Custom vs Tract vs Spec – What’s the Difference?

There are many approaches to choosing the manner of construction on your home. Home investors should be aware of the three selections: custom, tract, and spec homes. To get the most value for your money, and to avoid regretting a financial investment, it is vital to know their differences. Once you get to know them, make a commitment to one.

Here is a discussion of the three types.

1. Custom Homes

Custom homes are properties designed to customer specifications. This means that the home they would have is not a random property, but a house they wanted and requested the builder to do.

In custom-built homes, the customer provides specifications for the floor plan, type of lot, selection of construction materials, colours as well as all the fixtures that come with the finished product. This does not mean that the builders will construct a dwelling with unreasonable physical demands. Builders such as OwnItHomes.com.au advise the customers, too, on whether a concept is feasible, and if not, offer them an alternative.

These homes are more expensive than the other two.

2. Tract Homes

Tract homes are residences that look similar to one another in a particular housing development. In effect, tract homes are mass-produced homes. Tract homes are so-called because these are identical buildings in a given tract of land. Tract projects usually have a Modernist, utilitarian feel, depending on the builder and their target demographic.

As a result, tract housing is more cost-effective to create than other properties, which is its primary selling point. Builders can procure materials by bulk to construct tract projects, which reduces the cost per material. Tract homes are the cheapest of the three.

3. Spec Homes

Spec is short for speculative. These are homes constructed without any design input of a buyer, but considered a safe investment as long as the builder is reputable. Spec homes are, in effect, hybrids between tract homes and custom homes, since most spec homes are stand-alone, but without any customer input.

Make sure to know which type you want, and the location of your future home most of all. You can consult builders and property developers before settling on a choice.