When you hear the words “custom home” you might immediately think of a sprawling, enormous house with five-plus bedrooms and even more bathrooms. Or something a bit less dramatic, perhaps around 3,000 to 4,000 square feet. But this is a common misconception. In reality, “custom home” doesn’t always equal—and definitely doesn’t have to equal—“large home.”
Building a custom home isn’t about size (or at least not just about size); it’s about building a home that is uniquely yours, that has the layout, style, design elements, features, and products that fit your lifestyle, your needs, your preferences. In some cases, those things do call for more square footage. But often it’s about achieving those dreams in a footprint that makes sense for your wish list, property, and budget.
Building for the size you truly need can save money in your overall budget, which is perhaps what’s needed to build custom in the first place or possibly leaving room in the budget to splurge on an extravagant feature or two. Smaller homes also are more efficient to heat and cool and require less maintenance, saving you money down the road.
And a smaller home doesn’t mean sacrificing your dreams. One of the benefits of working with Estes Builders is that our design team can take your list of needs and wants, along with your budget and the unique challenges of the land you own, and develop a floor plan and design that achieve nearly all of it without wasting space. A custom home doesn’t need to be large to be beautiful or functional. This doesn’t mean a custom home can’t be large, just that it doesn’t have to be if it’s not in your interest or price level.
From the opposite perspective, choosing to build a small custom home rather than buying a production home can help your house live larger. Building to your precise specifications helps eliminate unneeded features that take up unnecessary space, ensures your home’s footprint works efficiently with the parcel while still maximizing its attributes, and ensures you’re paying for what you want rather than things you don’t need.
For example, this 1,395-square-foot custom home that Estes Builders recently completed in Port Townsend, Washington, required a small square footage to accommodate a tight property size and existing trees. The resulting design was sized and sited to respect the land, the neighboring homes, and privacy, while still delivering most of the buyer’s must-have features.
Similarly, this 1,400-square-foot house in Hansville, Washington, was penned in by wetlands. Estes Builders’ in-house design team developed a floor plan to maximize efficiencies and create cozy-yet-modern full-time cabin living replete with customized details, clean lines, and ample outdoor space.
No matter the size of your dream home, Estes Builders’ can help bring it to life. Schedule a Custom Home Investment Study today.