Been There Done That, Now Let Me Help You
We all have areas in our lives in which we are more skilled and knowledgeable than others. These areas of talent are fewer than the more common areas of our lives. This is why it’s important to find those qualified professionals to guide you through places where you are less qualified.
Recently I was working with a customer that gave me a home blueprint they were considering building. It was a large one-story home (2975 square feet) over a full basement. The proposal to build their project was more than they had budgeted.
Now what do we do?
After spending some time visiting with them there were several options that were discovered. Things that the novice wouldn’t consider or understand how it would affect the price. This is one of the benefits of getting experienced guidance early in the process.
The first thing was to figure out what the priorities were. Here are a few:
- Dollars were a concern, as is almost always the case – This can be addressed by stacking the construction. If a second floor is included in the overall square footage less foundation and roofing is required to achieve a similar total square footage. This decreases the per square foot price.
- Style and architectural design – During the discussing it was discovered that she wanted a wraparound porch which wasn’t a part of the first plan but fit in nicely on the second one.
- Additional optional living space – Space for family during the holidays and for visits. Space for mother to live during the week when she is in town working.
By offering them some guidance and knowing what questions to ask we were able to come up with a plan that is going to meet the majority of there needs and wants at a 25% reduction in price. This is what I can offer with my almost forty years at the school of hard knocks.
The benefits of working together on any project has value. This value increases exponentially as the size of the projects increase. A new home is definitely a sizeable project.
One of the biggest challenges with building a dream is 
getting all parties involved moving the same direction. Too many times these parties are pulling in different directions. Just like two horses pulling together as a team can accomplish more, we can do the same thing. That team of horses need someone to take control of the reigns and give direction. We need that same kind of guidance.
I think guidance is the most important thing to building a dream. I also think it’s one of the most overlooked and under used pieces of the process. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. It is up to each of us to know what ours are and give or get guidance where needed.
