1) Contact Lord & Lady Construction. We have a lot, a lot of experience working on projects with tight budgets. Many larger builders will say it's not a problem, but will then leave your project on the sidelines when their better paying project needs help. We track every dollar spent, that goes over and that goes under, helping keep us right on track and balanced when hiccups arise.
2) One Story vs. Two Story. When you are on a tight budget, square footage is crucial. With most home builds being around $100-100 per square foot at a bare minimum, the square footage that a stairway needs and takes up, reduces the overall "actual" usable space that you are going to get in the end. Therefore, on tight budget builds, we strongly encourage folks to look for one story plans, you'll get more for your money!
3) Develop a plan with phases. You can't always get everything you want on a tight budget, but you can work to develop a plan that will make it easy to change and switch out to what you really want in the future. A great example of this is waiting to install air conditioning, waiting to put the stone facade on the fireplace, or planning a detached garage that can be built later. All of these items can save thousands in the budget and will cost almost the same amount of money (rather than more than if you do them all at once with the main project) if you do them later.
4) Consider all electrical appliances. Yes, people love gas stoves and natural gas furnaces, but electrical appliances are cheaper to buy and generally cheaper to run. Additionally, you will save money when you don't have to have a gas line installed, which is typically thousands of dollars.
5) Be willing to ask and listen to what is the most economical way to make your choices or changes a reality. Often at estimates, clients are adamant that they would like a specific change done a specific way, and no other way. They also then state that they want it to be a specific budget, not over. We will then bid the change or build the way specified, but can not keep in budget. This is not to say we can't meet your budget, it just often means we can't meet the budget, building it exactly the way you requested. However, we nearly always have other ideas on how your changes could happen, in just slightly differing ways, that would make the budget possible. So, if you have a budget you can't change or increase, try to be flexible with the exact details of the materials and way in which the changes happen.
All these subjects and
more are in-depth conversations that have many pros and cons based on
your specific needs and wants. If you want to have a deeper
conversation on any of these and more with Lord & Lady, give us a
call or send a message, we're happy to meet with you and discuss your
home project hopes and dreams!
