Needs & Wants

Just like when you plan to buy an existing home, it’s helpful to do the following for building a new home:

Make a list of your needs or must-haves and wants or dream-haves, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you’d like, along with other features that you have in mind. If you’ve visited open houses lately, consider what really caught your eye and interested you.

Think about what you’ll need now and what you might need in the future. Is this where you’ll begin and raise your family? On the other end of the age spectrum, do you plan to retire here? Each of these scenarios will come with different wants and needs.

Imagine this house on the land you bought or will buy. What’s the best way to situate windows for natural light and help with energy efficiency? Would the exterior color, landscaping, add-ons, etc., meet your neighborhood’s required ordinances and regulations? After you’ve come up with a good list of needs and wants, you can then select the right general contractor to build your home.

This builder will translate your ideas into a tangible form for your approval. This will allow you to “see” what your preferences would look like in a new home—and, thanks to today’s building industry modeling applications, contractors can quickly and easily use technology to add and take away features in a computerized rendering.

What are today’s home trends? You may find inspiration in what’s trending in new construction builds, especially since many of them are so well suited for Florida living.

Today’s home designs are curvier than ones from the recent past, often including arches and vaulted ceilings. “Biophilic designs,” meanwhile, focus on bringing the outdoors in, whether that’s through the structure of the building or in other ways to mimic nature and leverage nature’s bounty.

Luxury outdoor space is in demand, such as a screened-in back porch or outdoor kitchen—both ideal for entertaining. Pools, fire pits with built-in benches, and more may be of interest. Today, more homeowners are opting for metal roofs—they’re environmentally friendly, 100% recyclable, and they typically are made from 25% recycled materials.

As far as interior design, browns are back: all shades of brown, which work in tandem with another hot design trend—incorporating elements of nature indoors. Tactile textures and vintage items are both trending. With high tech, sustainable designs are likely to be in demand today as well as in the near future.