You can either make your dream home by building a new one or renovating an existing one. Both ways lead to a journey of discovering what you want, how you want to live, and where you want to be in the future. It’s an excellent chance for you and your family to have a fresh, new start. For that journey to be successful, you need to plan carefully and research thoroughly. You need a clear picture of the end result and how big a budget you need to make it a reality. We’ll help you on your journey by determining the steps necessary to make your dream house a reality.

Set your goals

To make your dream house a reality, you need to set goals and take the necessary steps to achieve them. A list of goals will fuel your motivation and should include both the practical and emotional sides. It would be best if you asked yourself a lot of questions to set these goals properly:

• What do you want to achieve?
• Where do you want to be, and is it the same place where you see yourself ten years from now?
• How much will everything cost, and what is the maximum sum of money you can afford?
• Can it really be achieved, and are your goals realistic?
• Does plan A makes sense, and what is your plan B?

Set a budget

When setting your budget, begin with what you can afford and how your dream home’s cost fits your overall plans for the future. Then get down to details and include everything that will go into the project. If you plan to build your dream house from scratch, include these things in a budget:

• The cost of the land
• All local fees, taxes, and permits
• Design and engineering costs
• Construction of a house and a landscape
• Furniture
• Decorating
• Some unpredicted expenses

You need a basic spreadsheet program such as Excel. It will help you develop a budget since you’ll continuously update and modify it as you work your way through the process.

Find appropriate land 

Do you want a house in the mountains or a home with an ocean view? Is it a realistic goal? Does your budget allow it? When you decide to make your dream house a reality, crucial tasks involve searching for land and eventually finding a spot on the globe that you can claim as yours. That’s when you can start building. Maybe you’ll find land with an existing house that’s old and neglected. So, you’ll be free to modify it as you like and make a fantastic transformation.

Gather a team

Certainly, you can do some things alone, but there is much more that requires experienced professionals. An architect and a builder are the most important members of your team. They will be your guides and counselors throughout the process of creating your dream house.

As you embark on this exciting journey, you’ll need to add team members. Be sure to find a good landscape architect who can create a beautiful yard that will complement your house. Probably you’ll need an interior designer, kitchen and bath designer, etc.

A good plan is key

One of the crucial things to know is the significance of planning the project in detail before starting to build. The next step is embarking on a design phase. You shouldn’t settle until you’ve explored all the possibilities. You really don’t need a thought “We should have done…” or “What if” questions after the project has already been built.

Building a home, whether from scratch or as a renovation, is a big project of making something truly yours. So, dare to dream big and have ambitious plans.

Also, be prepared to make many decisions along the way (some of them will be tough). Ensure that the details are there so that your house is unique and represents who you are and who you want to be.

Accept the inevitable

After you have made plans, got all the necessary permits, secured the money, and accounted for everything, you’re finally ready to start building your dream house. Still, not everything may be as smooth as you’d like. Stuff will happen. How you and your team react to these hiccups is what matters. Whenever you can, try to stay calm, keep your sense of humor, and work with your team to resolve the problem. That’s when you’ll realize the importance of the right team in place. When all team members work together and share ideas without criticizing one another, you can keep your sanity and address almost any issue.

Make a smooth relocation.

When your dream home is finally ready, there comes a time for you and your family to move in. Probably you’re already on a tight budget, so double-check if you can save a dime. Find a reliable moving company and ask for a moving estimate in advance. Keep in mind that moving costs vary depending not only on the distance for transport but also on the number of items transported. When leaving your old house and moving to a new one, be sure you’ve made detailed decluttering to really have a fresh start.

Enjoy your dream house.

To make your dream house a reality isn’t easy, but everything will be worth it in the end. After the relocation and unpacking, after all the hard work and so much money and time spent to create your new home, you’re finally able to enjoy it to the fullest. Remember, a dream house is so much more than the sum of its rooms. It’s the place that’s uniquely yours, where everything you’ve worked for makes sense.

Author: Amanda Smith

Amanda Smith is a Guest Contributor to Perfect Motivations, Inc. She is a life coach from California. For more than ten years, she has been helping people achieve their goals and increase their motivation. She writes blogs and enjoys sharing her knowledge. In her spare time, Amanda practices yoga and meditation.