Constructive Conversations
Welcome to Constructive Conversations with co-hosts Zac Daniel of Victorian Finance and Luke Barksdale of Viz3Dspace. This podcast is designed to take the confusion out of new construction and give you the knowledge you need to confidently begin your homebuilding journey.
Each episode, we break down the process step by step including everything from financing and design to builder relationships, budgeting, and the real questions homeowners should be asking before they ever break ground. With perspectives from both the lending and design sides, we’ll equip you with practical insights, industry knowledge, and the confidence to make informed decisions.
Whether you’re buying your first home, building your dream home, or simply curious about how it all comes together, Constructive Conversations is your go-to guide for navigating the world of new construction.
Constructive Conversations
Episode 1: Where Do I Start?
We introduce our new podcast dedicated to guiding you through the home building and buying process, from basic questions to complex decisions. As professionals in mortgage lending and home design, we're combining our expertise to help you navigate construction projects confidently.
• Determining your project goals: more space, functionality, fresh start, or location preferences
• Three main construction paths: additions (expanding footprint), remodels (working within existing space), and complete new builds
• Importance of establishing a realistic budget before approaching builders or designers
• Working backwards from your desired monthly payment to determine total project budget
• Why you should assemble your team (builder, designer, lender) simultaneously rather than sequentially
• Critical importance of checking zoning restrictions and deed requirements before purchasing land
• Understanding that asking the right questions is more important than having all the answers
Subscribe to Constructive Conversations on YouTube and all podcast channels to continue learning about new construction and remodeling.
I'm Zach Daniel with Victoria Finance and I'm Luke Barksdale with Venice 3D Space and we're your co-hosts for Constructive Conversations, where we're going to be talking about all things new construction, to educate you, so you're fully prepared to venture into the home building and home buying process.
Speaker 1:This series will touch on everything from basic questions to like where do I even start? What do things really cost? Do I design first, or find a builder first, and all things in between, for today's episode, you're going to gain understanding about who we are and why we're passionate about what we do, and then we're going to dive straight into the biggest question of all where do I start?
Speaker 2:So, zach, so I am a mortgage loan officer at Victorian Finance doing different types of mortgage and residential loans like new construction, fha, conventional VA, usda and non-QM loans. Conventional VA, usda and non-QM loans. I have worked primarily with builders for about half of my career. I've been doing mortgage lending for almost 10 years, working for the in-house mortgage groups for builders like DSLD Homes and Davidson Homes, and currently have been partnering with the builders as a preferred lender for their financing.
Speaker 1:Awesome. And so, again, my name is Luke Barksdale and I'm with Viz 3D Space and we do custom home design. So we focus on trying to bring everybody to the same page. We do like the blueprints it's kind of the final deliverable but along the way we start out like 3D modeling. So we let you walk through everything, check it all out, go room by room with you, and then, when you're happy with your product, we cut those final blueprints. So we kind of work to get the homeowner to understand what they want, get the builder to understand what the homeowner wants, and then we send everything to them at the end so that the bank can finance on it and the builder has that set of plans to get the ball rolling.
Speaker 2:So now that you have a better understanding for who we are, what are, let's just jump right in and talk about. The most complicated part of starting is where do I start? In order to get all your ducks in a row before you even hire your team, here's some questions to really ask yourself. What is the goal that you have in mind? Is it more space, more function? Is it a fresh start? Do you like where you live? Do you like your location? Do you like your lot? And is this an emotional or an investment-driven decision?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know, those are all super important things when you're looking at your project and typically they're driven by a few other things.
Speaker 1:What's the scope of the project? You know, are you looking at a remodel or a new construction? Are you buying a house outright? And those questions all come into play. You know, if you really love your location and you really don't want to move and a lot of people nowadays are driven by uh, maybe like a school district is what I see a lot if they have a house in the school district, they really don't want to lose it, but maybe they need to gain some functionality in their home, then a remodel may be the best choice. And then you know, vice versa, maybe you have a home, you're not in school district. You need to be there and you know you need to gain functionality as well. So now you're down to do I buy or do I build? And then you're finding a lot, and so those questions all kind of play hand in hand. But really the three main project paths that you see in construction are additions, remodels and full-blown new construction.
Speaker 1:I guess just a little bit on each of those like an addition would qualify, as you have an existing structure that you need to add space to, and so you're going to really expand that footprint, you're going to add to it, and that can be up or out. You could add on a garage, you could add on screened-in por porches or you may even add on an entire second story to the home. Yeah, um, you know the next thing would be remodels. Uh, you may not affect the footprint of what you're doing. So you may have a 2,000 square foot house you're going to keep it 2,000 square feet but maybe you're taking in an old office and turning into a bedroom, maybe you're redoing a kitchen, uh, but you're really not affecting the exterior walls and changing much. Yeah. And then the third, like the most popular one there, is going to be like just a full-blown new build. That's everybody getting to build their dream home, right?
Speaker 2:that next step um yeah, those are kind of like the three main project paths yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And you know, I'd say, really the next thing, once you decide which project path you want to do, is you need to have a budget in mind. You need to have a ballpark figure of what this is going to cost you and I would say, having that in mind before you really even call a builder or design something, just in your mind, having an idea of what you want and how much is that actually going to cost, because it may not even be feasible for you. And with that, speaking to a lender is really what is going to help drive that. Are you going to need a loan or do you have the cash at hand to be able to handle those remodels?
Speaker 1:yeah, absolutely so. We see it all the time coming in the design office. People just start. They're just hey, let me find a builder, let me talk to this, let me look at houses, and they don't ever back up to go, okay, realistically, like I'm going to sell this house and then we're going to go do this new project. So my monthly payment needs to be $1,800 a month and if that's where you need to be, you can kind of work backwards from there. Right, I need to be $1,800 a month. Use your online calculator, go talk to the lender that you're looking at ballparks and numbers about what an overall budget should be, and then, when you get to talk to builders, designers and everything else, you can start betting some numbers with them. Hey, you know what's? What are you seeing as a ballpark per square foot number?
Speaker 1:yeah, you know, what are you seeing as a designer, we seen as a builder and work that out to. Okay, I can get another 2,000 square feet in my addition, or I can build this new home that I'm thinking about doing. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of what you get into, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And so kind of. The next step that we're going to really discuss is when do you bring in a builder versus an architect or a designer for the project?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, funny enough, that ends up being a kind of a trick question. Is the real answer is you bring them all on together as like a team.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes you can go to an architect and they may have like preferred builder partners that they work with that they spent some time vetting out, and vice versa, you may go to a builder who has spent some time vetting out a architect or a designer and then they can refer you to one another. So anywhere is a good place to start. But ultimately, before you pull the trigger on a project, making sure everybody's on the same page and you have a team getting started, that's the right answer. You really don't want to go. All right, I'm going to go design this house and then I'll go find a builder.
Speaker 1:Or I'm going to find a builder and then I'm going to go design a house. You want them playing together so that you're achieving the goal in the most efficient manner. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I think something that a lot of people don't know that they need to consider is really the zoning and what that looks like for the project that you want, because there will be restrictions depending on where you are, on what you are allowed to build absolutely, if it's either a new build or an addition, or anything.
Speaker 1:That's right, man. We've had clients come in who have bought a lot and they didn't consider maybe deed restrictions or something. And then they come in who have bought a lot and they didn't consider maybe deed restrictions or something. And then they come in the office they say, hey, I want to build this house. I want you 1800 square feet on the bottom, 1800 square feet on the top, or maybe they just want 1800 square feet. Deed restrictions will drive a lot of what you can and can't build and you may have purchased a lot that you can't actually build the product that fits your budget on it because the deed restrictions were something you just didn't consider.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know, bottom line, you don't have to have all the answers right away, but you just need to have the right questions to ask. So again, thank you guys so much for joining us. We're going to dive deeper into new construction and educating you to ask the right questions so that, when it comes time to building or remodeling your home, you can do it as confidently as possible. Subscribe and the comments below to our page. We're going gonna link our YouTube and all the podcast channels out there constructive conversations. So until next time, we'll see you guys later thanks.
