Watch Jake Tupy unveil 7 tips when buying acreage land, and what you should be considering when getting ready to build a custom home on an acreage land parcel.
We are Ashlee, Alexandra, and Jake of Moderno Construction Management.
We specialize in helping people like you build custom homes on acreage land.
Since 1994, we’ve built over 15 housing developments in the Prior Lake area, as well as over 950 custom acreage homes in the South Metro.
We are passionate about helping you find the perfect acreage land for sale and developing the ideal house placement, floor plan, and home design for your lifestyle as well as your land.
What should you look for when buying acreage land to build a custom home on?
What tips would we have when considering purchasing acreage land for sale in Prior Lake or Lakeville?
Where do you find the best acreage land for sale & large acreage home lots for sale in Lakeville and Prior Lake?
Well, nobody knows the acreage land market in Prior Lake better than the team here at Moderno Construction Management.
If you want acreage, connect with us right away.
Here are 7 Tips when buying acreage land here in Lakeville, Prior Lake, and the South metro.
Not every floor plan & design is right for every piece of land.
Your goal should be to marry the house with the right acreage lot.
You’ll want to find the right piece of land to fit your particular home design.
It’s easy to make mistakes and mismatch your home plan to a piece of acreage land.
We work carefully to help our clients choose the right land for their homes.
When you’re building a custom home on an acreage lot, there’s more flexibility than a more traditional homesite within city limits.
That increased flexibility means you need to be more strategic and take into consideration factors that might not be so obvious.
Considerations When Buying Acreage Land:
There’s a great deal to consider when you purchase acreage land and build a custom home, we’ll serve as your project manager and guide you to achieve the best results.
When people buy acreage land on their own, they tend to have regrets and make mistakes.
It’s really easy to mismatch, and you’ll want to get this right the first time.
It’s best to have an experienced guide leading you through this decision, and we’d be honored for you choose to work with us.
We’ve built over 950 custom homesites, most of which were built on acreage lots here in Prior Lake, Lakeville, Credit River, and the South Metro.
Our team of designers, engineers, and leaders will help you carefully consider your options, and ensure you’re well-informed as you move forward.
The first tip when buying acreage land for sale is to carefully match the land with the homesite.
School district lines don’t always make sense.
School districts often bleed across into other cities, and it can get confusing in acreage communities and townships.
If you’re considering building in Lakeville, it’s easy to accidentally end up in a Rosemount, Farmington, or Apple Valley School District, even though your address says Lakeville School District 194.
If you’re looking to buy acreage land in Prior Lake or Credit River, it’s easy to end up with a parcel that’s not in Prior Lake Schools, but unwittingly in New Prague Schools, Jordan, or even Shakopee.
If it’s important that your home is located in a particular school district, it’s important to rigorously investigate and test the answers you’re given, because it’s often less clear than what you might imagine.
If you’re buying acreage land for sale in Prior Lake, Lakeville, or Credit River, we’ll help you verify that the acreage lot you buy is in the School District you want.
Putting the house in the wrong place can get expensive.
Moving dirt & excavating can dramatically eat away at your budget.
You’ll want to carefully consider your home’s placement so that you don't unnecessarily move dirt.
Your floor plan & home design has requirements for elevations, or your land might dictate your home design more than you might have thought.
Whatever you do, consider elevations & avoid expensive dirt movement whenever possible.
Living in the “country” or in an acreage area means you’re not as close to the cities & buildings as a typical neighborhood.
Acreage living usually means increased commutes.
Our clients love the acreage lifestyle, and they make it work.
Occasionally we’ll hear of clients who get tired of the additional work commutes.
Don’t make the mistake of flippantly dismissing the impact that additional driving and commuting will have on your life.
It’s usually worth it, but don’t let your new-home fever cause you regrets 3 years later.
Townships and county rules can be strange.
You’ll need to work with a guide that can help you take into consideration setback requirements & easements when choosing your acreage homesite.
What is a setback?
A setback is the distance required between your house/structure, and the property lines.
What is an easement?
An easement is a right to cross someone else's land or property for a specific purpose.
When you add in the easement and setback issues atop the other considerations, there are quite a few regrets & mistakes someone can make.
We’ll help you understand easements & setbacks, and help you avoid problems (like we’ve done for our 950 other customers)
You have a budget for your acreage home.
You must balance your budget across all categories of your custom home, including landscaping, home design, land & additional features.
We’ve seen other people settle for a mediocre piece of land, causing them regrets down the road.
At Moderno Construction Management, we serve as a project manager in the process, which means we’re on YOUR side of the table throughout the process.
That means we help guide you to carefully consider how you invest in your home site, for every category.
We’ll help you balance the value you get in each part of your project - and nothing is quite as impactful as the land.
Don’t be land rich and house poor, or house rich and land poor.
We’ll help you understand the tradeoffs and make a wise decision between the cost of your land, home, and other features.
You have two or three options when building a custom home on acreage land:
General Contractor
Project Manager
DIY General Contractor
General Contractor Problems:
However, there’s a problem with the dynamic between the customers’ best interests and the profit drive of a general contractor.
General Contractors are enticed to find ways to widen the margins between the price you pay, and the cost of materials, labor, and inputs.
This means that once you’re signed, the general contractor is often driven to cut costs as much as possible, as long as they stay within the guidelines of the contract.
The contractor is enticed to cut corners or skimp, to increase their margins.
The “gravity” of a general contractor often draws towards improving margins, not necessarily delivering the absolute highest quality craftsmanship, materials & project management possible.
Every category of a build has an allowance, and there’s a temptation for general contractors to spend minimally in each allowance to maximize the margins.
Homeowners might miss out on value in various areas of the build because a general contractor is tempted to pad the margins, rather than deliver the maximum value.
We’ve placed ourselves on the client side of the table & have chosen to be a project manager instead of a general contractor.
We charge a flat fee above the price of your project, that’s the only way we make money.
As your project manager, we sit on your side of the table and tightly manage the project to ensure that every category, every subcontractor, and every selection is maximized.
A project manager’s best interest is to deliver amazing value, keep the project ahead of schedule, and make sure their clients get fantastic communication throughout the process.
We recommend that when you’re choosing a custom home builder, that you’d connect with us to hear more about the difference between a project manager and a general contractor - and we’d be honored to start the conversation.
Don’t Miss Out on Acreage Land For Sale in Prior Lake, Credit River, or Lakeville
Nobody knows the acreage land market better than Jake, Ashlee, or Alexandra.
If you’re thinking about building an acreage home in the south metro, you’ve got to connect with us so we can keep an eye out for you.
If you’re eventually building acreage in Lakeville, Prior Lake, or Credit River - Let Us Know!
We might have a seller or an opportunity that you’ll want to know about.
We hope this has been helpful as you move forward in the process of finding the perfect acreage lot for sale, and that you’re one step closer to building the home of your dreams.
So, if you’re looking for an acreage lot for sale in Prior Lake, talk to Ashlee, Alexandra & Jake here at Moderno Construction Management.
We are entrenched in the acreage land market in Prior Lake, and people are constantly approaching us to sell their homes, sell their land, build them a home, or help them buy the perfect acreage land.
