Building a Home in the US

Planning to build a house in the United States of America? Besides the usual grind of locating the land and building your dream structure on it, you’ll need to adhere to certain housing and construction guidelines.

Here’s how you can go about building your dream home in America:

Planning

This phase of building your house can be divided into two categories:

Initial Preparation

This phase will involve purchasing of land and getting it registered. Before you make a land Deal, you’ll need to keep the following things in mind.

• The House plot should not be disputed, i.e. in any kind of acquisition proceedings.
• Refer to the planning authority and make sure that the land is clear for residential constructions.
• Get a certificate from the registrars’ office saying that the land is free of any encumbrance.
• Verify the rates thoroughly. Refer to market guidelines and feel free to contact some property consultants if you have to.

Important Considerations

• Make sure you have a plot of the right size as the housing construction norms wont allow you to construct on the whole plot.
• It should be conveniently located, not too far away from the nearest Bus Station, Railway Station, Airport, Hospital and of course, your work place.
• It should be located in an area that receives continuous water supply.

Purchasing and Land Registration process generally takes a whole month.

Consulting the Experts

Experts like engineers and Architects will not only help you in planning and designing your home to the last detail but will also be able to help you do it in a cost effective manner. Before you give out your construction contract to someone, take in to consideration, the following factors:

Before awarding House Construction Contract to someone, make sure:

• Of the kind of materials they use, and if their quality is according to industry standards.
• Of the quality of work they are going to provide. Refer to some of their past projects.
• If they require any kind of Advance payment.  
• Of their time schedule and how they are going to progress.

Besides all this, you need to know the total cost of construction beforehand and the construction company needs to abide by it. For this purpose ask them for,

An approximate cost of construction per square feet.

The ratio of cost of materials, labour and other expenditures.

A break up of all the expenditure that will be involved in undertaking specific work. Approximate figures will do.

A break up of expenditure (stage-wise) to enable you to plan things accordingly.

Make sure of the kind of EMI’s you’ll need to pay in case you plan to take a housing loan.