the age of your home at the time of scheduling a house to home construction, you may be due for septic pumping or other septic system maintenance. Septic system maintenance is an important part of keeping your home’s septic system running smoothly. It also protects your household against diseases and problems that occur when a septic system isn’t functioning the way that it should. For some guidance on septic system maintenance, epa.gov shares “The average household septic system should be inspected at least every three years by a septic service professional. Household septic tanks are typically pumped every three to five years. Alternative systems with electrical float switches, pumps, or mechanical components should be inspected more often, generally once a year. A service contract is important since alternative systems have mechanized parts.”
Assess if Your Home Requires Drain Repairs
Depending on when the last time your home’s drains were inspected and maintained, you might have to factor a clogged drain repair by professionals into your house to home construction. While drain repairs might seem like a small thing, they can prevent bigger issues down the line if you catch drainage issues early. Since drains are the outlet for wastewater and more, you won’t want to delay if you notice that your drains seem like they aren’t functioning at an optimal level. Even if your drains aren’t fully clogged, partially clogged drains can do damage if they’re left untreated and unaddressed.
Hire Flooring Professionals
One of the fun parts of a house to home construction project is choosing interior design elements such as the floors. While you can do some research on your own to decide which types of floors and materials would be best for your goals, aesthetic preferences, and budgets, there’s nothing like bringing in the home flooring experts to help you decide what types of floors are ideal for all of your home improvement goals. Some types of flooring such as concrete floors may present certain risks if you plan on performing certain types of activities on your floors such as lifting heavy weights. Other types of flooring like hardwood floors could be pricey and difficult to maintain. Consulting with home flooring experts will help you decide on flooring.
Purchase Oil to Heat Your Home
Heating your home is essential. This is why you need to buy home heating oil. Without home heating oil, your family will experience cold spells in the winter and your pipes may freeze.
Schedule for Propane to Be Delivered Regularly
To prevent running out of propane, schedule regular deliveries. You can do this by calling residential propane delivery services. They’ll be happy to set you up with a schedule so you can set it and forget it.
While it can be overwhelming to go over this whole checklist of items to complete on your house to home construction, you don’t have to do it alone. Build a team of professionals who can guide you along the way and lower the pressure. As you build your home, remember to take moments to feel grateful for what you’re accomplishing and ask for help if you need it.
