What to Consider When Designing a Custom Floor Plan

Few things are more rewarding than designing your very own custom home. You’ll have complete freedom over every aspect of your home, from the style and color to the size and shape of each room. In the Oregon and Washington area, a custom home builder such as New Tradition Homes can take your ideas and turn them into reality.

It can be a bit daunting, however, when you start work on designing your custom home. Unlimited freedom also means a huge number of details you will need to get exactly right; it all starts with designing your floor plans. Here are a few tips to consider:

1.    Think about budget

One of the first things any prospective home builder should consider is budget. The cost of your potential home can vary widely depending on what features you choose to add and a large number of other variables. Location, the size of rooms, materials used, and many other factors can affect the eventual cost of the home – not just in the immediate future but throughout the lifetime of the house – and so it’s important to consider the budget first.

Many home designers become too ambitious on the outset and attempt to design a home that is a little outside their price range. Remember, you can always add more things later! So for now, simply decide on a budget and stick with it.

1.    Look at other houses before making decisions

Floor plans can be easily designed online these days with a few clicks of a mouse. There are plenty of programs that exist to make the design process a very simple one; however, it’s important to understand what your ideas will look like in reality, too.

Visit model homes that have designs similar to the one you want to implement. Once you see floor plans similar to yours that have been practically realized, you will get an idea of what works and what doesn’t. Bring your family along when you’re scouting these plans as well! Input from the people who will be living in your future home can be invaluable.

1.    Figure out how much space you need

Seeing a floor plan design on paper and seeing it fully realized are two different things, and many people often underestimate the amount of space they will need for a room. This is another reason why it’s a good idea to do some scouting of model homes. Once you have an idea of what the sizes on a floor plan translates to in real life, figure out exactly how much space you want for each given room. Consider what type of furniture you will be moving into the room and measure it; you may need to scale your rooms up or down to fit a particular item such as a bed or beloved sofa.

1.    Consider energy costs

A big part of the cost of a home throughout the years is energy. Lighting, heating, cooling and a number of other details can add up across the lifetime of your home. That’s why it’s a good idea to consider the possible energy costs of your home before you design it.

Consider things like lighting, for example. Simple choices like the placement of windows can dramatically affect the amount of energy your home will need across the seasons. Do some research on energy-efficient homes suited to your particular needs and you can potentially save a lot of money across the lifetime of the house.

1.    Think about the flow of the home

When designing a floor plan, the placement of rooms matters almost as much as the rooms themselves. You will need to consider where the most effective placement for your kitchen is, for example. Making these decisions will require you to consider where your property will be located; surveying model homes can only help you so much in this regard as your house will not necessarily be located in the same type of area. Consider things like sunlight, weather and the placement of the neighbors’ homes when designing your floor plan. You’ll also want to consider factors like noise. You don’t want to put a bedroom right next to a noisy room like the living room, for example.

1.     Get advice from the professionals

While ultimately it will be you and your family that live in the home you design, and therefore all the final decisions should be yours, don’t hesitate to get professional advice from your builder if you can. Chances are, they have built a lot of homes before and have an idea of what works and what doesn’t work. It’s important when seeking to implement your plans that you secure the services of a reputable company.

In the Oregon and Washington, New Tradition Homes is a great choice for helping you realize your ideas from design to creation. Let us help you take the right decisions in customizing your home. We also stress the importance of research; making decisions based on what seems like a good idea at the moment may ultimately lead to headaches for you as a homeowner. If you research your choices, and find a great builder to help, we are confident you’ll design a dream home that you’ll love!