How I Built My Custom Home: A Step-by-Step Journey

In my personal experience

Building your new home is exciting, especially when you understand how the process works. It has always been my dream to have a custom home made just for me. I never truly thought that dream would become a reality, but when my dad offered to help my newlywed husband and me achieve our perfect forever home, we jumped right in.

Game Plan

What is every girl’s dream? If you take a look at Pinterest, you can get a pretty good idea and categorize it. For me, my dream is creativity, and building this house has absolutely gotten those creative juices flowing.

My father works for a lumber sales company and is a huge part of why we are able to do this. He showed me a list of blueprints, and of course, I chose the largest one. A 3,600 sq. ft. home with first-floor living (for when we get older), a second story with three bedrooms for the kids (we only have one tween right now, but she needs her own space!), and a large basement to be finished later.

These were just the basic requirements. As someone who dreams big with a nonexistent savings account to back it up, I found myself wondering how much I could get for a kidney… you only need one to live, right?

While the blueprint had plenty of space, the interior layout wasn’t quite right. Why so many walls? I used so much red marker on those plans that I wasn’t sure anyone could even see my vision. Being the creative visionary that I am, my favorite tool ended up being The Sims to help show what was inside my head.

Although I didn’t want to jump too far ahead, I created wish lists on all major sites for appliances and everything else our home would need. A budget was created, and thankfully, the loan was approved at a higher amount than we expected to need. While wedding preparations were in full swing, we also began shopping for the perfect place to call home.

Finding Our View

My wonderful husband, Josh, knows that I can get a little excited when it comes to change or big purchases and finding the perfect spot to spend the rest of our lives was no exception.

We met with a Realtor, who was a family friend, and toured several smaller lots in great locations, but none of them felt like the one. I was looking for perfection. After all, this is where I’ll open my eyes every morning and close them every night who could blame me?

Then Josh’s dad received a tip about a property that wasn’t on the market yet. With a bit of luck (and some cash), it could be ours.

The property was tucked away behind trees, backing up to protected woods, and located in our favorite neighborhood less than ten minutes from Josh’s work. Ten acres. It almost felt too good to be true… and in some ways, it was.

The land came with a few challenges: a gas pipeline ran through it, the road hadn’t been built yet, and to make matters worse, the survey and subdivision weren’t completed (which we didn’t know at the time). After signing the papers, we found ourselves waiting on permits on top of permits. As patient as I try to be, this part was frustrating, to say the least.

Before a builder can put a shovel in the ground, the local government must approve the design and issue permits for zoning, grading, septic systems, home construction, electrical work, and plumbing. Only after all permits are approved can physical construction begin.

Prepare the Construction Site

Just over a year after purchasing the property, we were finally approved for construction—hooray! Plenty of time to make all the little design changes I wanted.

So naturally, the next step was to call the contractor and get started… right? Not exactly.

In an attempt to save money, we hired a family member to handle the excavation. After all, how hard could it be to dig a hole? He works in construction and offered to do the work at a reduced cost.

Typically, site preparation and foundation work are completed by the same crew, especially on wooded lots. Using heavy equipment like backhoes and bulldozers, the crew clears rocks, debris, and trees to prepare the site.

What no one really tells you is how perfectly timing needs to align in construction. Workers need to be available, equipment must be on site, and the weather needs to cooperate preferably with no rain for several days. Unfortunately, none of those things lined up for months.

Because our property sits on a gas pipeline, the trees were already cleared perfect for a road. But the area kept flooding, and without a road, equipment couldn’t access the site. Another delay.

When excavation finally began, a natural spring was discovered, forcing us to move the house location and clear more trees. Yet another delay.

Although his family did an incredible job starting the road and excavation, other obligations slowed progress. We were already thousands of dollars over budget and still not finished, so we made the difficult decision to have our contractor step in and complete the work.

After all the setbacks (some I won’t even mention here), we are now two years into this journey and I’m happy to say our property finally has a large, ready-to-go hole for basement walls. We’ve spent more than expected and have officially started using our construction loan instead of draining our savings.

Progress at last.

Follow along as I share the next phase of our home-building journey.

• Finding Our View & Prepare Construction Site
• Foundation Delivery & Basement Concrete Pour
• Complete Rough Framing
• Rough Plumbing, Electrical and HVAC
• Installing Insulation, Drywall, and Our Fire Sprinkler System
• Interior Fixtures & Start Exterior Finishes
• Finish Interior Trim; Install Exterior Walkways and Driveway
• Install Hard Surface Flooring and Countertops; Complete Exterior Grading
• Finish Mechanical Trims; Install Bathroom Fixtures
• Install Mirrors and Shower Doors; Finish Flooring and Exterior Landscaping
• Conduct Final Walk-Through