Building a home comes with advantages and disadvantages. While building a home can allow you to personalize it according to your needs, it can be expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. 

To be prepared for both great and ugly surprises along the journey of building a home, it’s important to familiarize yourself with a few upsides and downsides of building a house. After this article, you should be able to make an informed decision on whether you should proceed to build a home or not. 

Pros 

1. You design it according to your preferences  

Building a home gives you control of all the features, preferences, and options to be included in the house. It’s highly unlikely to find a house in the market that meets your needs fully – that’s why most people opt to build a home instead of buying. 

Even if an already built home can be cheaper, it steals the joy of living in the house of your dreams – unless you are planning to renovate it to meet your needs. 

2. Qualify guarantee 

Since you’ll be involved in the complete construction process, you’ll be able to ascertain that the house is built with quality materials. Sometimes it can be harder to determine the quality of materials used in a pre-existing home. Furthermore, self-building will give you the option to install eco-friendly materials and energy-saving features that will save you money in the long-term.

3. Time freedom 

When building your home, no one will be rushing you to finish the construction process at a specific time. You can take a few months or years as you wish. On the other hand, when buying a house, you may be required to pay for it within a specified time. 

4. Savings 

 You can save a lot of time and money by building a house over buying an existing home. This is because you’ll only put the features and options that suit your needs. As well, no money is wasted on features or designs that you don’t need. Furthermore, you can get bonuses and discounts from your suppliers and contractors, therefore saving money. 

Disadvantages

1. It can be expensive – cost not fixed 

When building a house, unforeseen expenses can arise, especially if you hadn’t planned your budget well. Sometimes you may need extra labor, materials, or legal fees, which you may not have planned for. This can be a very devastating experience, especially if the additional costs exceed 30% of the initial budget. 

2. Time-consuming 

Building a home will take months to years to complete, unlike buying a house, which can take as little as days. Sometimes you may get further delays due to bad weather, legal approvals, and lack of funds. 

3. Strenuous 

If you’re building your home, you may want to be involved with the day to day activities of the construction to ensure that it meets your requirements. This can be a very stressful and overwhelming process, especially if you aren’t up to the task.

4. A lot of paperwork 

When buying a new home, only a little paperwork is needed. Building a house, on the other hand, requires more than just your payslips and bank account information. You’ll need construction-related documentation such as legal permits, contractors contract, insurance, building plan, and much more. 

Conclusion 

While there are both upsides and downsides of building a home, the upside surpasses it all. Building a home is indeed a rewarding experience that everyone should enjoy.