Planning and Budgeting for your New Home Construction

Building a new home is an exciting endeavor. You get to choose the architectural style, building materials, floorplan, and products you want—something you don’t have the freedom to do when buying an existing home. But it can be easy to get so caught up in choosing the perfect building materials that you lose sight of your budget. That’s where value engineering can be helpful.

Architects, builders, and contractors define value engineering as the use of practical guidelines and procedures to lower the cost of building materials, equipment, systems, and products to achieve essential functions at maximum performance and highest value. In other words, value engineering is a strategy that produces a professionally designed and built home with the right combination of quality, budget-conscious materials and premium building supplies.

Sometimes, choosing budget-friendly, good quality options for certain building products can help save you money, giving you the flexibility to upgrade to premium products for other areas of the home. Choosing premium building materials will cost more upfront but can be a smarter financial decision over time. Products that are highly energy efficient, provide superior weatherability, and are dependable and long lasting are good examples of when to invest in the highest quality. An experienced builder or contractor should be able to help recommend where budget-friendly options versus premium make the most sense.

The focal point of your new home’s welcoming curb appeal will be the front door. Entry doors take a lot of abuse – exposure to precipitation, heavy wind, harsh UV rays, and pollution, as well as frequent opening and closing. Do not hesitate to invest in a solid, premium, lifetime-warranted entry door.

Fiberglass and steel doors are professional-class products. They do not warp, shrink, split, crack, or delaminate, and they are ideal for harsh or humid climates. Steel entry are the strongest, most durable, and most secure on the market. Available in smooth or woodgrain embossed textures in a variety of paint finishes and stains, they are as elegant and handsome as they are sturdy. Fiberglass entry doors mimic the defined grain of authentic wood doors in textures such as oak, cherry, mahogany and fir, and a variety of stain and paint colors. Fiberglass doors are low maintenance as well—they’re easy to clean with mild soap and water and are resistant to denting and scratching. Choosing a premium entry door provides improved home security and endurance, with many options in styles and finishes to enhance the overall beauty of your new home.

Interested in learning how to bring the ambience of the outdoors into your home design? Check out our article Biophilic Interior Design.