Your Official Guide to Selecting a Site for Your Custom Home: Tips, Questions to Ask & Case Studies
You’ve made the decision to build your home—congrats! Now the question is, which comes first: the land or the design? As architects, we need to know the land to design the house, but we also need to have an idea of how you want the house to be designed in order to choose the land.
The truth? We can’t commit to a design before we see the site—but there are several general conditions to consider before committing to a piece of land, so it all comes together beautifully.
As far as when to choose your site—it's early on in the process, so a lot of people actually choose a site and hold on to it for a couple of years. Obviously, you will have that site ready before you go to an architect to design a home, which is perfectly fine. True, if you're building a custom home, there are a lot of different things we can do to design to the light that you already have. Ideally, though, you want to engage an architect or designer or builder before you choose the lot. There are a number of reasons for this. Let’s dive in!
Everything You Need to Consider for Your Custom Home’s Site Selection Process
Location, Location, Location
Location, location, location, as the old adage goes, is a major factor in the decision to build a home. It's a common term because it's real. It holds weight, and it’s very important—your neighborhood, your city, your state, whether it has trees or farm land, etc. It’s wise to use a local real estate agent in your search, so long as the agent’s commission is not tied to the new house build.
Amenities, Privacy & Lifestyle
You want to know how close you are to the grocery store or school systems, where you are in your life, community density (number of homes per acre) and what amenities you want. What level of privacy do you desire? What lifestyle do you want? Do you want your neighbors within 10 feet of you? Do you want to be able to say hi when you’re taking out the garbage? Or do you want to be out on 20 acres? Do you mind driving 30 minutes to get groceries? These are all things to consider before choosing a lot to build on. Keep in mind that an empty site will look much different once it has been cleared for construction and now there is a neighbor 25’ away.
Builders & Lot Ownership
Is there a builder tied to the lot? In development, sometimes an unencumbered developer will develop a building site. When that happens, they get to decide who builds there, because they own the land, and they're selling the land. They may tell you to bring your own builder (you'll sometimes see this on signs)—which means pretty much anybody can build.
This is pretty common where I live: developers will develop the lot, and it’s either a builder that has developed the neighborhood or a developer that has association with builders, or they know the high-end builders they want to be there. They know the quality of homes they want in that neighborhood. In this case, they’ll have what's called a ‘closed builder list.’ You’ll need to inquire about this very early on when you're looking for lots. Drive through a neighborhood and call—if there's an HOA, a developer, or a realtor, this should be one of your first questions for them. Another thing to consider are lots for sale that builders own outright. If that’s the case, you’re less likely to bring your own builder, but you could still pursue it. If it's the perfect lot for you, call the builder—they may be ready to get rid of that lot and possibly sell it to you outright.
Covenants
For residential neighborhoods, a covenant is a rule governing the use of property. It may also refer to a formalized promise or agreement in a deed concerning the use of the land, where the purchaser of land will follow certain restrictions associated with the land. Basically, covenants make it so that the HOA has a right to accept or reject any design—such as minimum square footage, utility responsibility, building materials, and whether you’ll be allowed to do things such as install solar panels or build fences.
Be sure to look at the covenants, understand them (if you can), and if there are people already living in that neighborhood, don’t be afraid to drive around and ask how someone else’s process went. Ultimately, you have to roll with the punches. If you have a good designer and architect, you can redesign and still have a very beautiful home that meets the neighborhood’s requirements.
Sun Orientation
When I'm designing a house, sun orientation means everything. I need to know how you live, and how you want the sun to move through your house during the day. Are you daytime people? Are you nighttime people? Do you wake up with the sun? Do you always get up and leave before the sun even rises? Do you want your master bedroom on the eastern side?
My absolute favorite sun orientation for the rear of the house is southeast. Southern orientation is going to give you the most sun during the day—you can see it moving all the way across, and having it turn just a little towards the east gives me morning sun, which I love waking up to. I also like sleeping in until the sun comes up, which is a little tough this time of year in January, but when you're headed a little bit more towards the east—and especially if you design your master bedroom to go on the eastern side—then you're going to get that morning light. Some clients have said it's more important for their kids to get eastern light, so they're waking up with the sun in a more natural rhythm. That being said, there's no such thing as the wrong sun orientation, but it’s great to be aware of it.
Cost
There are so many factors to consider when it comes to your housing costs—and it has a lot to do with the lot that you choose. There are so many things that can ramp up the cost of building a house (think: clearing of trees and underbrush, additional structures, getting rid of water, cost of retaining walls, etc). Naturally, all of this needs to be figured out before you buy the lot. Even if you choose a lot that you know will have design considerations and additional expenses, at least you’re going in with a well thought out plan.
When in doubt, ask yourself these questions…
We just covered a lot of ground (pun intended!) for selecting your site. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, here are some general questions to ask yourself:
Where do you want to live? City, township, school district, proximity to stores…
What lifestyle do you want? Neighbors, density, community rules…
Is privacy important to you? Are you a block-party person or do you prefer to see no one from your patio?
What sun orientation is best for you?
Can you absorb the additional costs to build on a nontraditional lot?
Read These Two Case Studies Before Selecting a Site for Your Custom Home
Selecting your site is your first financial leap into committing to a custom home project. Unfortunately, we see people getting it wrong all of the time—and we’re determined to ensure this doesn’t happen to you. Let’s review two case studies our firm has been working on to help you get a better understanding of what’s possible when selecting a site…
Case Study #1: Leverage Your Investigation Period
One of our sites is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It happens to be a very complicated site, and because of that it was listed for less money than any of the other sites in the area. A complex site usually has a solution that most people aren’t willing to take the time to figure out, and we were excited to jump at the chance!
Since the lot was inexpensive, we got it under contract without much background information. That being said, we knew we’d need to investigate before moving forward—so, we asked for a 90-day investigation period, which they accepted. During this time, we’ve had to work through the slope of the land. Because the lot is located in the hills of Cincinnati, the land was technically situated between two streets—one above it and one below it. We were able to change the address and build on the lower street, because it had easier access, sewage and water. Plus, it has a lower slope on that side.
Before signing the contract, we had no idea if any of this would’ve been possible. The extended investigation period gave us an opportunity to ask the city if this was doable. And since we’re still within the 90-day period, there’s a lot more to investigate. We’re currently getting a survey done, marking corners, and understanding exactly what we're dealing with. 90 days is a lot of time, which has worked in our favor—we get to consider some designs and see if it makes sense financially for us to do it all. It’s a win-win!
Case Study #2: Consider Negotiating
With our second case study, a client came to us asking to design and build their house on a lot they had already purchased. They were excited and wanted to get started right away. So, the first thing we did was visit their site. Unfortunately, in our initial meeting, the client forgot to mention that the land was super steep from front to back, completely forested, and midway up a hill. Although we were excited to design a non-traditional home on this property, we also recognized that it was going to cost a lot of money to clear the land. Once the land was cleared, we knew we would need to meet with the excavation team to see how they could get their equipment up the hill. All of this is possible, but it requires some extra work and money.
Although we’re working through these kinks, beware of following this client’s footsteps. Unfortunately, they had already bought and closed on this land without negotiating the price based on how much it was going to cost to build on it. It’s going to take a large portion of their budget just to build a foundation. In addition, it’s going to take extra time to prepare the site.
Both of these instances demonstrate the need to extrapolate as much information before buying your land. Remember that you have control over this decision. Negotiate if need be, especially if it looks like it’s going to be a complex site. Find a good realtor and ask for time to investigate. The worst thing they can do is say no—and if that happens, you can make the decision to walk away. The bottom line? Get as much information as you can before closing on the lot. Information is power, and so are your choices.
Keep in mind, while working with an architect to choose a site is best, I’ve also designed many homes on lots that the homeowner bought before our meeting. Sometimes we need to get more creative to bring in light to a north facing room, or create a walk-up basement with a sunken patio instead of the walk-out basement they were envisioning, but we can get there.
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