Custom vs. Semi-Custom vs. Spec Homes

When it comes to building new homes, we generally split our services into three categories:

Each has their advantages and disadvantages, and deciding the best route to take depends entirely on your needs, budget, time, and desire to control the details. To get started, lets take a look at what makes a new home truly custom.

A custom home project is one where you work directly with a homebuilder (and possibly your own architect) to design, plan, and select every single detail about the homes construction, layout, and finish. And when we say everything, we mean EVERY-THING. Youre responsible for selecting everything from the number of bedrooms to the color of the doorknobs.

As such, custom homes are perfect for people who enjoy a detail-oriented process and generally are not willing compromise on their vision.

At a high level, heres an example of the types of decisions you can expect to be responsible for if you choose to build a custom home:

Generally, we try to make the home selection process simple by creating what we call allowances, which means we set aside a specific amount of money for a certain item such as flooring. For instance, you might have a flooring allowance of $2,000 for high-end LVT flooring. As long as you dont exceed that allowance when picking your floors, you stay on budget and the overall cost of your home doesnt fluctuate.

Sometimes, a homebuilder might lower their estimates by basing allowances on the price of less expensive, builder-grade selections. Later, if you decide you dont like your choice of flooring, lighting, and plumbing selections, youll be upcharged to get what youactually want. This could inflate your initial estimate by $10,000 or more!

We dont do that.

When we figure allowances, we have our customers actually look at samples in order to make an informed decision before we price the home. This way there are no surprises, and you leave knowing exactly how much your dream home is really going to cost.

Like all things middle-of-the-road, semi-custom homes often offer homebuyers the best of both worlds, perfectly situating them between the ease of purchasing a move-in-ready home and the complexity of designing one from scratch.

Usually, semi-custom home construction happens like this: A homebuilder has a library of designs theyre familiar with and can economically source materials for. From this list, you select a plan that meets your expectations and fits your familys needs. Then, you work with your homebuilder to customize the homes selections, materials, and finishes.

If you have a clear vision for your new home but arent interested in spending the time and money needed to fully customize it, a semi-custom home might be perfect for you.

We eliminate a lot of tedious choices in order to make the customers decision-making easier. For example, on a semi-custom home, we might show a homebuyer six preselected door styles that are most popular with other homebuyers. This cuts down on a lot of the noise that can come about during the custom home process. Whereas, on a custom build, we might go through a 300-page catalog with the homebuyer to select a door.

Phil Reinbrecht on Semi-Custom Homes

If you want a tailored home, fast we can price an entire semi-custom home in as little as an hour. On the other hand, a custom home usually requires several meetings, a trip to a designer or architect, and a few weeks to get the plans finished (plus an additional two weeks to calculate final sale price).

When resources are available, its common practice for homebuilders to build move-in-ready homes on new lots. These homes, which are known in the homebuilding industry as speculative (or spec for short) are built with the average homebuyer in mind.

Spec home designs are accommodating and outfitted with selections that appeal to just about everyone, which is the whole point. If you know you want a new home, but arent interested in the process of customizing one from scratch, then you should look into buying a spec home.

Plus, since spec homes are designed to sell, they make excellent investments in case you need to move in the future.

When deciding the new home route thats best for you, its important to keep an open mind. Explore all your options and choose a project-style that checks all your boxes without breaking your budget.

Lets recap your options:

Building a Custom Home: The homebuyer has near total control of the homes layout, look, and feel. Custom homes tend to take longer to build and are generally more expensive than pre-built homes, but the end result is a true expression of the homeowners style and priorities.Building a Semi-Custom Home: The homebuyer selects an existing plan in their homebuilders wheelhouse and customizes the look and feel of the interior and exterior.Buying a Spec Home: A move-in ready home built by the homebuilder to meet the needs of the average person. Spec homes are cost-effective ways to get a new home at a good price.

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Custom vs. Semi-Custom vs. Spec Homes