Creating your perfect family home is all about the vision. Choosing a standard home – known in the industry as a ‘spec home’ – or a custom home makes a major difference to the tone and feel of your project. Here’s what you need to know.
Custom Or Standard?
Spec homes are design templates that take a range of competing visions and dreams and blend them into one outcome. For many families, this is just what they’re looking for. Predictable, reliable, and satisfactory, spec homes are good, functional homes at a reasonable price. They don’t leave much room (no pun intended!) for personalisation, though.
Custom builds appeal to homeowners who want a more creative and flexible use of space. The idea is to design a home that is finely tuned to the individual needs of you and your family. These include personal, lifestyle and family considerations, as well as personal flair and style. Rather than the standard, pre-determined features that a spec home offers, a custom build embodies personalisation and choice.
Both custom and standard new builds require you to have a suitable plot of land to build on. In London this commonly means buying an old property, with the intention of demolishing the house and reusing the land. This is a great investment, as the new property will normally be worth more than the ‘pre-loved’ original property therefore giving you a substantial saving on stamp duty. Also, VAT is not applicable for new builds. This 20% saving can be re-invested into quirky design features, sustainable technologies and unusual, high-quality materials.
Building Dreams
Is there really any such thing as a ‘standard home’? Not really. Every home allows its owners to imprint it with a unique décor and personality. However, it is only with custom new builds that your choices and preferences can be incorporated into the very fabric of the home – from the outset. A custom new build gives you the home of your dreams, straight away, without compromise.
A Forever-Home
This makes a custom new build the perfect choice for couples and families seeking their ‘forever home’ – a sanctuary to finally settle down in. A forever home reflects the personality of those who curl up on its sofas, relax in its garden, and show it off on Instagram. Dream homes are unique, individual, and forge an organic relationship with the people who live inside them. When it comes to nurturing a forever-home into existence, choice and control are everything – so a custom build is normally the way to go.
If you are dreaming of creating your forever-home from scratch, or would like to discuss refurbishment options for an existing property, please call 020 8942 7048.
