Prior to meeting a builder, It is important to adequately educate yourself about how to select a custom home builder. Asking the right questions during your meeting is crucial to guarantee your project’s success. But in order to get the most value out of your first meeting, taking care of this before signing will give you peace of mind when you’re ready to buy.

The advantage of getting a custom home build over buying a ready-to-move-in home is that you can choose every aspect of the construction. Right from the floor plan and layout to the finishing, your taste will reflect in your home. Besides, a custom home is where you live with your family for years to come.

Whether building on your lot, or preselected land, the custom home builder that you choose will be the partner in charge of bringing your dreams to life. On the other hand, choosing the wrong builder can get you a less-than-satisfactory finished build, which you may regret for many years to come.

Before meeting a home builder, here are the 10 things you should do:

1. Research

Go online, ask for recommendations from your friends and family, or do the traditional drive-by research. Drive around the location you are interested to build in, look at the homes that appeal to you and find out about who built them.

Satisfied clients give word-of-mouth publicity to the best builders, so keep your eye out for such referrals. By now, you should have a good number of potential builders and their portfolios.

2. Sort Out

Next up, you should refine this list. Go to their websites and do in-depth research about their details like past projects, styles they specialize in, costs, duration, etc. Other important boxes to check off:

✓ Projects done near the location of your future home
✓ Locally based builders
✓ The right qualifications
✓ Specific challenges dealt in their projects
✓ Features, styles, longevity, etc.

3. Make a Call

Even before meeting the builder face to face, there are some things you can find out over a phone call. You can also come to an opinion about the builder during your phone conversation. Observe if the builder is accessible to you easily, whether they make you feel important and whether they are being transparent throughout the conversation.

Choose a custom home builder who can respond to you promptly and give you comprehensive answers. By contrast, if the builder does not get back at you or has trouble answering your questions properly, then steer clear of them.

4. Ask Questions

For a first-time homeowner, getting a custom home builder can be overwhelming. And you may feel like you are undereducated. But, when you are putting in a substantial amount of investment and spending your valuable time on the project, you need to know about what goes into the construction. Don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you can. The goal of this step is to have peace of mind and be sure they can deliver.

So, it is advisable to have a list of pre written questions to ask a builder before signing with them.

12 Questions to ask a potential home builder before hiring

1. How much time does the builder take to prepare an estimate?
2. Does the main builder himself will be heading the entire project?
3. How accessible will the builder be to you throughout the project?
4. Do they use sustainable materials to make energy-efficient homes?
5. Are they licensed and insured?
6. How often will you be meeting?
7. Do you do any open houses?
8. Are they open to talk about past projects?
9. Can they put you in touch with past customers?
10. What main challenges do they encounter the most?
11. How do they manage the budget?
12. How do they handle contingencies?

5. Get References

Ask the details of their past clients and speak to them several weeks before you plan to meet the builder. An established builder can provide you such references easily.

Contact at least 3 or 4 of their past clients, both old and new, and then check out these homes. Find out from these customers about the builder’s response times, communication methods, and the durability of the products used. Ask whether the builder provided realistic estimates, stayed within budget, and shared timely progress with them.

6. Take a Model Home Tour

In addition to visiting the past projects, check out the ongoing works on the construction sites. Usually, custom home builders provide a model home tour, either online or off. Taking the tour will give you an idea of the builder’s craftsmanship, so make it a point to check out their old offerings as well as the newest projects at hand.

Look at homes that have been standing for years and pay close attention to obvious details like moisture damage, or water stains on the ceilings, or cracked flooring.

7. Quality Matters

Your home is where your children laugh and play and where you entertain your friends. So, you must ensure that the entire structure is secure and make your loved ones feel safe. To do that, you need to avoid the chances of costly repairs, critical structural issues, and difficult upgrades.

The best way to achieve this is to use quality materials in the entire structure during every phase of the construction. Furnishings, fixtures, paints, and others are some of the materials you can see and pick. But those materials that you can’t see are the key to a home’s longevity. Ask the builder about the materials they use, and make sure they are of the highest quality to have a solid foundation.

8. Share Your Vision

Over the years, you may have been collecting pictures of your future home, the colors you are going to use, what style you will build it in, and how hi-tech you want it to be. Share your vision with your builder and their design team and work out a way to get it done. Getting visuals of what should be incorporated in each room of your home will help the designers and the builder to brainstorm and arrive at a plan.

If you have not been very active in researching various architectural styles and design trends, lookup online. There are a lot of home improvement and design websites that you can take inspiration from, such as Houzz and Pinterest. One more benefit of this process is to check how long the builder can go to achieve your vision.

9. Get a Team in Sync with You

The ideal build team is one that can be in complete sync with your vision. They will discuss your ideas and goals and suggest you the right design and products that can best suit your lifestyle. You must feel a strong connection to the design and construction team and be able to trust them with your dream.

After all is said and done, your home reflects your personality and fits your family’s needs. But choosing the right builder is not an exact science. for you. But, getting the team on the page the same as you are can avoid future issues or headaches and make the journey smoother.

10. Repeat the Steps

Your custom home building is an exciting process and a major decision you make in life, so you must consider all possible options. If at first you don’t succeed in finding the right builder, make sure to contact all the local builders that you have narrowed down on your list. Meeting with several builders before the final decision helps you determine what you are looking for in a builder.

Dolcan Homes is a custom home building company in McAllen Texas. We serve Rio Grande Valley locations, including McAllen, Pharr, Edinburg, Mission and Weslaco. We specialize in residential communities with the highest standards of craftsmanship and using premium materials. Contact us today and attest our company’s commitment to superb craftsmanship and competitive pricing.