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The house you want to build will always have a longer list of things you want to include than you have budget to include. The job of designer and builder is to rank the items on the list by how they enable versus constrain the rest of the list. It is often the case that something that seems inexpensive to include now will end up being very expensive to fix or work around later.
Below is a list of all the typical components that houses need and where it is best to get advice to avoid costly errors.
Flexible rooms that survive a change of use
A flexible room or adaptable room is not simply a room that has been labeled as ‘flex’ on the plans. It is a space that can be transformed into other uses without any subsequent building works being required.
The flexible room is tested against the following criteria to see if it can fulfill at least three different functions over a twenty year period. If a ground floor front of house room is going to be a home office/temporary guest room/longer-term aged parent room then it will need a proper door, a window meeting egress requirements, a full bathroom nearby and sufficient sound separation from the kitchen/dining/living areas to function as a bedroom.
What actually enables flexibility
- Structural clear spans in the right places so partitions can move without touching load paths
- Rough-in plumbing for a future bathroom or kitchenette, stubbed and capped, with the location documented
- Doorways at 36 inches and level thresholds on at least one route through the ground floor
- Power and data at more than one wall, so furniture layouts are not dictated by a single outlet
- A stair or hallway wide enough that a room conversion does not create a circulation bottleneck
The provision of a flexible room is not, generally, a popular feature with clients. However, an adaptable space can be very useful. A room that could be used as a home office, a guest room or as long term accommodation for an aging parent could be very useful over a twenty year ownership period.
Energy performance, in order of return
Energy features are another set of features that compete for dollars. In terms of value to you, energy features do not deliver equally. First, seal the envelope. Then, build the mechanical systems. Finally, add generation.
In almost every case, the cost of completing a solid envelope first will be less than the cost of completing all the mechanical systems first, and generally less than the cost of installing the most obvious energy features first. Work from the outside in.
| Measure | Relative cost | Retrofit difficulty later | Priority |
| Air sealing and blower door testing | Low | Very high | Do it now |
| Continuous exterior insulation | Moderate | Very high | Do it now |
| Triple glazing and thermal breaks | High | Moderate | Do it now |
| Heat pump and heat recovery ventilation | Moderate | Moderate | Do it now |
| Solar array and battery storage | High | Low | Can be deferred, but pre-wire |
Storage designed against a real inventory
Most storage failures are due to a lack of specificity. A big storage room with plenty of room for clothing and cars seems fine on plans but in reality households need somewhere to store things like bikes, a second freezer, seasonal items and sports equipment, often arriving wet and muddy.
Create a written inventory of bulky items at design phase. Ask the homeowner to list out the odd shaped items in the home by dimension and how frequently they are used. Items that need to be used on a weekly basis should be located near where they will be used. Items that are only used on an annual basis can be located anywhere that is dry. Mudrooms, conditioned attics and deeper garage bays all can solve the storage problem but need to be determined on a case by case basis as to which will be the best use of space.
The utility spaces people forget
- A drop zone at the daily-use entrance, not the formal front door
- A laundry room with counter space and a hanging rail, sized as a working room rather than a closet
- A conditioned space for network equipment and any battery or inverter hardware
- Under-stair volume claimed deliberately, with a door and a light
Smart-home readiness without early obsolescence
Devices will inevitably get replaced many times over the life of a house but the underlying infrastructure won’t. That is how firms such as Kolbrook Design approach designing for technology at the framing stage of a custom home and that is why we elaborate on this below.
Run data structured cabling to all areas where TVs, computers, etc. May reside. Run conduit from panel to attic and out to exterior of house. Run deep boxes and neutral wires (for future switches) to all locations where future switches may be installed. Power a ventilated and locked cable enclosure in the highest traffic area of house, away from bedrooms.
What to resist
Avoid special control systems which are housed in a wall panel. Such systems typically contain the proprietary hub of a single supplier and are costly to replace when they are outdated. As with all systems, intelligence should be kept separate from wiring and made portable. If you are weighing builders who handle this infrastructure well, it is worth reviewing how teams building custom homes in Indianapolis, Indiana document their rough-in standards before framing begins.
Layouts judged by movement, not by room count
Walk this plan. See how long it takes to get from your car to your kitchen with groceries. See how long it takes to get to bed at night from your bedroom to your bathroom. See how long it takes to do laundry and get to storage in closets. These can add up to a lot of time and stress in a home. Beware of a home that adds 15 steps to your daily routine. Better to have a powder room off a hallway rather than in the main living area and hear complaint after complaint about how it always smells.
Sightlines are important too. What can you see from the entrance to the home and from your main seated position in the home? The location of the kitchen sink, the laundry door and the stairwell landing must be deliberate and not become an ‘accident’ as you wander through the home.
