Most people hear the word “custom” and head for the hills. It’s like the word is code for “astronomically expensive.” But that’s only the case if you’re talking to the wrong builder.
I get plenty of requests for custom spaces in homes. Sometimes it’s a family who home schools and needs a dedicated learning space. Other times a family needs a custom design to make mobility easier for a disabled family member.
When you bring up custom needs, a lazy builder will just throw more square feet at the problem, increasing your overall price. Everything you ask for turns into more square feet or extra dollars, because he might not know how to figure out the actual cost, so he just pads it. He doesn’t really care that it ends up being more expensive.
This is why the word “custom” has earned such a bad reputation. You tell the builder what you need. Instead of solving the design problems that would give you what you were looking for, he just adds on to a design that’s already in the book. Before you know it, you’re staring down a ridiculously expensive home.
There’s a saying that I like to use when it comes to design " every line on paper costs money. But it doesn’t cost more money to change where the lines go. If a builder is designing around what you’ve asked for, dimensions and rooms can be changed to make space for your homeschool area. He’s willing to throw his book of designs out the window to put together what you want within your budget.
Don’t be afraid to ask for something that’s “custom.” At the end of the day, you shouldn’t let a builder tell you that you can’t have what you want, or that you’re going to pay out the nose for it. Keep shopping around until you find a builder that starts with what you want and lets the rest fall into place.
