Common pitfalls when planning construction of your home

In the early stage of your home construction, expectation management plays an important role. Failing to understand the limitation and setting clear intention for the home can lead to a back and forth process and disappointments. Pay attention to these things before you engage with your construction company

1. What “enough” is

Define a proper home for your living condition. Are you a couple that both work in the office for most part of the day? In that case opt for simple and low maintenance as the priority of your house. On the contrary, if you work remotely or have a family member that will stay home a lot then strategize a space that can provide ease of mind and clear separation between work and rest. Are there any friends or families that will frequently visit? Do you want to showcase anything about yourself from this house? Failing to answer these reflective questions may get you misled and be left with a dysfunctional living space.

2. Government regulation

There are several codes that homeowners need to abide by despite building on a plot of land they own. The most common regulation is mandatory green area of a house. Your land cannot be completely utilized into a construction, a percentage of it needs to be left empty and utilized as a garden or green terrace. Consult with professionals on how you utilize your land. Other regulations also exist such as minimum distance between home and main road for sidewalk as well as permits to renovate several building categories such as heritage buildings.

3. House segment priority

With regulation being abided to, there is a sequence to each part of the house that needs to be decided first based on the technical feasibility.

• Kitchen: It is recommended to have your kitchen on the first floor. As a functionality that fulfills the primary need of living, you should first decide the scale of your kitchen. Reflect on your behavior; do you normally cook casual meals or is it a heavy duty kitchen that involves processing raw materials? Also decide on your preferred kitchen furniture. Single or double door fridge? Do you want an electric or gas stove? How many furnaces do you want on your stove? And so on
• Bedrooms: This should be based on the number of people living in your house, plus an extra room in case of guests. Will you be having a lot of guests staying over? This should decide the number of additional room
  Bathrooms: This comes in third priority since multiple people can live with one bathroom.
• Additional features: once you’ve come down to this point, the remaining space can be utilized for your personal liking. Balconies, hobby related spots, ponds/pools and others

The last thing you can decide would be the living dining area, since this part can be combined in its practicality.