The most important part of building a custom home in Seacoast New Hampshire, Coastal Maine or Northern Massachusetts takes place long before the walls of your new house go up. Before your site is cleared and your foundation built, you’ll work with a designer who will help you decide how you want your house to look, feel, and function. Spending too little time on this crucial step may mean that your new home won’t live up to your expectations.
But Don’t I Just Pick a Floor Plan?
Have you seen a few floor plans on the Internet that seems perfect for you? Although the Internet is a great place to get ideas for your new home, most mass-produced floor plans need at least a little modification before they can be built, based on our experience. Whether we’re modifying a floor plan you’ve found online or are creating a plan from scratch, we’ll need to consider a few things before we can finalize the design, including:
Lot Characteristics
When you choose a design or floor plan, you’ll need to determine if the house you have in mind is suited to the building site. On a smaller lot, a multi-story house might make more sense than a sprawling ranch home, particularly if you want a yard big enough for a garden or swimming pool.
Is your lot hilly? While hilly lots often offer excellent views, they may have a few limitations that will affect the types of homes you can build. What’s under the soil also has an impact on floor plan choice. For example, if you build in a rocky area, it may not be possible to add the finished basement to your favorite floor plan.
Flow and Layout
The most attractive floor plans aren’t always the most logical. If you entertain frequently, you might not want a dining room that’s on the other side of the house from the kitchen. Do you have young children? A home with a second-floor master suite may be a better option than a first-floor suite.
Although buyers who opt for cookie cutter homes may not be able to change the layout of their homes, you can configure your home any way you want. Flip the position of the kitchen and family rooms, move the door to the powder room, or add another staircase to your home if you want.
Is storage a problem in your current home? With the help of the expert craftsmen at our millwork cabinet shop, we can create custom-made cabinets for your kitchen or outfit your home office with built-in storage that becomes the focal point of the room.
Practicality
You can find all sorts of creative floor plans on Internet sites, including one we saw that included an indoor pool in the middle of the first floor. There’s no doubt that the pool would look cool, but how practical (and expensive) would it be? Would you need to add a special ventilation system or industrial-size dehumidifier to keep moisture under control? How would you prevent family members from stumbling into the water during middle-of-the-night trips to the kitchen for snacks?
An indoor pool might not be on your list of most-wanted home features, but chances are you’re considering a few trends that are currently popular on Instagram, Pinterest, Etsy, or other sites. We’ll help you evaluate the latest home building trends and decide which ones truly make sense for your home. Over the years, we’ve learned what features homeowners really use and which ones weren’t quite as useful as they’d hoped.
We’ll also let you know what you can expect to pay for that pool or figure out how much the Australian cypress floors your favorite Instagram interior designer recommends will really cost.
Lifestyle
Your home’s design should reflect the way you actually live. If you often host parties or fundraisers, a gigantic great room might make sense. On the other hand, the same room might be much too large if you prefer much smaller gatherings with just a few friends. In that case, it may make more sense to decrease the size of the great room and add a home office or exercise room instead.
During the design phase, we’ll spend a lot of time talking about how you live and work, your family size, how you expect to use your home now and in the future, and even how many cars you have. Understanding the way you live helps us create the ideal design for you.
Making Your Home Unique
During the design phase, we add all the extra things that will make your home one-of-a-kind. Do you want a wine cellar, an extra-large garage for your classic car collection, a home theater with surround sound, or a kitchen that reminds you of your favorite Parisian bistro? We’ll gladly incorporate the rooms, features, fixtures, and finishes you want in your home’s architectural design.
Making Your Dreams Come True Is Our Specialty
Teamwork is a crucial part of the design process at Oxland Builders. Our design and construction teams work together to create an architectural design that’s not only structurally sound but also checks off all the items on your wish list.
It’s not unusual for homeowners to discover that some of the features, appliances, or finishes they want cost more than expected. Luckily, eliminating pricy features isn’t the only option. During brainstorming sessions, we’ll look for alternative products or come up with creative design and construction solutions that won’t break your budget.
Interested in starting the design process for your custom home? If you live in the Seacoast New Hampshire, Coastal Maine, or Northern Massachusetts areas, contact us and we’ll help you explore the possibilities.
