When you’re looking for new homes, it can sometimes be difficult to find a home that completely meets your needs and wants. To solve this dilemma, instead of buying a pre-built home, you might want to try building your own brand new home.

When you build your own house, you can ensure that it is built exactly to your specifications and that it has every feature and detail you want it to have. Building a new home can be expensive, though, which is why it’s important for you to develop a budget in order to ensure you don’t overextend your finances.

The following are 15 ways that you can keep costs down and maximize your budget when building a new home.

1. Share the lot purchase

One of the first necessary costs that must be endured when building a home is acquiring a lot upon which to built. Oftentimes, new home builders find that the most appealing sites upon which to build their new homes are placed on larger lots, and many sellers aren’t willing to break up the large land space into many smaller lots in their desire to be rid of their sale as soon as possible. To make more desired lots affordable, consider sharing the purchase of a larger lot with friends or family members, and then break up the larger lot into smaller ones for each of you.

2. Take on a challenging lot

Lots that have hillsides, that are narrow, and so on, generally aren’t considered desirable places to build homes. Therefore, they tend to stay on the market longer and sell for lower prices. Although they are considered more difficult to build on, a competent contractor can tackle the challenge and deliver you a great-looking challenge.

3. Compromise on waterfront lots

If you insist on having a waterfront lot, consider purchasing one that’s located on a canal or bay rather than right on an ocean or lake. This still affords you the water access you want without the hefty price tag that comes with the other options.

4. Use low-maintenance building materials

Not only are low-maintenance building materials, such as vinyl siding and metal roofing, cheaper in the short run, but they are also more cost effective in the long run as well since you won’t have to worry about repairing, repainting, or replacing them as soon as various other options.

5. Implement salvaged materials in your construction

You can save a ton of money by choosing to salvage materials such as old barn doors, used bricks, and more. Oftentimes, you can get these types of salvaged materials completely for free from sites that have been or are being demolished. Plus, they help add character to your new home.

6. Invest in structural components, doors, and windows

There are many places where you can cut costs, but these three elements are essential to any home, and it’s best to go ahead and invest in high-quality materials for these so that you won’t have to repair or replace them as quickly as their cheaper counterparts. The slightly higher upfront costs will certainly pay off in the long run.

7. Take care not to overbuild

Although you might want your home to have certain features, take care not to overbuild based on the neighborhood your home is located. Even though your home might be bigger and nicer than all the other ones in the neighborhood, the lower prices of the surrounding homes will bring down your home’s resale value despite its more austere appeal.

8. Monitor construction

When you enter into an agreement with a contractor, it’s important for you to monitor the allowances given the contractor to ensure that you’re getting what you paid for. For instance, if you agreed that a premium type of finish would be used in your home, ensure that’s what the contractor is installing. Don’t accept anything other than what you agreed to without getting a cost adjustment.

9. Enlist a certified general contractor

It’s extremely important to ensure that you only use a certified general contractor since the experience that this type of professional brings to the home-building process is invaluable. Plus, a certified general contractor also has established relationships with other building professionals that can help maximize your budget.

10. Avoid site preparation charges

Before a new home can be built on a site, the site must be properly prepared. Some common types of site preparation include hauling in dirt, clearing trees, blasting rock, and grading the landscape. It’s best to avoid these types of charges by selecting a site and then building your home to accommodate the type of landscape that’s already there.

11. Prevent change orders

Determine exactly what you want before the ground is broken, and stick to those specifications. Although some changes in building materials or blueprints usually happen at some point or another, minimizing them is key to keeping your costs down.

12. Minimize depth

Minimize the depth of your home to 32 feet or less. If your depth is any more than that, your roof trusses will most likely have to be specially designed, which will significantly increase the costs associated with building your home.

13. Check out alternative flooring options

Although you might want hardwood flooring or ceramic tiles throughout your home, if your budget doesn’t allow for it or you simply want to minimize costs, consider opting for a cheaper alternative like vinyl flooring instead. Not only does vinyl sometimes look like the real thing, but it also serves as a perfect underlayment upon which you can later install the tile or wood that you want when you get the funds to do so.

14. Choose a stock plan

There are numerous building plans available out there, and choosing a prefabricated one is much cheaper than investing in a custom one. Plus, you can usually select a base stock plan and then customize it to your specifications to ensure you get everything that you want from your new home.

15. Consider storage options carefully

Although many people utilize their garages as extra storage space, there are much cheaper ways to increase storage space. Instead of having an extra garage space designated for storage, build your garage to accommodate the number of vehicles that you have and then consider building a shed or maximizing attic space, adding space under a stairwell, and so on for storage.