Why You Should Build Your Own Home

Scouring the market for your dream home can be challenging. Plus, the median price of a property in Australia is nearly $700,000, which can make the idea of investing in an older property quite daunting. Fortunately, you don’t need to buy a home that could be riddled with defects when you can build your own with the help of an architect in Brisbane.

Before you dismiss the idea of building a home from scratch, you should remember that asbestos remains prevalent in properties over 40 years old. Other common defects that older houses hide include timber rot, pest infestations, foundation issues and dangerous electrics.

Understandably, you might think you simply don’t have the time or money to design and build your own home. However, you don’t need to take responsibility for its construction or quit your job in order to do so. Moreover, excluding land, it costs on average less than $300,000 to build a new home. You might now be starting to realise that starting from scratch is a good idea for many reasons.

We believe you should at least think about building your own property due to the following benefits:

Customise Your House

Searching through property listings endlessly can be a time-consuming task, and then you have to visit each and every house you’ve shortlisted to see whether its style matches your preferences. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from renovating the home once you’ve bought it, but that just adds to the cost of purchasing a property.

If you want to move into a home that meets your stylistic and functionality requirements, you should consider building one on a vacant plot of land. You can either ‘buy off the plan,’ which refers to purchasing a house with a pre-designed framework, or you can team up with a qualified architect to create a home that’s truly unique.

An architect can listen to your ideas, bring them to life, let you know what’s possible with your budget, and oversee the construction of your property in its entirety. If you won’t settle for a home that isn’t perfect, building your own is your best option.

Save Money

The idea of building a home instead of buying an existing one to save money may sound counterintuitive, but there are figures to back up the claim that starting from scratch is cheaper. According to the HIA, building a home costs, on average, $286,843, making it cheaper to build a new home rather than buy an existing one in most of Australia’s largest cities.

If you decide to build a home from scratch, you could save up to one-third of your budget. Moreover, if you’re a first-time buyer, you might qualify for the First Home Owners Grant. Many people think the grant only applies to existing buildings, but you can use it to build a new home too. If you’re eligible for the grant, you’ll only need to pay stamp duty on the land you purchase rather than the house itself.

In short, building a home instead of buying an old one could save you tens – if not hundreds – of thousands of dollars. You also won’t have to worry about repairing costly problems.

Protect the Environment

The average Australian household uses around 5,000 kWh of electricity every year. To put that into perspective, you’d need to plant 25 trees and ensure they survived for 30 years just to offset the emissions from one household. Build a new home with the help of an architect, and you can implement energy-efficient features and systems that not only reduce your carbon footprint but also minimise your utility bills.

As you can see from the benefits above, designing and building your own home can help you save money, the environment, and a lot of hassle. Partner with an experienced architect that can oversee the development of your house in its entirety, and your new home could be ready in under six months.