Buyers come in all shapes, sizes, and situations! From family size to area of focus, we meet individuals every day that have questions about the new home construction process. We try to educate each and every one of them on the options available to meet their needs. However, the biggest and most repeated answers we give revolve around the difference between community and custom home buying experience.
Community Homes
New Home Construction communities often feature “spec” or inventory homes that come with standard features and design styles selected by the builder prior to building. Elements such as exterior and interior colors, cabinets, countertops, and flooring are selected before the build begins to offer for buyers looking to purchase new construction homes quickly. These homes may allow for very basic changes such as upgraded landscaping or adding covered porches but many of the interior selections such as cabinets and countertop colors are pre-ordered before the build begins.
Custom Homes
Custom home construction usually occurs when you locate property where you want to build a home that is customized to you and your family’s needs. The custom home process allows you to select every detail from floor plan to finishes so that your new home truly reflects your taste and your lifestyle. This process often takes months to go through environmental reviews, permitting, drafting, selections, and actual construction but can be fulfilling at the end.
What’s the Difference?
Often new home construction communities will have limitations on customizing your home. While pre-selecting a lot and deciding on which home to build gives you the option to pick a lot of your details such as cabinets, countertops, flooring, shower options and more — you can be limited in scope to what floor plans and options are available within the community. Builders typically provide a limit to the floor plans you can select from and adhere to community covenants and standards regarding the exterior features of your home. In addition, lots within a community may not allow for upgrade outdoor features that provide you with the final look you are hoping to achieve. So, buying in a new construction community does not fully allow for you to build a custom home. However, new construction communities do allow for home buyers to find new construction homes with warranties that they can move into rather quickly without the hassle of grading, permitting, and going through the custom drafting process.
How We Can Help
Cook Residential offers buyers a chance to explore both building experiences. Our new construction community teams build fabulous new homes in multiple communities all over Northeast Georgia each year. The floor plans for each community are selected to provide a variety of living spaces for our clients. Our team follows that up by selecting set standards that match the look and feel of the neighborhood to help you maximize your dollar and get the most features for the price. In addition, these homes give you a community environment with community features such as street scaped lots and entry features.
The Cook Custom team is designed with the custom home experience in mind. This team of agents, draftsman, and design consultant help you to flip through numerous basic floor plans to find the starting point for your new home. The custom experience provides time for your family to meet with us and begin to create a home that is truly yours from the foundation up. This process involves finding your own land or individual lot that can be built to suit your needs. Custom homes are generally more specialized in the end but are also a longer process because we work with you to ensure that everything from proper permitting and zoning is done before you build.
Learn About Your Options
From years of experience, we know that every family’s situation is different, and their needs are unique. So, if you are considering the new home construction process, we are more than willing to speak with you about the pros and cons to find the best solution. Just give us a call today and let us walk you through your options.
