We looked at houses being built by various builders in our area and made our choice that way. We did not have a plan picked out at that time. The builder sent us to someone he works with to draw up a plan.

Our realtor introduced us to 2 builders. Then we found a 3rd at the timber frame home show. The style we are building dictates certain builders in the area. Luckily we could tour multiple homes built by the builders we have narrowed it down to. We eliminated one as he is almost a year out. The other 2 both have design/build firms which we like. The architect is designing for their build team and they will work together so we don't run into issues we had last time, hopefully.

Our architect suggested several and we interviewed those plus a couple others who were building in our neighborhood. We ended up selecting one that the architect recommended.

Hi,

Please forgive me for not answering your question. I wanted to make you aware that referrals to particular builders by Realtors often involve an (unspoken, undocumented, you're kidding me, right? I deny any such thing, etc.) referral fee paid by the builder to the Realtor. These fees can increase your cost to build (yes, let's be real, they get passed on to you) by one percent to as much as six percent of the cost of your build. If you seek referrals from your Realtor, you'll be well served to ask--in writing--whether such referral will result in a referral fee paid to the Realtor.

About four or five years ago, I had a home designed by an architect, and he recommended a builder, whom I thought was wonderful . Unfortunately, the price came to $450,000, whether just the price the architect estimated, or when relying on that builder. And you just KNOW things will end up costing more. The location I was/am building in does NOT support a home priced at half a million, more or less -- we're really rural -- and I didn't want to spend that much at any rate.

So... I hung back for a couple more years, and went with a log kit company. Between the log kit design modifications, and the builder's estimate, the price was estimated at $280,000 when I signed off last year.

Due to extras I want, EITHER home would have ended up costing more -- I figure with these things my home will cost about $325,000 when done. (The square footage from both designs is about the same. Also, same property and same siting.)

Two contractor/builders were recommended to me for what I intended now to do. (experience with log home construction in general, and more especially with the company supplying my own log home set-up). I went with the one who got back to me promptly and with interest towards this job. And he's been awesome. It's been slow, but a lot of this has been rural permitting issues where the folks who sign off on these things have limited working hours.

I ended up not building a house, as I got a really good offer on the lot, so take my input with a grain of salt. I started at the lumber yard and asked them if they were building homes who would they get. That is also the way I find most of my skilled trades.

I think the most important thing about finding a builder is the connection you have with them. This is hard to describe in words but once you find it, you will know it. When I was interviewing builders, I met with several who were recommended to me. One builder really seemed to understand my vision, when I couldn't figure out how to describe what I was looking for, he described it for me, it was like he could finish my sentences. His work was a little less flashy than the work of most builders in my future neighborhood, but we really connected.

I like to ask about a bad build during the interview. A great sign is when the builder steps up and tells you something that they screwed up on, instead of just a bad client. My builder told me about a time he screwed up and wasn't able to fully absorb the mistake and had to work up a solution that wasn't great but was the best he could do, he then asked me if I would like the client's contact information. I knew then, that he was my guy.

I found that the trades (hvac, painters, electric, ect.) are a good source for builder referrals. We talked to a couple different ones and got quite a bit of info on various builders in our area.

Ask the tradespeople and down at the lumberyard. You want someone who's financially stable, and pays the subs!

We went about it a bit differently as we attended the local showcase of homes, which featured many local custom and semi-custom builders and then interviewed several of the builders whose homes we liked. We are happy with the route we decided to go, however after interviewing builders we decided to build semi-custom rather than a custom home.

We stalked current builds in the area for a couple years and looked at the quality of each build, the home style and finishes, etc and how the builder maintained the site during construction. We spoke with others in the area that had recently built and found out what their experience was with their builders. We then interviewed those that we had a positive impression of from the pre-work we had done. We had our architect interview our finalist to see if the architect believed the builder could accomplish the build the way envisioned. We then chose the builder that had experience that aligned with what we are building, proved the quality of his work through other builds in the area and had good referrals from people with whom we talked.

We asked people we knew, realtors, bankers. Did the showcase tours. Looked up awards from the National Homebuilders Association. Went to home expos. We built a smaller home than the McMansions all over the area so we asked about what they had done on the smaller side of the scale. Checked their websites. Internet searches for comments and legal issues. Telephone interviews with several. Face to face meetings with a couple. Then went to jobs being done so we could see the workmanship. Narrowed it to 2. Felt better about one, so called about 20 owners of houses they had built--several from referrals on the list to those who were NOT. Got some great feedback when we were driving around to see completed houses, and the owner was outside. Went up and introduced myself and asked for feedback. Used a list of questions for all the builders we talked to, and another list of questions for the referrals/owners. Absolutely delighted that we made the right decision for us.