The temperate climate and gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains make Western North Carolina a perfect destination for many who dream of building a luxury home. But do you need to build from scratch? How much will building a luxury home cost? What features should be considered, and what’s the timeline? We’ll answer these questions (and more!) in our guide to building luxury homes in Western North Carolina.
A luxury spec house is an abbreviation for a home built on speculation by builders who build these homes as an opportunity to show prospective buyers their work. Spec homes are constructed with no specific buyer involved, unlike a custom home. Spec homes that are used as models will often feature premium upgrades and décor, while others are simply built ahead of time because there seems to be demand.
Spec homes are often considered turnkey solutions, which means the builder plans, designs and builds the home. This building solution simplifies the home build process for the future buyer of the house.
Custom luxury homes are built from scratch according to your specific specifications, while spec homes are typically built to use as models so that a builder can showcase their work.
A key benefit of building a luxury home is that it can be custom designed to reflect the distinct preferences of the buyer. No home will ever be identical to a custom home.
Working with an architect and contractor, custom homes often begin with a basic floor plan that can be modified to meet the wants and needs of the buyer.
The key benefits to buying a luxury home include the ability to customize the design to perfectly suit the needs and wants of the homeowner as well as the option to integrate technology and security features into the home design itself. This is where choosing a contractor is crucial.
With so many contractors to choose from, what factors should you consider when choosing a contractor to build a house? A few tips:
Some REALTORS have preferred contractors with whom they work on select projects. Walnut Cove Realty’s Preferred Builder Program includes only the best of the best in the industry to ensure our luxury real estate clients have an outstanding experience with our WCR Luxury Spec Home Program.
Read more: Spec House vs. Custom House: Definitions, Pros, and Cons
From the property you purchase, to the home design, to the luxury finishes you've always dreamed of, many factors can drive up the cost of building a luxury home—if you let them. As a result, it can be helpful to understand which factors influence home building expenses the most so you can avoid wasting money on aspects you don't care about.
The big-picture factors that most influence the cost to build a luxury home are:
Read more: How Much Does It Cost to Build a Luxury Home Near Asheville, NC?
We understand that you don't want to make sacrifices just to stay within your construction budget. Luckily, there are many common sense choices you can make to control costs.
Here are a few tips:
Read more: Building a Luxury Home Within Budget: Ways to Get a Better Return on Your Dream Home
Today, luxury home features are only restricted by the homeowner’s vision and budget. From core and luxury rooms to security and technology, a functionality first approach is common, followed by the consideration of other luxury home features.
Core rooms make up the main framework of a home design, while luxury-specific rooms are where the value added features come into play.
Buyers in our WCR Luxury Spec Home Program often include the following core and luxury rooms and areas in their homes.
Useful security features to consider including in your home include:
In terms of broader luxury community, security features to watch for include:
Each community has its own security systems, protocols and practices.
Today’s luxury homes integrate wonderful technological innovations to meet your needs and wants, such as smart home systems and even appliances and thermostats with WiFi & other smart home features. The latter are often integrated based on client request.
Read more: Luxury Home Features and Design: Essentials and Inspirations for 2022
It often takes approximately 18 – 27 months to build a 5,000 SF luxury home in Western North Carolina. Factors such as the time of year building commences, supply chain issues, and changes to the design, for example, tend to lengthen the process.
Based on our experience building luxury homes on spec, here is a sample timeline:
Future homeowners hoping to keep a build on schedule should make decisions early and stick to them throughout the process, choose a reliable contractor who is not at capacity, begin construction before Winter, and order appliances 12 months in advance to help prevent delays.
Read more: What Is the Typical Timeline for Building a Luxury Home near Asheville, NC?
While building your luxury dream home is exciting, the process itself is not always enjoyable. That’s why we created The WCR Luxury Spec Home Program—a house that might have taken more than two years to deliver can take as little as six months, depending on when you enter the process.
This is because we do a lot of the tedious parts of the build ahead of time, having our trusted builders draw on popular consumer patterns to develop a plan and bring it to life through an innovative neighbor-led investment program.
This leaves you to purchase the home like a traditional home sale and personalize it to your liking.
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Our experienced real estate sales staff is eager to help you find the spec home of your dreams in the Asheville, NC, area. Get in touch, and start the conversation.