You want to build a dream home, but will be constrained by your budget. You will have to do a lot of thinking and planning before you start and it pays to consult a good architect like architects London to sort out what is feasible within the limits of what you would like to spend.
The most important thing will be to get a very early estimate of what it will cost to build your home. There are free online home build costing sites that will give you a very approximate idea or get some quotes from local builders recommended by the architects or ones that have been recommended by friends or relatives. Choose a builder that does building work that is closest to the type that you want built yourself.
When asking for estimates make sure that you mention as many features as possible as it is the add-ons and unknowns that tend to break the initial budget estimations in the end. You will probably need to change your initial plans several times and get several re-estimates before you get something that fits within your budget. It’s a good idea to factor in a ten percent safety margin so that you don’t get any nasty surprises. Also take into consideration that inflation will have an effect on any original estimates, especially if there is quite a time delay between planning and the actual building.
If you are buying a vacant building lot then do a proper evaluation of what it will take to build on. Cheap lots aren’t necessarily cheap to build on because of the various obstacles that might be present: rocks, slopes, poor drainage, trees or roots in the way and so on. Remote lots look good at the time of purchase, but in fact it is the most accessible lots with access to all the services like mains power, mains water and gas which are friendliest to anybody’s budget in the long run.
Another way to cut building costs is to opt for simpler designs. Complex shapes or curves are a lot more expensive than square or rectangular floor plans. Dome shaped roofs are cheaper and simpler than triangular shapes with a lot of vaulted ceilings.
Two story or multi story buildings are cheaper to build than single story buildings so think tall! Basically this is because the taller building is more compact. It will have the same amount of living space inside, but its plumbing and heating and / or cooling systems will be a lot more efficient and compact.
Keeping an eye on your budget means choosing the right sort of materials. More traditional materials are pricey these days and there are plenty of imitation materials available which look more or les the same, but are just as functional and are a lot cheaper. Real hardwood floors, for instance, look really nice, but there are much more inexpensive materials available that do the same job in the end such as prefabricated floors, engineered wood or bamboo flooring even.