For several decades, many Filipinos have aspired to become overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for various reasons – most common of which, is to better provide for their families and to secure their future by investing in a house, a business, or their children’s education.
Those are all good investments, but in this post, we will focus on investing in a house. A house is a good investment because, by the time you retire, you no longer have to worry about paying rent. Also, your children and grandchildren can also benefit greatly from this kind of property investment. You can even sell your house for a higher cost eventually!
7 Tips to Save Money When Building Your Home
So while we all agree that investing in a house is an excellent decision you can make for yourself, your family, and your future, let’s not forget the fact that the road to achieving this goal is not at all easy and simple to take. There will be a lot of challenges and sacrifices that you need to make and overcome.
As they say, nothing worthwhile comes easy and without any challenges. The same is much, much applicable when building your own house. Let’s get one thing straight here first. Even if you have the money to build a house, that in itself, won’t be enough. You’ll need proper planning, consultation, and effective research and execution to get everything together.
That said, here are some tips on how you can make this venture, much more realistic and doable (if not sustainable) until this is completed. Listed below are seven tips on how you can save money while building your dream home:
1. Look for different suppliers.
While this can be a bit of a hassle and requires great organizational and research skills, it is worth the effort. Remember, the more options that you have, the higher the possibility that you’ll find the most cost-efficient way to build projects. Also, when one supplier is unresponsive, takes long to give a quote, or simply does not prioritize you, having other suppliers on your radar will make moving, and subsequently, getting the job done easier for you.
2. Thoroughly evaluate every line of supplier’s quotations.
You need to know that not all suppliers will fully disclose everything there is in the quotation they’ll provide you with. Sometimes, they’ll try to eliminate stuff and then charge you after. What may seem to be more expensive on paper may offer the most value if they’ll hand them to you complete.
3. Put everything into writing.
The importance of signed contracts for everything is that these will serve as your protection against suppliers who won’t keep their end of the bargain for the agreed price. That said, while an agreeable handshake is a good gesture for establishing trust, do not settle for those alone, especially when doing business.
4. Make decisions that will make the upkeep/maintenance of the house economical in the future.
Even if cutting the costs while building your house is a priority, it’s also important to consider in investing in things that would save you more money in the future. Even if they cost a bit pricey now, your investment will eventually pay for itself. For example, with home lighting, even though LED lights are more expensive, they last a very long time and use less energy than more inexpensive lights.
5. Remember that the design of the house will influence its cost.
Think about it. There are certain materials that cost more than others. For example, a glasshouse, one with lots of mouldings, and those with a lot of designs would be a bit more expensive, mainly because of the materials you’ll need to construct it. On the other hand, modern houses with not as many partitions will be relatively cheaper.
This is where research and consultation will factor in greatly. Sure, you can look up all the beautiful houses you want to model yours from on the internet. But again, is it sustainable? Will you actually get to keep it in the long run? Or will the maintenance and upkeep prevent you from enjoying your investment in the future? These are things that you need to keep at the back of your mind when constructing your home.
6. Balance your splurges and saves.
Another important point to consider is this: when building your home, you can’t just choose to have everything on it. That said, you need to figure out your priorities with your home and arrange your spending based on that hierarchy. A good tip for this is: “Splurge on what you feel is important. Budget on what you don’t need.”
As we’ve mentioned earlier, even if you have the money to build your house now, that’s not a good enough reason to splurge on everything you could possibly want for your home. That’s not practicing wisdom and foresight. Instead, come up with the things that you need and want to see in your house and weigh them against each other so your budgeting would be based on this. Moreover, think of the costs you’ll have to cover for maintenance and upkeep in the future. You do not want to compound your costs more than you can afford.
7. Hire professionals to help you out.
You can’t go wrong in working with a professional, whether they be architects, engineers, or electricians. They will help you achieve not only a beautiful home but a safe one. If you consider this as “splurging”, then rest assured that this is one of those that will definitely pay off in the future since it’ll save you from the trouble of frequent repairs and prevent possibly disastrous damages.
Building a house requires vision and foresight. For this reason, you shouldn’t make all of the decisions on your own. Make sure to invest in people and processes that will ensure your house is beautiful yet economical for the long term.
If you’re looking for inspiration for building your own dream house soon, you can check out some of the articles about our kababayans who have accomplished this by themselves, and see for yourself how creative and resourceful we Filipinos are!
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