Important Questions to Ask a Potential Custom Home Builder
Congratulations! You have decided to embark on the wondrous journey of building a custom home! It will be full of inevitable twists and turns, but having the right builder on your team can smooth these challenges down to mild speed bumps. Building a custom home can take anywhere from 9 months to 2 years, so you want to find a builder relationship that fits for the long haul. But how do you find this seemingly evasive “right builder”? You research and ask questions- LOTS of questions. Here are 3 of the top questions you should be asking any potential builder:
Do you engineer your foundation AND structural framing? When starting the process on your dream home, it can be easy to get so caught up in the finished product that you can actually overlook some of the most important pieces of the home. You might have the most luxurious home on the planet, but if the foundation and framing is not intact, you won't be enjoying it for long. Ask your builder if they are hiring a licensed, professional engineer to design and inspect the foundation and structural framing. Believe it or not, some builders skip this step to save money. Is it worth the risk to you?
How "custom" can I make my custom home? This point can get confusing because we live in a time when production-custom hybrid builders are increasingly widespread. They provide a narrowed list of choices from which you can “customize” your home. However, let's say you have an antique door you want installed in one of the bedrooms. Maybe you know of a supplier in Mexico with tile you love. What if you decide halfway through the project that you want to add floating shelves in your kitchen? Are these things your builder is ready to take on? Or do they just want to stick to their go-to suppliers and floor plans?
How do you prioritize your subcontractor relationships? The last question, but possibly the most important question, centers on the builder to subcontractor (“subs”) relationships. The quality of these relationships can make all the difference in the timeliness of your project, as well as the overall quality of work in your home. Do the subs enjoy working for the builder? Is the builder constantly finding new and cheaper trades for each project, or are they seeking to build lasting relationships with the subs? Does the builder know and trust the hands that are working on your forever home?
Hopefully these questions provide a good starting point for finding your “right builder”. Stay tuned for more content regarding custom home deep dives and helpful tips!
