There’s nothing that can compete with the feeling that comes with
knowing you are the first person to live in a house and that it was
designed to your specifications. Now the important part: finding the
right home builders.
Congratulations on your decision to build your own house. There’s
nothing that can compete with the feeling that comes with knowing you
are the first person to live in a house that was designed to your
specifications. Now the important part: finding the right home builders.
It isn’t always the easiest task. There are those in the contracting
business that exist solely to rip people off. There are others who are
simply incompetent. And then there are those whose prices are sky high.
To avoid all of these and find someone you can work with takes some
research.
Remember that you don’t have to choose your home builders in a day. Take
your time and plan to interview at least three to four different
contractors. If you have access to an architect, ask them if they can
recommend anyone. Do likewise with anyone you know who has experience in
creating a house from scratch. The more input you can get, the better.
People will be more than glad to turn you on to a great company and even
more glad to steer you away from the bad apples.
If you have plans already made up, be sure to let the home builders see
them and have them express their thoughts. Try, if you can, to talk to
the actual people who will be completing the job rather than the
salesman for the company. You won’t be working with the salesman when it
comes to the construction of your house. Part of the process is finding
someone who will not only listen to your ideas, but will give you good
feed back and constructive criticism where you need it. You don’t want
to have to argue and fight on every point, but you also don’t want
someone who will just blindly say yes to everything, knowing full well
that some of your ideas are impractical.
Finally, get a price quote from each of your prospective home builders.
They may not be able to hit it right between the eyes, but they should
be able to give you a rough idea of the cost. If you have someone giving
you a really high or a really low estimate, you know something is
probably wrong. Find someone in the middle and judge them on the other
important aspects of your search (including references, BBB reputation,
and your personal rapport with them).
