How to start designing your own home

Are you intent on turning your home dreams into home designs? Here’s a quick guide on where to start, what questions to ask and where to get help if you need it.

Getting ideas for your home design

No home design has ever been dreamt up without inspiration. To begin, try:

• Visiting local home shows to see what thrills you
• Scrolling through social media like Pinterest or Instagram
• Heading to local open homes in the area you’re planning to build, or
• Checking out case studies from the builders you’d like to work with (Here are ours, by the way)

From these seeds, you can narrow down what features are absolutely necessary and which don’t have a place in your home design.

Fitting your design in with your lifestyle and budget

You’ve now got a basic idea of what you want. What’s next? Here are few of the most common questions you should aim to nail down answers to:

• What kind of views do you want and how can you achieve them?
• How will you get natural light into your home?
• How will you ensure privacy, especially if building in a dense neighbourhood?
• How much of the land are you setting aside for the house, and how much for the garden?
• Do you have any needs in terms of accessibility, and how will you adjust the layout to fit that?

Next is the question of cash. Fitting a design you’re sold on into a budget that doesn’t break the bank is one of the most difficult challenges you’ll face. Designing a dream home is easier if you have an infinite bank account and no deadline – but we’ve yet to meet a customer that’s so blessed!

You also have to consider resale value and the impact of location. A home that’s well-designed for one neighbourhood and fits with the local character won’t necessarily work in another suburb. Designing for the location allows you to avoid under or over-investing, or designing something that doesn’t fit the preferences of buyers in the area.  While you may plan to stay in the home over the long term, it’s always nice to have the option to resell for a good price should you decide you want a change.

How Golstruct can help

There are a lot of considerations in designing a home and if you’re doing it for the first, second or even third time, it can be challenging. Every newly designed home is as unique as the family who lives inside and a mistake in the early stages can cause trouble for years.

That’s where Golstruct comes in. We can provide the decades of experience you need to ensure that the dream home in your head can become a reality. We guide you through design recommendations for your new home so you get the size, shape, features, views, aesthetics and comfort that your family deserves. And best of all? We do it without budget blowouts that can happen with self-designed homes.

To take your first steps, get in touch with us on 0800 465 787 or check out one of our detailed process guides to find out more.