Take a look around as you drive through the streets of your neighbourhood and you may notice, as I did, that many people are choosing to build their own homes these days. Driving through one street, I counted 7 new single family homes under construction within 5 blocks!

So why build your own? There are certainly some positives to building your own. Other than perhaps some budget and land constraints, you can build exactly what you want and what you need. You get to call the shots and build exactly what suits your lifestyle. Construction costs have come down since a few years ago although they seem to be back on the rise again. Building your own may be less than either purchasing something new or renovating something older which means if you make smart decisions, you should be able to sell for more than the straight costs. Others will pay for the convenience of having a brand new, ready to move into home.

Of course, building a home is a large undertaking. If you’re not working with a great General Contractor or if you are doing it yourself, budgets can easily be compromised. The amount of time it takes to manage, walk through, ensure the quality is as you want it and so forth can be extensive as many decisions need to be made along the way. Ensure that when building, your land costs are reasonable and that the home features suits the area and price level of the neighbourhood. In other words, if you buy land in a “B” location and then build a mansion fit for West Vancouver, you may not be able to recover your costs as the people willing to buy in that location may not be able to afford all the bells and whistles you put into the home. You want to make sure that when it comes time to sell, you can recover both the cost of the land and the cost of building your home.

Good luck!

Irshaad Ahmad