Building a custom home in Bluffton, SC, can be one of the most rewarding and exciting things you can do for you and your family. Getting to be involved in the design process, from deciding how big the rooms are and where the staircases are and how the kitchen will be laid out, to deciding what tile to use in the bathroom and which carpet to put in the kids’ rooms, is an amazing process.
It’s possibly a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build your forever home.
How Long Will It Take to Build a Custom House in Bluffton, SC?
The answer? You guessed it: it depends.
Building a custom home is, well, custom. And everything about the home, from the lot you’re building on to the layout to the square footage to the engineering, all can take a variable amount of time. We tell people that a custom home in Bluffton generally takes anywhere between six months (on the very fortunate end) and two years (on the mammoth side).
If you’re building from an existing floor plan, and only making tweaks here and there, and the lot is in an easy-to-access place, and the permits all fall into line, then things could really be smooth sailing.
On the other end of the spectrum, if the house is large — and some custom homes can get pretty big — and has unusual curves and cantilevers, and uses imported materials, and is in a lot that is off the beaten path… then the house will take a lot longer.
Don’t get us wrong: we’ll work as fast as we can to get you your home as quickly as possible, and on average, a custom home in Bluffton, SC, takes approximately nine months. Just be aware that the more custom it is, the more work it will be, and the more time it will take.
Some people are absolutely fine with this–they want the best and only the best, because this is their forever home–but some people are willing to make sacrifices so that they can enjoy the home sooner, while their kids are still of a certain age and can make full use of the property.
What Obstacles Will Affect the Time it Takes to Build a Custom House in Bluffton, SC?
There are always obstacles to look out for when building a custom home, or when building any home, for that matter. But here are some of the biggest obstacles that we run into when trying to build your dream home as fast as possible.
The Weather
There are things on the jobsite that we can control, and things that are totally out of our hands, and sometimes a little weather is negligible, and sometimes it’s work-stopping.
Some things to look out for are big shifts in temperature, as colder temperatures make concrete dry slower (and paint dry slower). High temperatures, when things start to get really hot and humid, mean that the workers have to take more breaks for safety reasons, so you’ve got to count on that, too.
Too Much Water
South Carolina gets its share of rain, and it’s been known to get its share of hurricanes, too. Heavy rain (or sleet or snow if we’re lucky) can absolutely grind a project to a halt. It can make the jobsite treacherous and too dangerous to work in, as mud can be a slip hazard.
Too much water can cause us to have to cover the whole project in tarps to protect parts of the home from water damage, slowing down the work. It can make digging trenches, for foundations or pipes or irrigation, a muddy mess. And you can’t pour concrete in the pouring rain.
Permits
Now, we’ve been building custom homes in Bluffton, SC, for a long time, so we know the ins and outs of the bureaucracy here, but there are often delays in permitting. There are forms on top of forms and inspectors on top of inspectors. Generally, we have this in the bag: we know what we’re doing. But one wrong word in one wrong place on the plans can stop the process until it gets resolved.
What Can The Homeowner Do to Help Things Go Faster?
Choose Greencraft Homes
The best thing that you can do to help the custom home process go faster is to choose the right builder, and you’ve already found them right here.
We’ve built more than a thousand dream homes in the area over the last several decades, and we have the inside knowledge to get things done fast and get them done right. We know the neighborhoods, the regulations, the building codes, the permitting processes. And, more importantly, we know our workers and we know our subcontractors, and we trust every one of them to get the job done well and done right.
Get The Help of a Decorator
Maybe you want to go it alone and make all the decisions yourself — and that’s fine! For some people that’s the reason they have custom homes. But some people freeze when it comes time to choose between the tiles for the backsplash, or the color of the window trim.
Hiring a designer — not one who will override you, but who will listen to you and do everything to make you happy — will take a lot of stress off your shoulders, and you’ll find yourself moving into a house that’s even more beautiful than anything you could have dreamed for yourself.
Make Sure There’s Room in the Budget
There are always going to sudden stops on a build, when a problem arises that you just hadn’t thought about. If you have extra room in the budget, you can take care of the problem in the easiest way, and quickly. If you don’t have extra room then it’s time to start deciding which parts of your dream home you’re going to have to sacrifice to pay for the unexpected cost. Having some wiggle room is always a good idea.
Don’t Change Your Mind Halfway Through
Once the plans are ready and the workers start their job, you should have it fixed in your mind that this is going to be the layout and design of your home. Changing your mind a month in, or three months in, is going to make everyone stop what they’re doing and reevaluate. It might require new architect and engineer’s drawings, which might mean more permits and inspectors. Having a plan from the beginning that you stick with no matter what will leave you happier in the long run.
Conclusion
Building a custom home in Bluffton, SC, will take an average of about nine months, and that’s even considering things like weather and other slowdowns. But these are some things for you to think about that will make the building process go faster and give you a more reliable timeline for what to expect.
Are you ready to build a custom home in Bluffton, SC?
