12 Tips to Choose the Right Builder for Your New Construction Home

Owning a home is definitely a sweet dream for many people. Our home is a result of our hard earned money, our taste and interests. Hence, there definitely exists the necessity to do a lot of homework before taking a final decision about any aspect pertaining to the construction of a home – the color of the paint, the budget, the area to be chosen for construction, the interior and exterior planning, and the list goes on and on!

You must also have heard horrendous stories from your neighbors, friends, relatives or colleagues about how their builders troubled them.

Thus undoubtedly, choosing the right builder is the key to get the major portion of the task of building a home done. The better builder you choose, the more advantageous it is.

In this post, let us see 12 tips that will help you in choosing the right builder for your new construction home.

1.    Make a list of builders

This should be the first step – Getting started. Grab the newspaper, browse the internet, and research the yellow pages. List out all the names and details of builders at your chosen location. For this purpose, rely on established newspapers and reputed websites for trusted information.

Once you make a list, pick the five most trusted builders based on reviews and talk to them. Get your doubts clarified with each of them, before finalizing one.

2.    Seek advice from friends, relatives, and co-workers

Intelligent people learn from others’ experiences. Talk to your buddies, co-workers, and neighbors and find out their experiences while building a home.

Specifically, ask them if they know any builder who you can trust. Question them how they coped with their builder, how their experience was, where the project got delayed, what you have to look in while choosing a builder.

Their advice can be valuable in your selection and taking the decision about finalizing your builder.

3.    Customizability

Most builders do have a similar plan for a given budget and they stress the customer to with that. This is done for their easiness of finishing the project and cost-cutting aspects too.

However, if you have any idea of your dream home, talk to your builder if they can construct accordingly. Some builders allow you the freedom to choose your own architect.

If you are lucky, you can also involve during the construction process and can be more involved in the process. You can customize floor designs, ceiling options, tiles selection, and other aspects, unlike for non-customizable options.

4.    Model House

Seeing is believing – at least it is true for a model house. Instead of relying on the paper and ink or computer graphics for plans and final house designs, check a model house. A builder who provides a model house for the customers is more preferable and trustable.

5.    Location and Amenities

If your builder is stressing on a particular location for constructing your house, check if all the amenities are available in the neighborhood. Schools, colleges, hospitals, other public services, and amenities make the location preferable to families, rather than the far and out reachable ones.

Another aspect you need to check about the location is whether it is covered under residential zone as per the State laws

6.    Warranty

This is another key aspect. Reputed builders do provide warranty for their constructions. Check with your builder if he has any such facility. The warranty can cover a wider range of aspects such as time duration of completion of the entire construction, basic amenities such as HVAC and plumbing and their assured performance till a specified period after the possession of the house, etc.

Most builders do not provide warranty for cosmetic fixes and structural modifications. Talk to your builder and get clarified the scope of the warranty. This avoids any chances of repenting at later stages.

7.    Budget

Sticking to a budget is very crucial for a bigger project like house building. Instead of wants, focus on your needs. Ask your builder to stick to the budget and avoid emptying your pockets. Find out if any hidden charges are present before signing the house building contract.

8.    Trust and reputation

This matters a lot. Ask your builder how long they have been in this profession. Take contact numbers of happy owners who have already been their clients. Check their licenses and other legal documents. Find out the qualification and experience of their team and their reputation.

9.    Compensation

Will the builder give you any compensation of the project is delayed due to any reason? What are the chances of extended warranty options? In case of damage during the mentioned period after the possession, will the builder compensate in cash? Check all these clearly.

10.    Litigation History

You can find out if they have any criminal records or litigation or court cases that are pending. Choose wisely a builder who has no such litigations.

11.    Resale value

Building a home that suits your taste is not a wrong thing to do. However, keep in mind your long term plans too and build the home in a generic way. This makes its future owners also to love it and you will get a good resale value too.

12.    Detailed contract terms and conditions

Other details in the terms and conditions do matter a lot. Before signing the building contract, checkpoints such as, maintenance services such as plumbing or house-wiring provided by the builder, if you have any chance to upgrade within the budget specified, would they adhere to the timeline as promised and deliver the house to you with no delays, what energy efficiency measures are they adopting and are they adhering to State rules?

What exact materials are they mentioning for each part of the house construction? Any extra charges in case of extra amenities? Any hidden charges for distances covered for dump trucks? What if a dispute arises between both the parties? Legal terms and conditions associated with it, etc.

Seek expert help in case of doubts and choose your builder wisely. Happy Constructing!!

Author bio http://www.dumptrucks.com/

Mario Rolls is the blog consultant and writer at Dump Trucks. He brings 20 years of experience in various industries including heavy vehicle blogging and dump body manufacturing business.He is working for a company in Mississippi and one of the Nation’s primary manufacturers of dump truck bodies and trailers. Warren offers products and services for the smallest to the largest trucks.