FUN HOMEWORK

Our method for sorting out what is most important to you is for you to think about your new home, take time to create a wish list of what you’d like or wish to have and a separate list of what you must have to meet your family’s needs. Prioritize these lists.

The “wish” list allows you to dream, while the “must haves” list keeps your feet on the ground. The process of creating the lists establishes expectations, minimizes impulsive decisions, and fosters an objective balance between fantasy and reality. Together, your lists create the foundation for a focused search and the ultimate discovery of the home that best suits your lifestyle, going a long way toward assuring your satisfaction now and long into the future.

Consider the following guidelines to get you started:

• Keep separate lists. Maintain individual “wish” and “must haves” lists. Separate lists will help you recognize what you really need and help you prioritize everything else.
• Start a clip file. Supplement your lists with photos and articles from magazines, newspapers, and online resources to reinforce and illustrate your ideas, providing even greater detail for our designer. If you see a home down the street that catches your eye, maybe the dormer, the stone or the front entry that you really must have, snap a picture of it. Pictures of design features that you desire to incorporate in your home are great tools to communicate to our designer.
• Think outside the kitchen. In addition to the “glamour” rooms, keep in mind storage areas, laundry and service rooms, and family and entertainment spaces. These “additional spaces” are vitally important to the comfort of your family and critical to your ultimate satisfaction.
• List your dislikes. Keep track of the things that annoy you about your current home (as well as homes you’ve lived in, seen, or visited over the years) and promised yourself to avoid or change. Your new home is a chance for a fresh start, so take advantage of the opportunity. This third list, your “dislikes” is as important of a communication tool as the first two lists.
• Prioritize. Upon completing each list to your satisfaction, take an objective look at what’s really needed and what you’re willing to trade-off, for whatever reason. Prioritize each list and eliminate items that you know are unrealistic or unnecessary. Then transfer items low on the lists to separate lists of wants and needs that you can list as “desires” if the budget allows or to be planned for in the future.

House Size

Room Sizes

Here is a place to list the rooms that you would like in your new home.

Please add any/all and in the column marked “Floor” denote what floor level you desire them to be on (first, second or lower level). If you don’t have a strong preference to what floor that the room must go on, leave it blank. This will allow the designer some flexibility. Next comes room size. Measure the rooms in your current residence that you desire to have in your new home. Let us know if the sizes of those rooms are as you desire or if you want your new rooms to be larger or smaller and by how much. One person’s definition of a large master bedroom may be different than someone else’s. This exercise will eliminate any confusion.

Once you have entered all of the information for the first room, click the plus sign “+” at the end of the line and enter the information for the next room, and so on. You can add as many rooms as necessary.

How do you spend your time?

Material Selections

Interior Trim

Flooring

Here It Comes

Budget

This is a scary word for most people. Budgets can be compared to paychecks – Everybody has one, we just wish it were bigger and we commonly don’t share its value with others.

If you are not sure what your budget is, a loan officer at your bank can help with assisting you to define what yours should be. If you don’t have a relationship with your banker, we can suggest a few lenders that have gone above and beyond at meeting our client’s expectations in past transactions. Let us know if you need a recommendation. Together you and your lender can establish a comfortable number for your new home.

Budget Triangle

Designing and building a home requires aligning three elements that make up the “Budget Triangle”. We will guide you throughout the project on how to balance the triangle. Here is a simple outline of the Budget Triangle:

Size: Yes, size matters! It’s not only the size, but the proportions. The more evenly we can distribute footage between floors, the more economical it will be. Your completed homework will greatly assist us in designing and building the right size home for your family and budget.

Amenities: Interior finishes like: Will your countertops be granite, solid surface or plastic laminate? Will your woodwork be oak, cherry or will it be painted? Exterior finishes like siding, masonry, windows plus many more play a huge role in the final costs of your home.

As your design/build professionals, we will work with you to close the Budget Triangle, to align your needs, wants and desires with what your budget will afford. At times, this can be the most difficult aspect of building a new home but together we can work through this hurdle. At Michael F. Simon Builders, we strive to have all our proposals come within our client’s budget.

We also feel that a key to successfully designing and building the home of your dreams is insuring every dollar is spent wisely.

Let’s Wrap It Up!

We have experienced that email works great for the majority of our clients. Having the freedom to write an email late at night while a thought is fresh on your mind, and the fact that a “trail” of communication can be easily saved are some benefits of email.

Thank you!

As a design/build firm dedicated to making your housing dreams a reality, we are committed to providing you a home that is best suited to not only your family but one that will hold its resale value long into the future because of its construction and design.

We are now armed with a solid understanding of your particular wants, needs and desires. We can pinpoint the right house and features for you, delivering a home that suits your circumstances now and well into the future.

By you taking the time to finish this homework, what started as a rough collection of your dreams has evolved into a clear-cut set of expectations and priorities. At the same time, you have created a strong communication tool for our design and construction departments that will be of great assistance in the creation a home that meets your lifestyle and reflects all that you hoped for in a new home.

Remember, building should be a fun and enjoyable process.

At Michael F. Simon Builders, it is our desire to earn your trust and confidence to design and build the home of your dreams. Working together, it will be a very rewarding process!