Green homes are becoming a lot more popular these days. The interest in eco-friendly housing is driven by a growing desire to lower our carbon footprint.

The market for single family green homes in the U.S. was worth $116 billion last year. This figure is expected to grow even more in the future.

Some people want to build green homes themselves. However, this can be a challenging endeavor. There are a few things that you need to know if you plan to build your own sustainable house.

Guidelines on Constructing Sustainable a Home

Having a green home custom built could be the best way to maximize the value of your land. It could allow you to save, or even develop a rental property.

However, it’s a very complex job and one that requires significant planning. Building any house is hard, but constructing a green home is even more difficult. Eco Home has some good tips, but we wanted to cover the basics.

If you aren’t ready to deal with every event, you could start experiencing delays or additional costs. This is why you need to be prepared for everything and make sure that you know what the job really entails. Let’s take a look at a few things you’ll have to think about before building your green home.

The Contractors

The most important thing is knowing who you’re working with. At the minimum, they have to be properly licensed, insured and bonded. This will ensure that you’re working with someone who’s lawfully allowed to work, that you will be covered in case an injury occurs on the job site, and that the job will be completed.

If you want a green contractor, then you also need to make sure that they know how to lower their carbon footprint. This includes finding ways to lower energy of their home improvements.

After, you need to watch their previous work. It’s always better to go for people who are familiar with the type of property you’re trying to build. You also want to know what they will be bringing and what you will need to provide yourself.

For instance, many won’t handle things like disposing of the trash. If the site has a septic tank, you’ll need a vacuum truck, and you might need to hire additional equipment like containers to dispose of any leftover material or debris. So, that is something that will need to be added to your budget.

Land Boundaries

Another very important thing you need to do before you build the house is to get the land surveyed. This will allow you to do many things.

For one, it will allow you to know what your property’s true boundaries are. This will not only be essential when erecting a fence but when doing things like adding landscaping elements to make sure that they don’t encroach on anyone else’s property. 

Having the land surveyed is also important if you want to know what’s underneath. For instance, you may have wanted to add a basement, but your house may be built on solid rock, which will make building one much more difficult.

Do You Have the Time and Patience?

Having a house built can take a lot of time. There can also be delays due to circumstances out of your control.

People often underestimate the time it takes to build a house. While it’s true that you have a standard stock-built home in as little as 6 months in some cases, having a custom home constructed can take as long as 18 months. That’s almost 2 years of waiting in a probably much smaller and less luxurious space. So, this is something you’ll need to assess with your family first.

Build Your Green Home Easily!

Having an eco-friendly home built might be a lifelong dream, and it can be a great decision and investment. However, you have to make sure that you’re up for the challenge and ready for anything that may come your way.