To Build or Not to Build
In 2015 our family had the amazing opportunity to spend a part of the year living in Hong Kong while I worked abroad. It was an experience we are all so grateful to have had, but transitioning back to our suburban home life in Minnesota after having lived in a bustling city for months was challenging.
We were craving a more metropolitan lifestyle. Moving to an international city full time was not an option for us, but being closer to the city center of Minneapolis was.
We took some time to do a thorough walk through of the parade of homes that year for inspiration and ended up choosing a general location for a new home and started interviewing builders. This would be our third new build home, so we had some experience under our belt and knew we wanted to work with a design-build company. Design-build means that one company handles everything from the initial architecture and design of the home all the way to the end of construction. This allows for a higher level of architectural design, paired with efficient project management and communication. Additionally, the cost of design is wrapped up into your total cost, so it can be easier to budget for and finance. As a busy household with two working parents and active kids, this approach was highly advantageous in allowing us to spend time on the details that mattered most to us.
On the flip side, for someone drawn to the creative part of the process, a drawback to this approach could include the fact that the architect is not working for you – they’re working for the builder, so plans can sometimes be cost engineered and there may be less creativity in the design. The builder may also be more involved with interior selections because of volume discounts or simply because they prefer to handle that part of the process. This was a big deal to me – I wanted to be involved in both the exterior and interior architecture design and selections and wanted to know my voice was being heard throughout the whole process.
After multiple builder interviews and the considerations above, we decided to move forward with a company we felt confident and excited about. We’d seen their portfolio of architects and we admired their work and aesthetic. The builder was well known for quality homes and came with great references, but also had access to a strong selection of lots that would fit our new home’s needs. Most importantly, during all our conversations, we walked away from the interaction with a sense of a “good fit” between us. They treated us as partners, our voices were heard, and the concierge level service was going to make our lives easier during the process - always a huge benefit for us. So, we signed a contract and started the journey.
The architectural design phase of the project took about three months – a little slower than we naively anticipated, but the quality of work was fantastic. With that said, the design phase occurred during the last three months of 2016, by which time the economy had become a much more volatile and uncertain place. This had led to some uncertainty in our jobs and simply put – we were uneasy about proceeding through the build out phase.
We decided to not proceed with the build and let me tell you…it was such a tough decision.
I had become emotionally attached to this new house and the beautiful, custom design. I could visualize not just the finished house, but the lifestyle that came with it. It was so, so hard to let go of, but we did. We told ourselves it wasn’t meant to be our house, and it turns out – it wasn’t.
This may sound very familiar to anyone who has been considering making a move in 2022. The housing market and economy has once again become a difficult place to decipher and confidence is low. I’ve watched friends and family grapple with this same decision: proceed with a huge investment in a new home with all this uncertainty or pull the plug on the project and stay put.
While there’s no one right answer for everyone in this situation, what I can recommend is going with your gut. Deep down you likely know whether it’s right for you, your family and your finances to either proceed and ride the wave of uncertainty or cut bait and wait for the next right opportunity. This is hard, and probably neither decision will feel 100% right, but sometimes there are just things outside of our control and the only thing we can control is how we respond to it.
Making that phone call to our builder was one of the hardest I’ve ever made. While there had always been a back door clause allowing us to back out before construction, no one ever sets out to take that route. The builder and the team were amazing in their graciousness and understanding, which I will never forget.
So where did that leave us? Well, in suburbia for a few more years, but then two years later – when the time was right – we found the land to build on and the home that was truly meant to be for our family...