Are your needs specialized enough to warrant building a custom-designed
home, or would a tract home built to certain specifications suit your needs

just as well? An architect can help you decide. The cost of building your
custom home and its anticipated value should be consistent with real estate
values of the surrounding neighborhood. When analyzing your situation, an
architect might ask if you want to make your house more livable for yourself,

or make it more salable to the next owner?

Building a Custom Home

Marry your wants with practicality.

There are so many decisions to be made in the planning stages of a building
project and during construction. These decisions will determine how your new
home will function, what it will cost and what it may be worth in the future. If
consulted in the earliest planning stage, an architect can help you make smart
decisions about your home's design that will serve you in surprising ways. It's
critical to have a realistic understanding of the potential and limitations of your
project's budget. Often an architect can propose ways of altering square footage
or the type of materials to be used. An architect is especially knowledgeable in
marrying your goals with practicality.

Analyze your wants and needs.

Share everything you can with your architect: your thoughts, notes, sketches,
photos from magazines-anything that illustrates what you like. Tell your
architect about your routines, the way you function in your current home, and
what you like and don't like about it.

By asking a wide range of questions about your goals, an architect can outline

the scope of your project in detail. Doing so also sets the stage for building

cost-efficiency into your project. By setting parameters early in the process,

your architect can help you control costs before you even break ground.

It's often said that architects not only have the answers; they also know which
questions to ask: How many rooms will you need? How will the home function?
Who will use it and how? What are your tastes? How long do you plan to live in
the home? Do you work at home? How much time do you spend in the living
areas, bedrooms, kitchen, den, office or utility space? How much time and
energy are you willing to invest to maintain your house?