Top 4 Ways to Boost Curb Appeal of Your New Home

Love the layout, hate the exterior of the custom floor plan you want to build? Change it! Here are 4 ways to increase curb appeal in the Chapel Hill area by considering different exterior materials for the build of your new home, with pros and cons.

Custom Home Exterior Material Example #1: Vinyl Siding

If you want to save money, vinyl is an exterior material worth considering. Be sure to take your time with your color selection, and take a look at all the options.

Pros: Want a more custom look? You can dress things up with shutters, gable vents, corbels or column wraps. Vinyl can be cleaned with power washing and typically would not be repainted at a later date.

Cons: Some communities do not allow vinyl exteriors. Vinyl siding may fade – with darker colors absorbing more sunlight than lighter colors. It can also expand and shrink with temperatures.

Custom Home Exterior Material Example #2: Vinyl Siding and Veneer

A small amount of stone veneer and picture frame details around the windows can make a big difference. The stone water table provides another texture for this home, and won’t break the bank if the amount of stone is kept to just enough for a water table and column base. If you are doing exterior selections, consider picking the stone first. Then choose roofing with a similar color scheme, such as Drift Wood or Weathered Wood shingles.

Custom Home Exterior Material Example #3: Fiber Cement Siding With Stone Accents

The curb appeal of this fiber cement and stone home does a very nice job of blending multiple texture types and materials. The medium blue shakes seen on the face of the garage wall break the patterned straight lines. They also pull the color right out of the stone veneer below. The light blue lap siding on the sides and rear of home and complementing white picture frames around the windows, gable vents and gutters combine to make a well balanced exterior. The Mackenzie seen just below follows this formula and also looks great!

Pros: The mix of materials and colors make this home feel custom and comfortable. Adding stone to the front but keeping the other 3 sides of the home in fiber cement saves on cost.

Cons: Fiber cement costs more than vinyl. Stone veneer costs more than fiber cement.

Custom Home Exterior Material Example #4: All Brick and Stone

NC Custom Home Photo Tours

The classic look of full brick veneer creates curb appeal so compelling that some entire communities require it. This full brick home is even more interesting due to the brick color choice and the stone front accent on the garage face.

Pros: Bricks are sturdy and durable, typically requiring almost no maintenance other than occasional power washing.

Cons: That low maintenance and solid look comes with a higher price tag than most exterior materials.

Get information about building a custom home with Travars Built Homes – including more ways to create a cost effective new home in North Carolina.

Modern Farmhouse | Chatham County NC New Homes

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Tell us what you’re looking for — layout ideas, must-haves, style preferences — and we’ll send a selection of plans that align with your needs.

Floor Plan FAQs

Can I modify your floor plans?

Yes —  every plan we offer is customizable. We’ll walk you through changes step-by-step.

What if I already have a floor plan I love?

We can build from your plan or help modify it to meet local requirements and your personal style.

What areas do you build in?

Travars Built Homes builds across Chatham, Alamance, Durham, Orange, Wake, and other surrounding counties.

Testimonials

“Lara understood exactly what we wanted, and she was able to find the perfect house plan to fit our budget…[Travars Built Homes] kept us informed throughout the entire process, and the final result was better than we could have ever hoped for… We would highly recommend Travars Built Homes to anyone looking to build their own custom home.” – J Mooney, Chatham County

“From the very start, Travars Built Homes took time to learn about our family and dreams for a custom built home in rural Chatham County. We found an initial floorplan we liked and made a number of major changes including addition of a dog room, expanding the width of the entire house, converting the garage to a large game room, and even creating roof access customized creativity to make hanging Christmas lights a much safer and fun. As the build progressed, the team customized the interior options to meet our hopes on so many levels…Travars has truly exceeded our expectations on the quality of our home…Truly, we can’t think Travars Built Homes enough for building our forever home.” – Stephen Ferguson, Chatham County

“In our home search, we found a Travars Built home under construction that met most of our criteria. Because we were looking for specific living spaces that were not in the original plan, the Travars team worked with us on several modifications/additions and completed our dream home. We have been in our home for just over a year and are so impressed with the custom features and quality of the build. Any issues we have had were minor and taken care of promptly. The quality of the construction is outstanding and the Travars team has been just as outstanding. We highly recommend Travars Built Homes!” – Tom Fiacco, Chatham County

Floor Plans

We can help you find a house plan that fits your home site and lifestyle. Let us know which plans you like from our database, or if you’d like us to send even more options to think about.

Search for floor plan?

We work with you to build your home the way you want it in Fox Oak, other available homes and land or on your lot in Pittsboro, Chatham County and surrounding regions extending into Alamance, Durham, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, Randolph, and Wake counties.