Living in your brand new dream home is a wonderful, life-changing event for the whole family. Getting to that point in the home building process with your trusted home builder, however, is a journey.
It is important to have realistic expectations because building a new home takes some time and problems can certainly arise. While some hassles are unavoidable, others may be sidestepped if you have the right knowledge and a great team of trusted people working with you.
19 potential problems during home building:
- Problems with the availability of quality lots of land (especially in certain areas of the country).
- Unexpected concerns with your lot like soil quality issues, drainage issues, wetlands limitations, zoning restrictions, soil or groundwater contamination, erosion, etc…
- Difficulty obtaining zoning or approval.
- Blueprint issues.
- Problems scheduling or passing inspections.
- Unexpected delays due to weather, contractors, special orders, the permitting process, inspections, or making changes in the plan once construction has begun, etc”.
- Misunderstandings or communication problems.
- Finding out after-the-fact that you hired a builder who is not committed to quality or who doesn’t respond in a timely fashion to problems.
- Construction labor shortages in busy seasons or if demand for labor is high due to a regional disaster.
- Material shortages.
- Unexpected costs.
- Sudden changes in the marketplace, economy, or regulations.
- Issues with qualifying for a mortgage loan.
- Working out the timing for selling your old home or getting out of your previous lease to move into the new home.
- Saving up enough money for the down payment.
- Keeping up with the paperwork.
- A builder who doesn’t have good relationships with their suppliers, resulting in delays and extra problems.
- Custom orders that weren’t measured properly and must be redone.
- Faulty or poor quality materials.
Many of the above problems with home building lead to a delay in the completion date or extra expenses.
Consider family issues before you build
Before you decide to have a house built, consider if you and your family are prepared to be able to:
- Have the confidence and courage to speak up, ask the hard questions, and clearly communicate your legitimate concerns with your custom home builder.
- Have patience and a contingency plan for your family in case there are unavoidable delays.
- Spend a bit above your planned budget, in case you decide there is something extra you want to add.
- Be flexible and able to roll with changes to the plan when necessary.
- Educate yourself to be at least somewhat knowledgeable about the process so you can be very involved.
- Handle marital/family disagreements that may arise during the process.
- Make a lot of decisions about exactly what you and your family want in your home without becoming overwhelmed.
- Have a plan to manage stress and tension in yourself and in your family relationships. It’s important to remember that your loved ones and your relationships are even more important than the new house.
An experienced, reputable home builder will welcome your questions and seek to be as transparent as possible each step of the way. They will provide information in advance about what to expect and their building philosophy. They’ll give you realistic time-frames and estimates as much as possible. They will provide appropriate references and allow you to see the quality of their past work. A great home builder is an invaluable part of your team on this journey and one of the most important decisions you will make in this process.
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