How to Build a New House: Where to Begin

Building a new house seems like a very daunting task—and for good reason!

It’s not something that many people do. But for those of us who want to understand how to build a new house and actually take on a project of this size, it’s often the biggest project of a lifetime.

For all its complexities, successfully building a new house comes down to having the right team working with you collaboratively.

The term design-build is thrown around liberally these days, but a true design-build relationship means that the people designing your home and the people building your home are in close, continual coordination with each other and with the clients throughout the entire process—start to finish.

This ensures that the project moves smoothly, and that the end product is both accurate and very high quality. Design by the Jonathans just launched a design-build branch specifically for new homes to make our clients largest and most complicated projects come to life in a truly spectacular fashion.

The most pressing question that we get about designing and building a custom house is “Where do we even begin?”

Once you’ve decided that you want to build a house, you start by purchasing a piece of property and then bringing on a team to develop the design of your home. Or you can bring on the team first and have them help you consider which parcel of land to pursue. Either way, it’s a combination of land and team.

When we receive a request from a client to start designing a new home, representatives from the design team and the build team meet with them to discuss the overall scope of the project and understand their wants, needs, and dreams.

Once we’re retained, we start by generating some initial concept sketches. When a general direction is decided, we get to work producing a first version of the house in full 3D so our clients can see the vision come to life. The design process continues from there, refining the design to the point where it hits the mark, and then translating into a construction package that can be handed off to the builder.

The other question that we get regularly is “You’re an interior design firm—don’t you need an architect to design a house?”

The answer is, unlike many interior design firms, we have the expertise under our umbrella to handle a full-home design, start to finish. Architectural and engineering professionals are also involved in the structural and mechanical design of the home.

Traditionally, an architect would design the house from the outside-in—the exterior would define what goes on inside. This can create functionality challenges within the house. After all, you live inside a house, not on the exterior walls!

The approach that we take is different. We always keep in mind what the house should look like on the outside, but we design it from the inside-out. This way, the house will function beautifully on the inside, and we can adapt the design and proportions as needed to ensure that the outside looks and feels as good as the inside. It’s a less constrained approach, and the results speak for themselves.

If you’re considering building a new house, we’ll guide you through the process.

Whether you already have a piece of land or you’re just in the early stages, reach out to us. We look forward to collaborating with you!