While it may be easier to move into a home that’s built, many of today’s home buyers crave modern amenities that just don’t exist in older homes. The opportunity to choose an open floorplan with a large eat-in kitchen and other design features are too hard to pass up. If you’re thinking about buying a custom home, you probably have some questions. For starters, how long does it take to build a house? Does it take longer to build a custom home?
That’s why we’ve set out to answer your most pressing questions.
How Long Does it Take to Build a House?
When people think about designing a custom home, they often wonder budgeting costs, where to purchase land, what, in fact, they want in a home and more.
The average time it takes to build a home depends on a few factors. Depending on where you are building, what time of year you are building, the layout of the land, the complexity of the design, and more can factor into how long it takes to build a custom home.
Custom homes generally take more time to build than production homes. A manufactured home builds in a few months.
According to a 2019 construction survey released by the Census Bureau, the average time to complete a single-family home is seven months.
Points of Consideration
While the average falls around seven months to complete a single-family home, it’s important to clarify that many factors can affect the timeframe to complete construction on a home.
Some factors include:
- Construction style
- Location
- Time of year
When these factors are included, we some distinct differences in the amount of time needed to construct a home.
Average Time Based on Construction Style
When factoring in the construction type, we noticed some differences that can help explain the seven-month average calculated by the Census Bureau.
For instance, to build custom homes requires 8.9 months. Production style homes faired much better at 6.1 months.
While it should be no surprise that the custom home takes longer to build than the production home, it is a marked difference in time with almost three months between them.
Average Time Based on Geographic Region
Depending on where you plan to build your home can change the average amount of time, you may wait to move into your custom home. In the Northeast, the average time to build a home was 11.1 months.
Homes built in the Midwest faired a little better with an average time of 7.7 months. In the West, homes took an average timeframe of 6.1 months. In the South, homes had an average time of 7.1 months.
While the geographic environment may play a role, especially when you consider how seasons differ in these geographic regions, that wasn’t the only factor that produced longer times.
According to the experts, some other factors that led to longer build times were construction type, unplanned upgrades, workers and supplies, as well as pre-construction issues like permits.
Construction Type
We’ve already stated that if you build custom, you can expect to wait a bit longer. It’s important to stress this though if you’re planning to buy a custom-built home. Part of the reason why it can take longer is that often home buyers change their minds on things they want in the home.
That is especially the case when it comes to upgrades in the home. Custom homes will, on average, take nine months from pre-construction to move-in day. Knowing this beforehand can help you manage expectations.
When it comes to production homes, they have floorplans that they have built before. That familiarity produces faster results. They have also been made the same way many times before, which also speeds up the process.
So how can you help make sure your new home is a smooth process?
Choosing a simple floorplan can help, but that’s not the only way. Communicating your needs is essential. Getting your overall vision across and sticking to your initial plan will also help.
Unplanned Upgrades
It goes without saying that if home buyers are looking to add or adjust their plans, it can add time to the build. While it may be fun to pour over the upgrades and details of the home, it’s best to figure out those things earlier to help the building process go smoother.
Knowing what you want and sticking to your choices creates the most streamlined approach to building your home. While it’s understandable that sometimes issues will come up, or minds may change during the building process, it’s best to keep these decisions to a minimum if you’re looking to move in closer to the average time suggested above.
Workers and Supplies
Depending on the time of year that you are choosing to build your custom home, it can adjust timeframes for a build. Summertime is the busiest time of the year for builders, for obvious reasons.
If building in the summer, it may slow down the process depending on the availability of supplies or labor. When labor is not available, subcontractors are used, and that can slow up the process.
Pre-Construction
Several factors can affect the timeframe for completing a home. In pre-construction, builders must clear land to make it ready for building. Depending on issues that may come up with the land, that can slow up the process before construction.
On top of that, different locations may require longer wait times when it comes to obtaining proper permits and inspections. While this is not the fault of the builders, it’s important to mention as it is a part of the process that can halt building, slowing down build time.
Build Your Custom Dreamhome in Tulsa
How long does it take to build a house? As you can see, that is a tricky question to answer, but we hope this helps answer some of your questions.
If you’re looking to build a custom home in the Tulsa area, consider Banner Custom Homes. With over 30 years of experience and many options to choose from, we’re sure we’ll have a floorplan that’s right for you.
Call us today at (918) 724-6356.