What questions do you ask a builder
kluca
8 years ago
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what do you do when you don't trust your builder?
Comments (19)Our contract is fixed price with allowances. Our builders approach is that changes in things like tile or lighting fixtures that don't change the work involved for him, are no issue- we are paying the difference in the cost of material. Obviously, if we make a change that results in more labor, this would be considered a change order to be negotiated as everything else was sorted. As an example, if we change from a simple, tiled backsplash in the kitchen to one that has much more elaborate patterns and an increased time to install, then I'd expect the builder to ask for a change order to cover this. To the OP, sounds like a discussion with the builder would make sense- for some areas, it would seem that a process could be worked out to at least help you understand the relative differences in the choices you're looking at? This could be done in a way to preserve the approach this builder seems to have with his suppliers but give you some information to help with your decisions? Maybe it's time to ask the builder to meet you at the tile store to make some progress?...See Moreinterviewing builder - any recommended questions to ask?
Comments (6)Not really questions for the builder, but I have some important suggestions for the contract: First, there MUST be a written timeline, with penalties for getting behind. Every month you aren't in your new home, you'll be out for things like rent, and your builder should be accountable. Second, the payment schedule has to be such that it never makes more economic sense for your builder to walk away than fininsh your house. I've gotten in the bad position where they owe me more work than I owe them money with several people related to my build. It becomes impossible to get any attention....See MoreFirst meeting with builder - what to ask?
Comments (17)Our approach may be a little different, but this is what we did to find our builder. Maybe it'll give you an idea of more questions to ask. Before we even visited with a builder, something we did was to go around and visit all of the spec homes that were on the market in our desired neighborhood. We just went around looking at design and quality of workmanship. We also had some bad weather come through and so then we drove out the next day to see what lots/roads (if any) were flooding. When we finally got around to interviewing builders, we asked questions about the neighborhood and what they would suggest for building on certain lots. For us, it was kind of telling that certain builders would just go ahead and build on certain lots. Some suggested bringing in a lot of fill which we didn't like. The builder we finally went with admitted that he didn't want to build on those lots because he thought they were too low and flooding would be an issue. Since, we had also gone through the spec houses previously, we had already scoped out potential problems. Our builder had gone back around and touched up paint drips and little things that didn't look right. (No house is 100% perfect.) One builder 'just noticed' a board that had been pulled off for over two weeks. This guy also built several houses over a one year period while the builder we went with only builds a few houses a year. We wanted someone who cared about the quality of his work. We also looked at functionality of the houses we went into. It's true that all of the builders can take a plan and build it, but we wanted someone who could look at a plan and would help us make changes because something didn't work right. For instance, if you have doors banging into each other or a 'dead' room, it's nice to get it corrected before the walls go up and you get to pay the price of a 'change order' or have to live the results. We showed up with a general house cost we were willing to pay. We detailed quality of finishes as compared to the spec house to see if the builder was able to build a house within the price range we were able to pay. We ended up on the lower price end of what our builder normally builds, but we haven't ended up with an inferior house. We've made sure that our house has good design. We'll upgrade finishes later if we decide we want it. Some of the common upgraded finishes really aren't functional within our daily lives. For instance, I have three elementary age kids. My kids would totally ruin a faux paint finish in the first month. It's popular in my neighborhood for bathrooms to have river rock pebbles in the showers. I am not a maid and I have no desire to clean soap scum out of the grout so we went with the easier cleaning options. When you're visiting houses with a game room upstairs, send the kids upstairs to play. See if the tromping of little feet over your head annoys you. Many of the houses in our neighborhood look like castles. We don't want or need a castle. All we really want/need is a ranch style house. We started with a box and had a designer add a few things to the exterior to make it look like we belonged in the neighborhood. The result is actually nice. We have a lot of people driving by and taking pictures of our house. I don't think in this economy that you'll have a problem finding a builder willing to go more simplistic in style. You're money coming in and if they want business, they'll work with that....See MoreWhat Questions to Ask Potential Builders
Comments (9)This is the list of questions I compiled. I didn't always use them all, but it gave me a starting point for questions: How many years have you been in business? How many homes have you built? What percent of your business is residential v commercial? Where is most of your work located? What types of projects do you prefer to work on? How is your office structured? Who would be at my house every day? Construction supervisors? Who would we be working with? How long have they been with you? Who would we be communicating with? How much of the work would you sub out? Do you have teams of subs you regularly work with? How do you maintain quality with subs? How many projects do you manage at once? How do you compare yourself to other builders? What are the most important benefits of the homes you build? What are the major energy-saving features of homes you build? What standard features do your homes include? What options and upgrades can I select? Preferred vendors? What if I find something on my own? How and when will the final price for my home be determined? How often (and when) will I have access to the home during the building process? How long will my home take to complete? What's your process for inspection at key points of construction, at final walk-through, and to address any matters that need to be corrected or finalized? 15. Experience with aging in place projects? 16. What are some of the largest obstacles on a project like this? 17. How do you charge, and what are your fees? Any caps on costs? 18. Do you have preferred lenders? 19. How do you make sure we stay within our budget? 20. How do you manage timelines? 21. What type of warranty do you offer? 22. Are there any red flags with what I want to do?...See MoreC Masty
8 years agomidwest gal
8 years agodulcie
8 years agoFastInk
8 years agoVirgil Carter Fine Art
8 years agodulcie
8 years agoC Masty
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoArchitectrunnerguy
8 years agoomelet
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoArchitectrunnerguy
8 years ago
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