Land? Architect? Builder? What comes first?
It's funny because - while I only know a select amount of people who built custom - when I've asked people, they have such a definitive answer. “Oh, architect first 100%” “Builder first- need to know the budget!” “Land first – duh!!” It's interesting how confident and opinionated people are.
In truth, there's no one size fits all. Every project will have its own recipe.
I was of the personal opinion that I wanted the land first. I didn't want to design a floor-plan that didn't work with the terrain or sun orientation of the property. I wasn't just planning a flat 0.5 acre parcel. When looking for acreage, we want a more site-responsive home.
Additionally, many people wait to engage the builder after working with an architect. We personally need to work close with builder to provide architect insight on what we can afford, since we have a tight budget. Architects are not in the day-to-day with prices - they know more of a general price. And frankly in this market, they have no idea because the prices are all over the place.
With all of that said, we are finding the land, and started architect and builder interviews before even closing on the land. Those interviews are free consultations so we didn't have to worry about being charged.
So for us, this is our plan:
Purchase parcel of land
Interview to find architect and builder at the same time
Start designs/plans with architect, obtaining intermittent guidance/quotes from builder
However, if you have plenty of land in your area, and relatively flat in nature, you may welcome in an architect to start your plans prior to even buying land. Or you may start builder interviews first, and turns out they have some capacity for design work, so can work directly with you and their draftsperson on a design.
There's no recipe for all, but this was a point of confusion for me, so I wanted to share!
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