Building A Custom Home Series, Part I

I thought it would be helpful to someone considering a custom home to have a resource (this blog) for the process from start to finish.  Building 40-50 homes a year for our clients, NDI clearly knows how to build a house.  What you may not know is that we also build 3-5 NDI spec houses each year, for which we source and buy the land, get the permits, design the house and then build.  We go through what our clients go through and, in doing so, have acquired a ton of knowledge to share–which is the main reason for starting my blog.

Since he started NDI in 1988, Dad has always done spec projects.  Prior to 2007, most of these projects were in the outlying areas.  He’d find a piece of ground in Fauquier or Culpeper and do small subdivisions.  But once the housing market began to turn (in a bad way) in 2005, we decided to start looking for a spec project to do inside the Beltway.  This area was still doing well in terms of new construction and having a spec project closer in would give us a home to show to our prospective clients who were considering NDI to build their home.

Since then, we’ve built over a dozen spec projects in and around the Beltway.  Here was our first spec (before and after) on Grove Avenue in the City of Falls Church.

 

 

We’ve built some beautiful homes.

 

 

I have the pleasure of designing and choosing all of the interior and exterior color selections.  It’s fun to try new trends to see how people like them.

 

I hope you enjoy this series of posts and that you find it a helpful tool to learn more about the ins and outs of building a new custom home.  I will try to give you some insider tips on making the process easier and what things you should be thinking about along the way.  There is a lot of stuff.  I hope my blog makes it a little easier for you!

Dream Big.  Build Smart.