Design Process
Steps to Follow to Build a House
Many people have the dream of building a house. Perhaps you are one of those for whom building a house has been a lifelong aspiration that you always thought you would carry out someday, or perhaps you discovered your passion for interior design or architecture at some point and have decided to get started on your own personal project. Or perhaps you have simply been inspired by the passion of your partner or family and are embarking on a project whose destination you are not entirely sure of.
Whatever your case may be, you have surely just begun an online search and are reaching out to acquaintances and friends to find out what the process entails. This is a major undertaking and you probably do not know where to start, so we thought it would be a good idea to offer some advice to help clarify this initial sea of doubts.
What are the steps to follow to build a house?
The first step, of course, will be location. The big question is: do I have a plot of land to build on, or must I find one?
1. Finding a plot of land
In upcoming posts we will discuss in detail the criteria you should consider when purchasing land, such as sun exposure, slope, or soil type, which will have a significant impact on construction costs as well as on the quality of your home. However, for now we must distinguish between whether or not you have land.
If you do not have a plot of land, the process begins with an exhaustive search that can last several months. At Slow Studio, we work with a real estate agent who has a portfolio of located plots and who guides our clients regarding appropriate prices for the investment they wish to make, evaluating good land offers and discarding or negotiating in cases where the price is above the actual value of the land.
Working with a trusted agent is usually very convenient for the client purchasing the land, since in most cases this type of agent works on sales commission and therefore the buyer is usually not charged anything for the agent’s assistance in the land location process.
However, if you are one of those people who prefer to go it alone and search for and visit plots through private online sellers, we recommend that before making the purchase decision, you always consult with the architect, as there are many criteria related to orientation, geography, and topography that we must consider and evaluate.
2. Contacting a trusted architect
Perhaps as an architecture firm, at Slow Studio we are not the most impartial when recommending an architect, but in any case it is worth establishing some basic guidelines that an architect should meet.
Before continuing with the steps to follow to build a house, it is important to clarify that it is essential to contact the architect before the builder. The architect must have defined the design of your house in detail in order to proceed with price inquiries from several different builders and to be able to compare and negotiate the construction price. The builder is the last to appear and must be subject to the architect’s control.
You should bear in mind that if you contact the builder first, they will provide you with their architect of choice, who will owe them the favor of having referred the client and will therefore be subject to the builder’s orders, leaving you with no room for negotiation. The design of a house is very important and the architect must be on your side at all times.
Having said that, your architect should meet certain requirements:
– Sustainability and energy efficiency. Nowadays I believe these are topics that are more than assumed in the design of any new home; however, there are many outdated architects who seem not to have gone beyond installing the obligatory solar panels.
It is important that your architect speaks to you about concepts such as energy efficiency, consumption reduction, passive solar energy utilization, water management and conservation, etc. There are many decisions in home construction that do not entail additional economic cost but that will bring us great improvements in quality of life, efficiency, and future savings.
– Health. Perhaps at Slow Studio we take for granted that health is an essential criterion for any home, and therefore we believe that a good architect should be familiar with and implement healthy construction practices. We are talking about concepts such as ambient humidity, ventilation, lighting, use of natural materials, etc. A home cannot be conceived without considering the health of the people who will enjoy it.
– Happiness. Alright! We are going to spend more than a year designing and building our house with the goal of living in it and being happy. This should be a positive process in which understanding with the architect is complete and in which we all strive for a common goal: to build a home where we can be happy.
– Rigor. Although it is obvious, not all professionals put this into practice. It will be difficult to discern in the first meetings, but we recommend that you try to determine whether you are dealing with a serious and rigorous architect in all the processes they carry out.
You can consult with former clients or request examples of previous projects, but it is important to know that you are dealing with a serious professional who will meet deadlines and who will guide you appropriately at all times.
The first step should be signing the contract in which all the steps to follow and the timeframes for each of the design phases are clarified. You must be strict on this first point and be wary of architects who do not establish a clear and concise contract.
3. THE DESIGN OF THE HOUSE
If you already have an architect, it is time to get started with the creative design process. As we always like to say, paper can hold anything! It is time to dream, make a list of how we want to live, and see how it can be translated into reality.
Designing a house is a process that usually takes around 6 months, as we will be revisiting and reformulating decisions continuously before finalizing a design.
We always work through this process hand in hand with the client and involve them weekly in all decisions, seeking their opinion and approval at each phase of the process. Complete mutual understanding and a good relationship between architect and client are important so that everyone is satisfied at the end of this phase.
4. CONSTRUCTION PERMITS
Although it is a step that is often taken for granted, it is important not to underestimate this phase in which the municipality reviews and approves the proposed design. In cities like Barcelona, this approval can take from 6 months to a year; in smaller towns it usually does not take longer than 3 months.
It should be noted that the municipality will retain a percentage of the construction cost to grant the building permit and that we must comply with all local building regulations, such as distances from neighbors or from the street itself.
5. THE MORTGAGE
The next of the steps to follow to build a house is one that raises the most questions: is it possible to obtain a mortgage to build a house? Of course! There is no problem. It is a different type of mortgage from that for purchasing a house, as the bank will provide us with the money as the construction progresses, but in terms of financial conditions, the mortgage for building a house has no difference from that for purchasing.
As with purchasing a house, it is advisable to have some savings before going to the bank to request money for construction. How much? It is very relative. Of course, the less money we have to borrow from the bank, the less our dependence will be. We normally recommend that the client have a fund of around 10% to 20% of the total cost of the home to be comfortable, but we have worked with clients who have financed practically the entire construction without any problem.
In the case of mortgages, we can also advise you and explain how it works so that you can evaluate the different options.
At Slow Studio we are supporters of Triodos Bank, the most important ethical bank at the European level, which in recent months has been offering a mortgage very suitable for the construction of ecological houses with more favorable conditions based on the energy efficiency of the new home.
You can contact us for more information and we will be happy to explain in detail what the process entails.
6. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOUSE
Once the design is finalized and the building permit has been requested, it is time to find a builder. We recommend that what is called a builder competition always be held, which is nothing more than a comparison between different offers based on the same design proposal.
In order to hold a builder competition, to which we will normally invite about three local companies to submit financial offers, our architect must prepare a document called the bill of quantities. This document contains the detail of each of the construction materials with the definition of how they will be used in the construction and the necessary quantity. For example, we will indicate what type of walls make up the home with details of insulation and finishes as well as the total square meters needed.
We will deliver this document without prices to the builder so that they can fill in the price of each of the materials or construction systems of the home.
If we deliver the same document to three different builders, when we receive it back we will be able to check the price difference in detail for each of the elements of a house and we will see if there is any notable difference that may be due to an error or omission. This process will allow us to negotiate and assign the construction of our house to the most suitable builder, who may sometimes not be the cheapest, but rather the one who has presented the most coherent offer.
At Slow Studio, we have several trusted builders but we also include in each builder competition others who may either be known to the client or be local companies that may be suitable.
We hope this summary of steps to follow has clarified some doubts, but if you have questions or any point is unclear, you can consult with us.
Our team tries to accompany the client throughout the entire process from the search for land to the end of construction, and we are happy to advise you at all times in the process of building your house.