Home Building Articles
Meet David Winchester with Winchester Home Design
These are words that many of us have thought and spoken at one time or another or hope to speak in the near future. Let's assume that you and your family are at this place in your life right now. What are the first steps when you have made the decision to build a new custom home?
First of all, the "Where?" question has to be answered and this can often times be one of the hardest questions to answer. Saturday afternoon driving around can sometimes lead you to just the right piece of property that you cannot live without! Aside from that, many realtors will be happy to run MLS listings of available properties in your area and price range. Be sure to find a lot or acreage where you can choose your own builder. This will help you to maintain your decision-making freedom.
Secondly, once you have your land choice narrowed down, it is time to get started on house plans. "Where do I start?" is a question that we hear often. Most people have some ideas of kitchen and master bath areas. My best advice here is to look through plan books, on the internet for house plan websites, friends' homes, etc. be hungry to gather ideas! Remember, everything is cheap on paper! Collect your ideas and now it is time to sit down with designer. Bottom-line when choosing your person to work with you on the design of your new home, you want to choose someone to work with that has the ears to listen to your goals and desires and will help you to bring YOUR GOALS AND IDEAS fruition. At Owner Builder Network, we have been working with David Winchester of Winchester Home Design for over 13 years. David has designed the majority of the 1500 homes built through Owner Builder Network over the years.
There are many things that we appreciate about David Winchester and his plans. David not only looks at the clippings, paper napkins with ideas, 2" binders full of ideas but he seeks to listen to the client and learn how the client wants to LIVE in the house and what the clients' goals are for their new custom built home. He strives to keep fresh and interesting design concepts as well cost efficiency in mind when designing for his clients. He has knowledge regarding the different costs of different styles and designs and is able to help a client to know this information before going to final plans. There have been many times over the years that a client comes to Owner Builder Network with plans in hand only to face extreme disappointment at the cost of their particular design. There they sit with completed, paid for plans that they cannot afford to build even with our cost saving methods. Believe me certain designs can definitely increase the cost of your custom home. Wouldn't it be better to know that as you are going through the design process, rather than finding it out at the ninth hour and having to go back to the drawing board? Many of these folks have eaten the cost of their initial plans and then designed with David and came out with a better design on the backside of their experience...painful for them but a better and more affordable design in the end.
At Owner Builder Network, we are happy to partner with Winchester Home Design to meet your design needs and to help make sure that you understand your design options and how they affect the cost of your project. Contact us at Owner Builder Network to learn how you can get started on your dream home today!