Successfully pulling off the construction of your dream home can be a real headache and hassle if you let things snowball on you.
Believe me, I would know. Not only is my husband a bathroom remodeler, but my best friend has owned a couple of fixer-upper homes and so I was no stranger to the DIY approach to renovating and flipping homes. It’s not like designing a home from scratch is stress-free—not with the weight of a 200 decisions to make in a single day. But I always still felt like tackling a brand-new home construction project would be a walk in the park compared to dealing with somebody else’s mistakes when they built a home 50 years or more ago!
But perhaps that’s only because I always take my time to find the a trusted builder with a perfect location for my new home. Even still, I made a ton of mistakes, especially my first time out. Hopefully you’ll be able to use the inside information below to avoid making the kinds of mistakes I made in the past but won’t ever make again!
Work only with 100% legitimate contractors.
But know that finding the right builder is a bit of a dance, for sure. For starters, you’re going to find all kinds of professionals in the local area more than ready and more than willing to offer their help and their services when you’re talking about building a brand-new home. Unfortunately, all of them are going to promise the moon and the stars when it comes to results, track record, and price – but most of them aren’t going to be able to meet the lofty expectations they set up.
You’ll want to look into several different builders, starting with only the best that have been recommended to you and then digging deeper into their background online as well as off. As for client testimonials, case studies, and referrals, ask for details about their license, their insurance, and they are business history, and generally dive into all the information that they have provided you while independently verifying it on your own.
You’re going to end up spending a few hundred thousand dollars on a new home construction project. This isn’t something you can afford to roll the dice with.
Never sign on the dotted line until you’ve read every letter of the contract.
Even working with the best of the best in your local area isn’t going to guarantee that you wind up with your dream home on budget and ahead of schedule.
You need to be sure that you have everything you want – and I mean EVERYTHING you want – poured in concrete on your contract, with absolutely no wiggle room, no weasel words, and no ambiguity.
You also need to be sure that there aren’t any surprises hidden throughout your contract. You’ll want to pay close attention to the fine print, you’ll want to go over every single word in the contract, and you may even want to have a lawyer browse the paperwork before you sign on the dotted line just to be sure that you have all of your bases covered.
This will definitely help you when it comes time to find the right builder for your dream home!