Buying a spec home before it’s finished can give you the best of both worlds. The convenience and shorter timeline of a move-in-ready home, with potential opportunities to personalize select finishes along the way. Here’s what to know before buying a new home while it’s still under construction.

One of the first questions people ask when they start thinking about a custom home is also one of the hardest to answer: “How much will it cost?”

The reason is simple. A custom home is not an off-the-shelf product. The final investment depends on the home you want to build, the land you are building on, the level of finish you choose and the priorities that matter most to you.