Ask Sir Walter: Your New Home Construction Timeline

Q: A few years ago we purchased a building site for our dream home. We would like to retire to that spot in the next few years. How soon should we get started with our planning? - A Few Years from Retirement

Dear A Few Years from Retirement,
Your timing depends on how much time would make you feel comfortable with each step of the new home building process. Your home building schedule will consist of four phases:

• Planning: Selecting a building site and compatible floor plan make up the planning process phase.
• Design: Finalizing the floor plan, choosing post and beam or log construction, placing your deposit and confirming your financing will net you final construction drawings so you can move onto the production phase.
• Production: Your final construction drawings will help you receive accurate contractor bids, obtain building permits and prepare your foundation.
• Construction: This step begins with the arrival of your home building materials. The steps to building your own home finally become reality; finishing work and landscaping are completed.

So to better answer your question, how long does this whole process take? Three key elements that play an important role in your schedule are:

• Choosing the right floor plan. It can take hours or weeks, but it is important that you choose—or design—the floor plan that you want. Depending on your decision process, this stage can often take longer than you had planned. To minimize design time, choose one of hundreds of Lindal floor plans and personalize it for your specific needs.
• Obtaining financing. Most banks suggest that you allow one month between mortgage application and commitment, and perhaps another for closing.
• Receiving building permits. Regulatory requirements and procedures vary so much that the time it takes to obtain a building permit can range from a couple of weeks to many months. Make sure you take this into account when setting your timeline.

Other factors that affect your timeline that you will want to take into consideration range from the weather and availability of local builders and subcontractors to whether you decide to customize one of hundreds of available Lindal designs or custom design your home.

One final tip: Many people think that post and beam construction takes a longer period of time than conventional stick building, however, that is not the case. Most post and beam construction projects take the same amount of time.

My Best,
Sir Walter Lindal

If you have additional construction timeline questions, or any other home building related questions, please email Ask Sir Walter.