Designing your own new home or renovation?

DIY Home Design is the way many make their home dreams a reality.

Here are the mistakes to avoid, and how to get it right, if you’re at this stage in your project.

All this season, I’m sharing a fantastic resource I’ve created to help you, and you can access it now for free.

If you’re struggling with understanding the overall steps for your project, what you should be focussing on and when, or how to best invest your efforts, energy and money to get a great outcome in your future home, this will be super helpful.

It’s my online workshop called “Your Project Plan”.

Head to https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan to access and watch it online now. I’ve also added some great bonus resources I’ve made available for you, including the transcripts of all the podcasts in this season packaged up in a fantastic E-Guide.

In this episode I’ll be talking about those who are DIY’ing their home design, and know that soon they’ll be on the hunt for a builder to make it a reality.

There are many, many homeowners who design their own home from scratch, and then go straight to a builder.

They see it as a means of maintaining full control on the process, and getting what they want in their future home.

However, there’s some key things to pay attention to if this is your approach, so that you don’t end up making mistakes, or just overlooking the things that can make your home truly special and enjoyable to live in.

So what does this stage look like for a homeowner?

For many, it can start with simple tinkering, and as someone begins to get more and more involved in their own design ideas, and the idea of hiring someone seems too expensive, or to involve too little control, or doesn’t seem like a good fit, the design ideas develop and develop.

I’ve seen homeowners use everything from pencil on graph paper, to free apps with existing library parts of walls, doors, windows and furniture … through to a tool like SketchUp where they can model it in 3D and create walk-throughs.

If you heard my interview with Clare Le Roy of the Little Design Corner, we spoke about how homeowners are learning to use this tool and then creating their own designs.

Sometimes it can be very intentional to DIY your home design. It’s something you’ve always wanted to do, and the idea of saying “I did this myself” is something you want for your project.

Other times it can be quite accidental, and just snow-balls out of starting to play with ideas, and ending up having a fully-fledged home design waiting to be turned into construction drawings.

When I practiced traditionally as an architect, I had no idea how many homeowners fully designed their own new homes and renovations.

I knew that people drew up sketches with ideas for their future homes, but I thought that was where it stopped … and then they found a designer or an architect to continue the process.

Since starting Undercover Architect in mid 2014, I have learned just how many of you do design your homes from scratch.

As in fully design them: deciding on the floor plan, the elevations, the interior design.

And even go so far as to learn software like SketchUp to be able to model them in 3D and really push and play with the design.

Some homeowners just really want to do it this way.

Be it because they have a love of design and have always been really passionate about creating their own home.

Or they’ve had a bad experience with a designer in the past, and feel they want full ownership of things this time.

Or because they just feel that to maintain control and get what they really want, they need to be the one creating the design themselves.

I have architects telling me that it’s terrible that I teach homeowners how to design, because they will then think of themselves as experts in work it’s taken a professional years and years of experience to master.

My perspective is very different.

As a DIY designer, you know you’re not an expert, and that’s what can make it even more challenging for you to commit to a design, and feel that you’ve covered all your bases and the home will turn out as you’ve been dreaming it would, and hopefully embedding into the design you’ve been creating. 

That’s why I teach you, and why I created the Home Design Masterclass – because it design can be an involved and complex process to get right, and you’re only getting one crack at it – so it’s important you have the right tools, resources and knowledge that you can put into action in your design.

Want to do this stage of DIY Home Design well? Here’s how …

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

Access my free online workshop “Your Project Plan” >>> FREE WORKSHOP

Learn more about Undercover Architect’s mini courses

• Set + Stick to Your Budget >>> CLICK HERE
• Choose Your Builder >>> CLICK HERE

Planning to design your own new home or renovation? Home Design Masterclass shares my methods of home design, room by room >>> CLICK HERE

Work with me on your new home or renovation inside The HOME Method >>> CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Interview with Clare Le Roy, The Little Design Corner, about using SketchUp for your project >>> LISTEN HERE

Understand copyright and what to do if you want to use a floor plan you’ve found online >>> READ MORE HERE

Listen to Season 2 of the podcast to learn (room-by-room) about your home design >>> SEASON 2