Best Season to Start Building Your Dream Home

Oregon is a beautiful place to call home and a wonderful place to build a new home. With all four seasons, there are different hurdles for your builder to work through during construction, and some may affect your homebuilding budget. You're asking: when is the best time to build a new home? We will answer that very question for you in this article.

Central Oregon Seasonal Homebuilding

Building Your Dream Home in the Winter Season: Yes, or No?

Wintertime brings the greatest weather uncertainty and may increase costs to build your new home in Oregon. Is this one of the winters where we see a few feet of snow, or will we have zero snow and have smooth sailing in the building industry? The answer is we just don't know until we know!

The hurdles that will increase your new home build in the winter will depend on the temperature, the amount of precipitation Oregon receives, and the stage of construction your home is in during the winter months. If you are starting an excavation and the ground is frozen, you have several options. Hammer the frozen ground or utilize a ground heater to thaw your building pad. Both are good options, and which one is utilized will depend on how deep the ground is frozen. Your building will work with the subcontractors to determine the best route and present you with options, as this will increase your budget. You may also incur cost increases due to additives added to your concrete to improve curing in both your foundation and concrete flatwork (driveway, walkways, and patios). FYI - if you want an asphalt driveway, the asphalt plants shut down in the winter, so you will have to wait until late spring to get your asphalt driveway installed. You will also be limited in when you can paint the exterior of your home, so this may need to be put on hold until temperatures rise and potentially after you move in. That said, winter may not be the most expensive or the worst time of year to build. Let's move on to a Springtime home build.

Springtime On Your Land Homebuilding

Moving from the cold winter months into spring is a great time to build your new home; however, in Oregon, you may still encounter winter-like conditions or extreme thawing, which can create muddy conditions. You may still experience the same budget increases as building your home in the winter; however, as noted above, this depends on the phase of construction your home is in. If your home is in the early stages of construction, it will be more affected than if it is in the sheetrock phase, when most exterior scopes of work are complete. Now let's move on to building a new home in our beautiful Oregon summertime!

Is a Summer New Home Build in Central Oregon the Best Time?

Now you're thinking, all the wet, snow, and cold are out of the way, and this will be smooth sailing! For the most part, that is true. Once the weather clears and temperatures rise, your home's construction becomes easier, with fewer hurdles to overcome. However, this is also when construction ramps up for most builders, as many customers prefer to have their homes built during the drier months of the year. This can create a labor shortage and lead to longer build times for your new home. Summer builds can also slow slightly because many tradespeople are on vacation, which can delay projects. A week is a week. Last but not least, let's talk about building a new home in the Fall.

What to Know About Building a New Home in the Fall

Building your dream home in the Fall may be the best season and can be a lot like building in the Summer. Typically, the weather in Oregon remains dry and warm through the end of October. This, of course, changes, and the weather can turn more wintry; however, typically, Fall is a good time to have your home under construction. Many builders, depending on the stage of construction, are working to complete the home and install the roof to keep out winter weather as snow starts to fly. They are also working to complete the exterior scopes of work, such as painting, driveways, and landscaping, as these are more challenging to complete during a winter build. Overall, the fall home build can be a good time to be under construction, depending on whether winter arrives early, which is a possibility in Oregon. If we had a choice, the best time to build a new home in Oregon is in the Fall; however, let's get to our best answer below.

When is the Best Season to Build My Dream Home in Oregon?

This is a personal answer, and the best we can provide is that you are ready and your project is ready to start. Home builders work all months of the year in Oregon, and there are always hurdles to work through because of the time of year your new home is being constructed. Waiting for the perfect time is virtually impossible to predict, which is why we say that when you are ready, we are ready to build.

If you want to learn more about the option of building a new customized home on your land, even if it's just to explore if this is an option to consider, contact us by email at mybuilder@visionmakerhomes.com or give us a call at 971-900-9566 to learn more. We are here to help when you are ready!