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You’ve found the land, and want to buy it so you can build your perfect, custom home. How can you get a handle on accurate build-on-your-lot costs?
Homebuilding can be both exciting and challenging, but you need to create an accurate master budget that reflects what you can afford and plan to spend on this important project—even before you buy the land. Once you’ve got that figure, you should reach out to an expert to see if your concept of a home is possible. Daydreaming about your dream home is fun, but you need real-world experience and solid numbers to find out if your dream can come true.
Before you buy land, you should first consult with an experienced homebuilder to discuss what this investment will look like in real time and costs for your lot, region and desired property. It’s easy to imagine your dream home on an empty space, but there are so many considerations to build-on-your-lot homes, you need to work with someone experienced who understands the potential pitfalls. The right home builder will work with you to create a realistic plan and house choice that works for you, your land and your budget.
If you’ve inherited land, contact a builder to help you understand the costs and time involved in preparing the lot for a home, like costs of running utilities, driveways (which can be much more expensive than most people imagine), and slopes and other ground issues. These must be factored into your budget or else it doesn’t accurately reflect the total cost to build.
You’ll want to spend time talking to the builder about your dream home and your lot. Ensure you cover these areas:
Real discussions with a builder about your dreams, budget and lot may solidify your dreams and give you a realistic vision for moving forward. Or, going through the numbers may make you realize every single thing you imagined may not be possible. A good builder will walk you through all of your options while managing your expectations:
If you are still considering building on your own land know each choice provides positives and negatives. There’s more to consider outside of the home itself, such as allocating funds for dirt work, insurance, well and septic and more. Truly, the answer to how much it costs to build a home depends on how much you have to spend, where you live, your lot size and what size and type of home you want.
Consult with a homebuilding professional to get started on understanding your true “build on your lot cost,” nail down your budget, and get that dream home built.
Most people think of bedside tables as simply a place to put things during the night—a glass of water, a book, your phone, glasses, and so forth. But purposeful, creative nightstand decor ideas can increase the aesthetic pleasure and relaxing atmosphere of your bedroom. Thoughtful and beautiful bedroom side tables add personal style and flair to one of the most important rooms in your home—your haven for relaxation and rejuvenation.
Whether you’ve just moved in or have been in your home for a while, nightstands offer an opportunity to put your own personal design stamp on the bedroom. Bedroom side tables are an often-overlooked opportunity to punch up your style.
Tip: If you charge a lot of devices at night, consider creating a dedicated space on your nightstand such as a stylish charging box in which you can place items at night to keep nightstands clutter-free.
Understanding how to beautify these small but impactful tables can set the tone for relaxation, comfort and delight. Here are a few considerations on how to decorate a nightstand through impactful bedside table decor:
Whatever your style, creating an attractive nightstand array can completely change the tone and feel of your bedroom. From the material you choose for the nightstand itself to how to de-clutter, beautify and decorate the top, bedside tables offer a design opportunity that enhances beauty and relaxation in a bedroom.
Need more style inspiration? Check out our blog posts on planning a family picture wall or turning your bathroom into a personal spa!
With the beautiful weather we are having, now is the perfect time to get your storm shelter cleaned up and stocked up with all the supplies you might need.
We reached out to our team at Landmark Fine Homes and asked, "What are the "Must Haves" that you put in your storm shelter?" Some of the ideas are things you might have thought of but we have a feeling there are a few on this list that you haven't.
If you don't currently have a shelter, it is not too late. There are many options available so research and decide what is best for your situation. At Landmark Fine Homes, we offer our customers the following options:
These can easily be designed into your new home. Are you curious about the process? Check out our process HERE.
We are here for YOU! Our Team continues to be dedicated to helping you with your Home Buying needs. Although safety is our priority, that doesn't mean you can't still buy a home.
If you are in the market for a home, your weekends were filled with stopping by a Model to get design ideas , making decisions about where to live, what floor plan would work best and what kind of back splash would stay with the current trends as well as withstanding the test of time. In a short amount of time that has changed into keeping your social distance, washing hands repeatedly and going to multiple stores just to pick up that toilet paper. Although the way we shop and view homes might have changed temporarily, you can still keep those plans going.
Simply choose what type of appointment you would like and we will meet your needs!
Decorating for Halloween is a tradition that many families take part in year after year. As with most traditions, though, the decorating trends that dominate Halloween change from time to time. Giant inflatables and laser light shows were all the rage just a few years ago, but now things are starting to shift a bit more toward subtle. The over-the-top Halloween decorating style will likely never fully go away, of course; there’s at least one house in every town that goes all out with its display and people always love it. If you’re looking for something simpler (and easier on the power bill), here are a few trendy options to keep in mind.
With the right candleholders, basic white candles can add a spooky ambiance that hearkens back to older Halloween traditions. Specialty candles are available that are carved to look like bones or horns as well. No need to go overboard with effects-candles, such as those that “bleed” when lit; just a few tapers burned to different lengths and then extinguished serve as the perfect subtle candle accent to your other decorations.
What would Halloween be without pumpkins? While the traditional jack-o-lantern is still great, there’s an increasingly common trend to display uncarved pumpkins as well. White pumpkins are also seeing an upswing in popularity to really help set your decorations apart from the norm.
Also seeing an increased popularity are Halloween wreaths. Coming in a variety of styles, these wreaths have a lot more room to experiment than more traditional Christmas wreaths because of the generally spooky nature of the holiday. You can DIY a wreath yourself or buy one of multiple pre-made varieties to give your home a really unique Halloween look.
Halloween lights have been growing in popularity in recent years, providing a decorative option that can be enjoyed even once the sun goes down. Signs, both lighted and non-lighted, are also firmly establishing themselves as Halloween must-haves. Combining the two can give your home a unique look that neighbors can enjoy both during the day and after the night descends.
Instead of going all-out with inflatables, animatronics and big clunky pieces made of plastic and rubber, an up-and-coming trend is to make use of silhouettes in front of plain curtains to give your decorations a more subtle flair. Some homes even take this a step beyond, using white sheets or similar coverings on the interior windows and then using creative lighting and figure placement to actually cast shadows onto the waiting windows. The shadow puppet feel gives the effect an extra layer of spookiness.
While black and orange are the dominant colors of Halloween, a big trend in recent years has been to move away from the orange and embrace the holiday’s darker tones. White is used for contrast, with the predominant colors in decorations being black and dark purple. Splashes of other colors may be added as well, but the black, white and purple theme is definitely striking.
While there has been a move away from some of the cheesier parts of the holiday, the kitsch of putting zombie flamingos on your lawn is a bit too fun to ignore. There are a variety of styles of flamingoes available ranging from silly to gory, giving you plenty of room to find birds that match both your personal tastes and decorating style. Best of all, they can be mixed with a few traditional pink flamingos to give everything a splash of color while totally buying into the Halloween fun.
If you’re not sure what sort of decorations would look best with your home, consider consulting a decorator who has experience with Halloween trappings. Not only will they help you pick the best décor options, but they’ll aid you in choosing accents that go perfectly with both your home style and the decorations you choose.
All of our Model Homes are open on Halloween. Feel free to bring those kiddos by and we can help fill up their baskets with candy!
Periodic home maintenance is essential, both to keep your house looking its best and to prevent problems that could worsen over time. One of the best times to clean up and maintain your home is during the fall, when temperatures start to drop but winter freezes are still a little way off. Fall cleaning can be a big job, so here are a few tips on how to tackle it in ways that you might not have considered.
A lot of people let leaves and other plant material build up over flower beds in the fall, working under the assumption that doing so will get the beds off to a good start in the spring. After all, won’t the leaves break down over the winter and give the soil a natural boost of fertilizer? The problem with this is that the piled leaves can also give insects and other pests a place to bed down in the winter and possibly gain access to your home. If you have rose beds, diseases and fungal infections may also stick around on those leaves, only to resurface in the spring.
What can you do with those unwanted leaves, then? Drag them over to your garden! Spread fallen leaves, compost and any other material that will break down over the winter and cover your garden soil with it. Run a tiller over the whole area, breaking up the soil and driving that compostable material into the soil. This will take care of your leaves and other material AND make starting your garden easier in the spring!
It’s fairly common practice to unhook and stow your hoses in the fall before cold temperatures set in. Before you do that, though, give them a workout! Give your house a good wash before you unhook the hoses, removing as much dirt and other debris from the siding or bricks as possible. Once you’re done, unhook the hoses and allow them to dry thoroughly before storing them for winter.
If you have a lot of leaves to deal with, get a few tarps and spread them out under your trees before the leaves start to fall. Let them get a good coverage of leaves, then drag the tarps over to your leaf pile or other area that you’ve set aside for them. You’ll probably still have a few leaves to rake, but this will take care of the lion’s share of the work!
If you have drainage problems in the winter, fall is a good time to aerate your yard. While you can do this using hand tools, a lot of outdoor and hardware stores have machine aerators that you can rent at a decent price. The aerator will break through the packed-down topsoil, giving water an easier route to drain in the event of a wet autumn or winter season. Best of all, grass will grow better in the spring so you can easily cover up any thin or bald patches in the yard.
Even though the grass stops growing in the fall, there’s still a good case for giving your yard one final mow. Wait until a lot of your yard tasks are finished, then run over the yard with the blade set low. Use a mulching guard and/or mulching blade for even better effect. This will not only nab any stray leaves that might have fallen after your clean-up but it will also ensure that your grass has a nice even cut before it starts growing again in the spring.
If you don’t have the time or equipment to properly take care of all of these tips, consider calling in a house cleaner or landscaping professional to get your home in tip-top shape this fall.
Robotics and automation have changed the way that a number of things work in the home. You may not realize that you can automate tasks outside of the home as well. Though they have not received as much attention as home automation sensors and digital assistants, robotic lawn mowers are starting to change the way that people approach lawn care. Modern robotic lawn mowers were introduced only in recent years, but the devices have a longer history than you might think.
Believe it or not, the first robotic lawn mower was actually created and patented in 1969. Dubbed the MowBot, the robotic device was self-propelled and capable of making random turns within an area defined by a signal wire that was used to create a boundary. Though the battery-powered device was primitive compared to today’s robotic lawn mowers, the approach it took to lawn maintenance wasn’t that far off from how today’s devices work. It had some staying power as well, as MowBot Inc. is still producing robotic mowers today that are more modern takes on the original MowBot functionality.
While robots like the MowBot persisted since the 1960s, it wasn’t until the 1990s that the more modern style of robotic lawn mowers began to emerge. A solar-powered mower was developed in 1995 by Husqvarna, and this was followed in the next 10 years by other niche robotic lawn mower designs. Smaller-scale robotic mower releases occurred in the United States and the UK in 2000, but it wasn’t until 2005 that the first widespread commercial release of a robotic lawn mower occurred. Interestingly, these mowers used the same sort of signal wire that the MowBot had combined with a few more modern features.
The market has taken off in the time since then, with a variety of solar-powered and self-charging robotic mowers hitting the market with innovations such as programmability, autonomous obstacle avoidance and even the ability to program or control the mower remotely from a smartphone or similar device. Some modern robotic mowers are even designed to only trim a small section of the grass blades at a time, opting instead to mow more frequently (often without any input from their owners) to keep the lawn in optimal shape.
Robotic lawn mowers offer a number of benefits over traditional push mowers or riding lawn mowers. A few of the benefits of these mowers include:
Other benefits of using a robotic lawn mower include increased free time, more consistent lawn heights and the elimination of the dangers of injury created by the traditional lawn mower.
Though once a niche market, robotic lawn mowers have seen a massive surge in popularity in recent years. Models can range in price from $400 to $3,500 or more, with higher-end models offering greater coverage and more programmability features. Robotic lawn mower sales are growing at a faster rate than sales of traditional mowers, with analysts believing that robotic mower sales will continue to increase by approximately 11 percent each year through 2024. As new mowers are designed and related technologies such as home automation develops, sales rates could increase even more.
Amazon Prime Day as we know it, is a global shopping event where Prime members can shop hundreds of thousands of deals sitewide, with new deals starting as often as every five minutes.
It might be the middle of July, but talk is already turning towards, Back to School. With that being said, so many people are in the middle of getting that recently graduated Senior ready to embark on their next adventure, Dorm Life! For some of us, that was a LONG TIME AGO!!
We reached out to our Team who are not as many years away from the "Dorm Life" and asked what were some "Must Haves" that they would recommend.
If you didn't already know it, you can not typically put nails in the walls. Here is a great solution that can handle alot of weight without tearing things up.
Bedding is a big part of making their room feel like home. We want it to be comfortable, durable and easy to maintain. Check out these great finds!
The essentials. What are those things that will make life easier while you are sharing a room and possibly going down the hall to shower?
Organization is key to keeping the room looking acceptable and peace with the room mate! Here are a few ideas along with those things they might need and those things that make their room feel even more like home.
What are some items you have on your list that we haven't included?
If the Blog on "5 Ways to Make Gardening Easier" has motivated to have a garden but you still don't know if you have the time to keep up with it we have the perfect compromise- The Springs at Skyline Trails!
This community is the first in our "Springs Communties" to offer a community garden. Since the communites are all designed around "Lifestyle taking Center Stage" we knew that a Community Garden would be a perfect place for people to come together around a common interest.
Our first goal was to get a Pergola erected to ground this area and provide a place to escape the summer sun! It is set in a prime location in the community and has great access to the community pond.
Next came the raised flower beds. We knew in order for people to participate we would want to make sure the beds were easy to maintain and not back breaking! Green Okie accepted the challenge and created a beautiful space for the residents.
Since this is our newest community we decided to reach out to a local Girl Scout Troop, Troop #340, to see if they would be interested in taking this on as a community project! At Landmark Fine Homes, giving back to the communtiy is a core value. This was the perfect project to help make that happen. The Girls Scouts needed a place for the summer and are also very interested in giving back. And so it began......
As you can tell it is taking off! Not only is the community garden growing, so is the community itself! We have added several new families a month this quarter and couldn't be happier.
If the bounty is more than the community can consume plans are to donate to Manna Pantry in Yukon. The Girls Scout Troop has already spent multiple hours volunteering for this wonderful organization and knew it would be the perfect spot to donate to.
Does your community offer a Garden? If not and you are looking for one that does, be sure and check out The Springs at Skyine Trails where homes start at $198,000!
When the next bowl of chili explodes all over the inside of the microwave or you finally give in to the inch thick layer of pizza burn off inside your oven, this page of advice for cleaning household appliances will be right here waiting for you. Please keep in mind to check your manufactures recommendations before doing any kind of maintenance or cleaning to your appliances!
For some people, cleaning is as natural as walking and breathing. But for the rest of us, it takes effort and probably some knowledge that we’re currently lacking. After all, it’s not such a big deal to clean a microwave, but for some reason it feels like it takes forever. Without further ado, here’s how to clean basically everything useful in your kitchen.
Pre-prep Work: Put a coffee mug or small bowl full of water and slices of lemon in the center and run the microwave on high for about three minutes, or until the liquid is turning to steam. This will help soften food splatter and the lemon smells nice. You can also use other citrus fruits or forego it entirely and use a drop of dish soap.
Break It Down: Take out the turntable and anything else that will come loose. Toss these parts in the dishwasher and run it. Or wait if you have other stuff to stick in there and make it a full load.
The Nitty Gritty: Wipe down the walls of the microwave with a sponge, cloth or several paper towels, plus your favorite dish soap and water or all purpose cleaner. There’s not really a wrong way to clean a microwave. Wipe the outside while you’re at it, especially the buttons.
Pre-prep Work: Unless you have a clog, there’s not much in the way of prep work to do. Flick the switch, run some cold water to make sure there’s not any food left in the device.
Break It Down: Some garbage disposals, like Insinkerators, have removable baffles (the black part that’s just inside the drain). If yours is removable, take it out. If not, then move along.
The Nitty Gritty: Cleaning a garbage disposal is really easy. Just clean your removable baffle, if present, and toss some citrus fruit inside. Most garbage disposals no longer use blades (don’t stick your hand in to find out unless the breaker is turned off), so the ice cube trick does nothing, but citrus is still a big deal. If it’s really smelly, drop some liquid dish soap inside and run the water until the bubbles stop.
Pre-prep Work: Running an empty load with a measuring cup full of vinegar or bleach can help start the process off right. These chemicals help eliminate chronic smells, you’ll be really happy you did. DO NOT USE DISH SOAP.
Break It Down: Remove the racks and anything else that comes loose, like cutlery baskets. Take those to the shower and wait for further instructions.
The Nitty Gritty: First clean any screens that might be protecting food grinders or other moving parts. You can just wipe that out. Next, there’s such a thing as dishwasher cleaner. Your life will be immeasurably easier if you just buy a few of these and use as directed to clean the inside of the dishwasher.
Last, go find those racks you put in the shower. Spray them down with a removable shower head or take your chances with the regular kind. If they’re very dirty, give them a going over with soapy water and a sponge. Go slide those bad boys back into the machine. Wipe the outside.
Pre-prep Work: Put food into a prepared cooler and turn the ice maker off.
Break It Down: Pull out all the shelves and drawers at once and place them in or near the sink.
The Nitty Gritty: Start with the empty fridge cavity and wipe everything down, from the top to the bottom. Warm, soapy water is fine for most residue, tough grime can be knocked out with all-surface cleaner. Next, do the door interiors.
Now wash the shelves and drawers and leave them to dry. Once all of that is complete, put the fridge back together and repeat with the freezer. Change your water filter and turn the ice maker back on when you’re done. Wipe the fridge outside down last.
Pre-prep Work: Smooth top ranges just need their tops wiped down. Turn the pilot lights off on gas ranges.
Break It Down: Pull knobs, remove grates, pull coils and catch pans, as applies to your stove.
The Nitty Gritty: If you have a stove with a self-cleaning oven, find your manual and figure out how to use it. Most will lock themselves, heat until they’re super hot and you only have to wipe the racks down and get the ash (there’s never much) out of the bottom. This will take a few hours. Maybe several hours. But it’ll be super clean.
For the top, wipe the bit that’s not removable down with soapy water. Grab the coils and set them aside and put the rest in the dishwasher. No reason to work too hard. Glass top stoves sometimes need harder cleaning. There’s a gritty glass top stove cleaner available commercially.
Put it all back together like you found it. Good work!