Considerations When Choosing a Site for Your Home
When it comes to planning for your custom home build, there are countless things to consider. If you follow our blog, hopefully, you have a head start on some of the things you’ll be thinking about! However, before you can put any plans in place and start construction, you’ll need to consider the siting of your home. Where and how your home is situated can be the difference between “just okay” and amazing.
Here are some things to consider:
- Proximity to sunlight. Think about the direction of the sun, and when you want to be facing it. Some people enjoy waking up naturally to the sunrise – others specifically don’t want that. You also need to think about what the sun and its direction mean for heating and cooling. You most likely want shade during warmer parts of the year and sunlight when it’s cooler, to help naturally regulate your home’s temperature and make everyone comfortable (and if you are looking for other ways to help with this, check out our recent blog post.
- Distance from the road. Are you a private person, or do you like to say hello to your neighbors each morning? Consider how close you are to the main road. This will dictate your driveway length as well. When running utilities, a longer driveway will be more expensive and may present more challenges. It will also require more shoveling or plowing of snow in the winter months.
- Topography. There are many elements of nature that will come into play, and most of them are out of your control. Is there sloping on the lot? If there is already significant elevation, you’ll need to understand issues like drainage. Items like drainage and sewage pumping can add cost and headaches if you don’t take them into account early on in the process. On the other hand, you can take advantage of a slope to build a walk-out basement (or a half walkout, where only windows are provided but the option for a finished basement is present). You can even bring infill to create more of a slope from front to back so that you can have these building options.
This list is by no means all-inclusive. For example, you also want to think about space for future buildings like a shed or a child’s treehouse. For a more comprehensive list of what to think about when siting a future home, contact one of our experts.
