The Joy of Building

Are you getting ready to hire a custom home builder to help you construct your dream home? Here are a couple of important questions to ask:

How Many Revisions are Offered?

When it comes time to actually design your custom home, you will likely have a lot of ideas about what to include in the finished design. But some of those ideas may not end up being what you really want once you see the final design. For example, you might want to create an open floor concept and choose a kitchen living room combination at first. But once you see the design on paper, you may decide that the open floor plan isn't what you really want, and instead, you'd like a half wall built between the living room and kitchen.

So you need to know upfront how many design revisions your custom home builder is willing to make as part of the service package you purchase. And you should find out how much revisions will cost if they aren't included in the service fee or if you want to make more revisions than your service provider is willing to offer for free. This information will help ensure that you won't end up with house designs you aren't completely happy with just because you can't afford additional revisions without going over your house building budget.

Are Inspections and Permits Included?

Your home design plans will need the approval of an architect after they inspect the plans to ensure that they meet the building codes of your county. Your custom home builder may or may not have a partnership with an architect. If they do, you can expect the architect to approve the plans as they are created so they can be taken to the building department immediately after they're complete.

If they don't, you'll have to wait for them to have a third-party architect approve your plans before they can start the permit process at your county's building department. The building department will look over the plans and then issue your builder a permit that will allow them to actually break ground and start building your home.

You'll likely need permits to install your plumbing and electrical systems too. And inspections will need to be completed by county building officials who will want to make sure that your home meets all codes and regulations once the building process is completed.

So make sure that the home builder you decide to work with includes inspections and permits in their service fees so you don't have to worry about making several smaller payments to different service providers throughout the building process. 

For more information on custom homes, contact a contractor.