Buying Land to Build a House: Red Flags, Site Issues and What to Check First

Show Notes:

Choosing the right land is just as important as choosing the right house design, and in this episode we break down how to evaluate a building site before you fall in love with the view or the school district. We explain how two “similar” lots can have totally different realities once you factor in buried utilities, old foundations, wetlands, soil problems, steep slopes, floodplains, zoning setbacks, and the true cost of bringing in water, sewer, and power. You’ll learn why Landmark insists on checking that a house actually fits the lot and matches its conditions, how low‑priced land can hide expensive construction challenges, how special foundations, geotechnical reports, and flood‑elevation requirements affect design and budget, and how proper site planning also ties into disaster resistance (hurricanes, earthquakes, high winds, snow loads). Throughout, we will show you how Landmark helps owner‑builders go from “we own this land” to “we understand exactly how to use it,” acting as the engine that connects site conditions, permits, structure, and custom design into a buildable, budget‑aware plan. Of course, if you need help evaluating your land, we can assist with your site plan review to ensure your design fits the property.

Transcript:

Steve Tuma: Generally, customers are excited — “Hey, let me get my plans.” And I’m saying, “Hey, that’s important. Let’s make sure the house fits on the land. Let’s make sure things work.”

Interviewer: Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode 78 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show.

With me again today is the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993, Mr. Steve Tuma.

Steve, what’s shaking, amigo?

Steve Tuma: It’s another great day. You know, it’s funny — you say “what’s shaking,” and we’re going to talk about land today. That could be stuff with earthquakes and earthquake engineering, but it’s a good day.

It was a really interesting week. A lot of customers getting very detailed into their home plans — specifics of exactly how they want the house. You know, nothing standard: “I want my kitchen like this, I want my hallway like this,” and it was pretty interesting. And you know, some land things — I think we’re going to talk about land a little today.

Interviewer: That’s what I want to talk about. Not so much about the actual building process, which is usually what we’re talking about, but an aspect of building that we don’t get enough time with, I don’t think — and that’s the land itself.

Are you good with that?

Steve Tuma: Yeah, yeah. This is a really interesting topic that a lot of people don’t really get into the details of. They say, “Hey, it’s close, it’s in the right school district, or it’s got a view.” But, you know, within that there’s a lot of stuff to check out.

Interviewer: Well, you’re always interesting, so I don’t see why today would be any different. But to start with, give us some insight into the obvious questions a new homeowner‑builder might have — things like, well, how best to choose land to build a house on in the first place. Let’s start there.

Steve Tuma: Well, generally people look at a community or neighborhood, or land with certain features. You know, if they’re doing a retirement home in the Rockies or the Sierras, they might want a certain view or certain trees or certain access — or certain access to leisure sports.

But then, you know, a lot of the concern is just: “Hey, where do I want to be?” So if it’s a newlywed family, a couple starting a family, they might be like, “Hey, I want to make sure we’re close to work or we’re close to good school systems.” If it’s someone retiring, it might be like, “Hey, I want to take advantage of fishing,” or whatever it may be. Other people building in cities might have different concerns on what’s there.

So the customer generally is always looking at, “Hey, where’s the land that I like — for the convenience, lifestyle, close to work, whatever it is.”

What I think some of the details that we need to review are: what’s kind of the hidden features of the land? What are the “uh‑oh” moments? Or, hey, what are things we should look at in land that can determine…

Because sometimes you could have two pieces of land that appear to be the same — a flat piece of land here and, across town, there’s another flat piece of land. It’s convenient to school, it’s convenient to work. But are there details of that land that make it harder to build on?

And those are the things that I think people don’t think about or don’t understand, or they can’t get accurate information.

So that’s the stuff that’s there:

Are utilities available? When someone says, “Yeah, utilities are available,” does that mean they’re half a mile away and you have to bring them in? Or does that mean it’s an easy connection at the front of your lot?
Soil conditions — we have people that are working on infill lots in cities and they’ll come up with stuff and say, “Hey, the city gave me a lot for a dollar. They’re going to let me rebuild.” And then I always say, “Hey, that’s really cool — but what was there before? Did someone tear a house down? There’s a foundation there you don’t know about. Is there a gas line? Is there an old oil tank if you’re in the Northeast? Are there utilities there? What’s buried in the ground?”

Because if you’re going to a city that’s 100 and some years old and you find a lot that’s never been built on, chances are something happened to it.

Interviewer: That one dollar can turn into a nightmare.

Steve Tuma: Well, that’s the thing that I’m saying. So this isn’t to scare people — it’s just to give them an understanding of, “Hey, the school district’s important, close to work’s important, close to family and any other things in life are important,” but also: what’s in there?

And what are the soil conditions in any lot? Is it something where there are water‑table issues? Is it something where there are expansive soils? Different things like that.

Also the terrain — if you’re building your retirement home in the Colorado Rockies and you want a beautiful view, you’re likely to be on a sloped piece of land or close to it, or something that isn’t exactly flat.

So it’s one of these things where you’ve got to look at the cost of building and the challenges of building on the side of a hill or a mountain versus flat land.

So there’s a lot to look at.

Now, here’s the thing — I don’t want to scare people. I want people to understand, “Hey, you should build a house where you want to,” but we should have a discussion of what’s going on.

And another one that’s been popping up lately a lot are floodplains. Right now we’ve got a couple of houses where people are building in areas where the family has been forever and there’s never been a flood — but then they find out that FEMA’s labeled it with a floodplain. And suddenly it changes your foundation or access to the lot.

So these are all things that could be checked out. Some people might say, “Oh, that’s a lot.” It’s a lot because they’re not familiar with it. But when we work with someone, we can go through, explain the process, let them know where to go check things out, and then we can design a home that makes sense.

So the bottom point of this is: there’s land that’s a very good value. Sometimes you have to see if you’re just lucky to get a deal, or if there’s a reason why the land costs less. Because sometimes land costs less because it’s harder to build. So they discount the land to make up for it.

Now that’s not necessarily the worst thing — you just have to understand it. It’s like any other risk in life. You just have to understand what’s there.

Oh, I forgot — zoning and setbacks. Does your house fit on the land? If you have a lot that’s 50 feet wide but your house is 49 feet wide, most communities won’t allow that. So we’d have to figure out a different ho...