7 Often-Overlooked Homebuilding Design Considerations

Building a home is an exciting time. It's an opportunity to make sure your new house will have everything you want -- within budget, of course -- and nothing you don't. But the decisions you have to make can seem nearly endless.

From major issues like floorplan and square footage to design questions like flooring and countertop materials and wall colors, it can get a bit overwhelming. And while you probably have all the topics mentioned so far on your radar, there are several more you may not be thinking about.

Here are a few homebuilding design considerations you'll want to be sure you make a decision about rather than letting those decisions be made for you.

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Many floorplans include a formal dining room, and people often fall in love with a house plan that has one without considering whether they would ever use it.

If your ideal plan includes both a dining room and a breakfast nook or eat-in kitchen, ask yourself whether you can see your family using a formal dining room often enough to make having that dedicated space worthwhile.

If not, having the plan redesigned to incorporate that extra space into the other living areas could be a great move.

ALSO READ: How Investors Should Approach 2022's Homebuilding Volatility

A lot of house plans boast massive master bedrooms. The idea of having such a large "retreat" can be very appealing. But if you're like a lot of people, you may be unlikely to spend much time in your master bedroom, no matter how big or luxurious it is.

If you can realistically see yourself making regular use of a big reading nook or office space area in your master bedroom, by all means, keep it in the plan. But if you don't foresee spending many of your waking hours in there, you may want a redesign that could put some of that extra space to use elsewhere.

In many floorplans, the master bath defaults to both a spacious shower and a garden tub. If you love to set out some candles and enjoy a long, luxurious bath on the regular, then you're sure to enjoy this arrangement.

But if you can count on one hand how many times you've taken a bath rather than a shower this year, you may want to just use the guest bathtub for those rare occasions.

Eliminating that garden tub in the master bath could open up several options, from pushing that space to the master closets, letting another neighboring room be a little larger, or simply opening up the master bath to be a bit more spacious.

ALSO READ: How to Finance a Bathroom Remodel

Closet space is a high priority for many people. Having plenty of room to store all your belongings just makes life easier and more efficient, and it helps keep the rest of your home looking less cluttered, too. So, you'll want to give careful consideration to the closet space available in your floor plan.

It's hard to know how the space you're looking at in an image will translate into real life, so you may want to map out the closet sizes and compare them to what you're working with now. If you think you'd be happier with more space, see whether making the rooms a little smaller to accommodate that would be practical.

You'll most likely decide on the layout of your kitchen and bath countertops, as well as the material and colors you'd like to go with. But some details can wind up being chosen by default if you don't give your input. Countertop edges are one of these.

Fancy edges with a lot of grooves can sound impressive, but every little thing can settle into them, making them very time-consuming to clean. You may or may not feel like that's a worthwhile trade. In the grand scheme of a home build, this is a tiny detail for sure. But you don't want it to be one you regret overlooking every single time you clean the kitchen.

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So, obviously, your new home will have a thermostat for controlling the temperature. But you may not have given much thought to where it will go. It's in the floorplan, so surely it's been placed in the most logical location, right? Not necessarily.

Many split plans place it in the hallway near the guest rooms, clear across the house from the master. If you'd like to easily access your thermostat when you awaken feeling hot or cold in the middle of the night -- without having to dodge furniture, walls, and possibly pets in the dark -- make sure the thermostat is located conveniently near your bedroom.

ALSO READ: Why You Should Consider an Inverted Floor Plan

With so much to think about inside the house, landscaping often becomes an afterthought that the builder contracts out, and no one really talks to you much about it. The problem with that is that there are so many different directions landscaping could go in, and some of those options may not be ideal for you.

You might be thrilled with beautiful landscaping at first, only to find that the types of shrubs and plants used are extremely high maintenance, requiring a lot of upkeep on your part. Or maybe their vision for the house just isn't in line with yours. In any event, it's worth making sure you’re part of the landscaping conversation.

This list is just a few ideas to get you started. While you'll want to keep each of these items in mind, you'll also want to take a closer look at your floorplan. What details might you be overlooking?

You may want to take a look around your current home as well to see whether you can spot things that you would have done differently. A home build is a wonderful opportunity to customize a home perfectly to your family's needs. Make sure you're taking full advantage of it.

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