A Homeowner's Checklist for Building a House

Some people choose to design and build their own homes in order to ensure that their dream home ideas are fulfilled. Many homeowners building homes don't have backgrounds in construction or architecture so they hire contractors to do the actual work. If you're a homeowner with a dream of building the perfect house consider using a checklist to ensure no details are forgotten or overlooked.

According to the Say Build website home building financing is more complicated than obtaining financing for an existing house. You'll not only need to be approved for financing for building costs, but you'll also need to obtain financing or already have cash on hand for all non-budgeted expenses. These expenses typically include construction upgrades, cost overruns and missed deadline fees. The type of home you choose will also determine what type of budget you need. Custom homes, for instance, are usually built individually from homeowners' ideas and are more expensive than production home projects. The financing checklist should also include all estimated costs for buying the home's lot or land, contractor fees and materials and inspection costs.

When building your own home you'll typically need to hire a wide variety of contractors. Home building contractors include a real estate agent or land broker, an architect or home designer, electrician, plumber, roofing contractor and flooring contractor. Use a contractor checklist to determine exactly how many contractors you'll need and add a line on checking references to ensure you hire the right people for the job. A homeowner's contractor checklist should also include bid sheet items as well, according to the Home Addition Plus website.

A construction timeline should be included in your checklist. In a home-building project you must schedule every step ahead of time and you must often wait until one part of the project is completed before you can begin the next portion. Your checklist should clearly list several significant timeline sections, such as foundation pouring, frame construction, insulation procedures and exterior and interior procedures. The construction timeline checklist should also include what materials are needed for each individual section, how many are required and how much each should cost.

The last items on your overall homeowner's building checklist should be comprised of moving-in activities. Add interior home needs such as furniture, decorations and electronics to your building checklist. For actual move-in, a building checklist should include choosing a moving company, buying moving materials, arranging for moving storage and any other last-minute needs.