Key Takeaways
- Building a luxury custom home gives you the opportunity to design your home around your lifestyle, property and priorities instead of adapting your life to an existing floor plan.
- Hjellming Construction works with homeowners from the earliest design conversations through construction to make sure important decisions work together as part of one cohesive home.
- With more than 60 years of experience building homes in Sioux Falls and across the surrounding area, Hjellming Construction brings local knowledge and proven expertise to every custom home.
There’s a big difference between building a new house and building your house.
When you decide to build a custom home, you get the opportunity to think about the things you’ve loved in previous homes, the things you’ve always wanted to change and the details that would make everyday life a little better.
Maybe that means a kitchen built for a family that loves to cook together. Maybe you want garage space that can accommodate more than vehicles. Maybe it’s a great room designed for hosting the holidays, a private home office or a primary suite you’ll enjoy for years to come.
Whatever is on the list, a luxury custom home should feel personal.
Hjellming Construction has been designing and building custom homes in and around Sioux Falls since 1962. Over those six-plus decades, styles and trends have changed considerably. The importance of understanding the homeowner has not.
Here’s what you can expect when you decide to turn an idea into a home.
Start With How You Want to Live
Before you start thinking about countertops or light fixtures, think about your life.
How do you spend your mornings? Do you entertain often? Where does everyone drop their coats and shoes when they walk through the door? Do you work from home? Do you want spaces where everyone can gather or places where people can get away?
Those details matter.
A custom floor plan shouldn’t be based only on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you want. It should reflect how one space connects to the next and how your family will actually use the home.
That is why the early conversations are so important.
At Hjellming Construction, we want to understand what you’re trying to create before we start determining how to create it.
Design the Home and the Property Together
Where you build can have a major influence on what you build.
The size and orientation of your lot, views, sunlight, surrounding homes, elevation and access can all influence the design.
Instead of treating the house and lot as two separate decisions, we believe they should work together.
Where should the windows go to capture natural light? Is there a view worth highlighting? How should outdoor entertaining connect to the interior? Where does the home sit best on the property?
And, of course, this is South Dakota. Snow, wind, drainage and changing seasons aren’t abstract design considerations here. They’re part of building a home that needs to perform well year after year.
*This Garretson, SD home was designed with its surroundings in mind and the stunning views from the main living space. Check out more of this home here.
Create a Floor Plan That Is Truly Yours
One of the biggest advantages of custom home construction is starting with your priorities instead of someone else’s floor plan. You aren’t limited to choosing Plan A, B or C and making minor adjustments.
Hjellming Construction can create custom floor plans designed around the homeowner and property.
That might include an oversized kitchen and hidden pantry, a larger mudroom, a specialty garage, a lower level designed for entertaining, a home gym, an office positioned away from the busiest areas of the house or a primary suite configured exactly the way you want it.
Sometimes it’s the less glamorous decisions that make the biggest difference.
Where should the laundry room be? Is there enough storage where you actually need it? Where will groceries come into the house? Is there somewhere to put the vacuum? Where does everyone charge their phones?
A good custom design considers those details, too.
Make Hundreds of Decisions Feel Like One Home
Building a custom home involves a lot of choices. Flooring. Cabinets. Countertops. Windows. Doors. Hardware. Plumbing fixtures. Lighting. Exterior materials. Paint. Trim.
The list goes on.
Each choice may look great individually, but the real goal is making sure everything works together. That’s particularly important in a luxury home, where craftsmanship and cohesion often make a bigger impact than any single expensive feature.
We help our clients think through those decisions as part of the bigger picture.
Will the material hold up? Does it fit the architecture? Will you still like it years from now? Does it make sense for South Dakota? Is it worth investing more here and simplifying somewhere else?
After more than 60 years in construction, we’ve seen plenty of products and trends come and go. That perspective can be valuable when you’re making decisions about a home you plan to enjoy for a long time.
Expect the Plan to Become Very Real
There’s a point during every custom build when something that has existed mostly in drawings suddenly starts feeling like a home. The walls go up. Rooms take shape. Windows frame the views you talked about months earlier.
Then the details start coming together.
This is also where craftsmanship matters most.
A luxury home isn’t defined only by square footage or a list of expensive finishes. It’s also defined by how things fit, how transitions are handled and whether the finished work lives up to the original vision.
Hjellming Construction has always focused more on the quality of the homes we build than the number of homes we can build.
That approach allows us to give each project the attention it deserves.
Build for Today, but Think About Tomorrow
A truly custom home should work for your life now, but it’s worth thinking about where life may take you.
Will children eventually leave home? Will parents or adult children visit for longer stretches? Could a home office serve another purpose someday? Would you like to stay in this home well into retirement?
You don’t have to predict everything.
But thoughtful decisions today can make a home more adaptable for decades. That may mean considering main-floor living, wider spaces, flexible rooms, storage needs or simply choosing materials that can withstand years of everyday use.
This idea is at the heart of universal design, which considers how a home can remain comfortable, functional and accessible as your needs change over time. If you’re thinking about building for the long term, we actually just wrote a full blog about this topic. Read more here.
When you’re building from the ground up, you have a unique opportunity to create a home that works beautifully today while planning for what tomorrow may bring.
More Than 60 Years of Building in Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls looks very different than it did when Hjellming Construction began operations in 1962.
We’ve watched the city expand, new neighborhoods take shape and home design evolve from one generation to the next.
We’ve evolved, too.
But the foundation of our business remains remarkably similar: listen to the homeowner, pay attention to the details and build something we’re proud to put the Hjellming name on.
Our family-based company has created some of the most distinctive homes in South Dakota and has received 20 Sioux Empire Home Builders Association Parade of Homes awards for unique home designs.
For us, custom home construction has never been about building as many homes as possible.
It’s about making each one count.
Thinking About Building a Custom Home?
You don’t need to have every detail figured out before the first conversation. In fact, you probably shouldn’t.
Bring us the ideas. Bring the photos you’ve saved. Tell us what you loved about your last home and what drove you crazy. Tell us what you want everyday life in the new house to feel like.
We’ll take it from there.
If you’re considering a luxury custom home in Sioux Falls or the surrounding area, contact Hjellming Construction. Let’s get a consultation scheduled and start planning your dream home! We’re excited to hear your vision.