Published July 28, 2017
4 Things to Consider When Selecting a Builder
1. CUSTOMER SERVICE: Do you connect well with the sales counselor within the community? You and your real estate agent will be spending a lot of time with this person. You want to make sure the person leading the efforts on building your home possesses knowledge about the product, strong communication skills, and a genuine concern about assisting you in one of the biggest transactions of your life. Remember, the sales counselor represents the builder. Your real estate agent represents YOU. This is why it is so important to be represented on a new build. It is the job of the sales counselor to sell you a home, while protecting their margins.
Customer service can be showcased when the sales counselor makes an effort to get to know you and your needs. Are they only asking you basic questions about your house criteria (how many bedrooms, square footage, and garage space you would like)? Ideally, they want to get to know you and your lifestyle in a significantly deeper way than just understanding your basic criteria. For example, if you tell me an open kitchen is important to you, I am going to ask you so much more about that criterion than you expect. What kind of cooking do you like to do? What pains you about your current kitchen layout? What does “open” mean to you?
On average, a builder will offer over 10 floor plans per community. Each of those plans has different structural options that tweak the original floor plan. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say there are 4 structural options per floor plan. That gives you 40 floor plans to choose from with ONE builder. You need a builder that will provide good customer service that translates into a genuine concern for you and your specific needs. Be cognizant of the customer service delivered when selecting a builder!
2. COMPANY HISTORY: How long has this builder built in the Austin, Texas area? Since we are in one of the hottest markets in the country, every national builder is trying to get land in our city. Please keep in mind that new builders entering the market will have to adjust to building in a new area with a different climate, soil profile, and topography layout. Austin alone has different soils and topographies. Find out how many homes the builder has built in the specific area you are looking to be in. You don’t want to be the guinea pig for a builder starting construction in a new area.
When thinking about reselling your new home in the future, one must consider the builder they are choosing. Is it likely that that builder will be around in a few years? If not, who will be responsible for the warranty program if that builder sells or leaves the market? Typically, a builder’s warranty program is on a 1/2/10 year program. The first year covers the home “bumper to bumper,” while the second year covers mechanicals and plumbing, and the 10-year warranty covers foundation. Did you know that real estate agents can try to negotiate an additional home warranty or “residential service contract” for you? A $500.00 home warranty from a third party covers a new build for four years after the first year of the life of the home.
3. BLUEPRINT: Looking through all the floor plans with builders in a community can be quite tedious. When glancing at the marketing brochures, most layouts seem quite comparable. Before you comb through all of those plans, ask each builder within the community about their architecture team. Is that team based in Texas designing plans fit for our Texas climate, lifestyle, and land? How many times has the plan lineup been built? What does the builder’s process look like when rolling out a new floor plan? Do they build a prototype first and then launch the product into communities? You want a product that is tried and true rather than an experiment. This will help you narrow down builders within a community.
Once you have an understanding of the builder’s design process and you have a floor plan in mind, you need to request the blueprints for the plan before you contract. Most builders will only be able to show you the blueprints in person at their model home office. This is something they typically cannot legally send or give to you. When you are looking at the blueprints, look at the structural details of the home to compare builder style. Below is a list of items some builders cut corners on to increase their margin. These items are important aesthetic features that help make a home feel really good when done correctly.
- Height between floor and base of window
- Size and type of windows
- Plate height of the walls
- Flat ceiling or vaulted ceiling
- varied ceiling heights room to room (even in an open concept)
- Width of hallways
- Thickness of curved walls
4. THIRD PARTY INSPECTIONS: Compare each builder’s third party inspection process. There are standards the builders must adhere to per code in order to build. However, some builders go the extra step and order additional third party inspections to achieve the highest quality product possible and offer that as a standard value-add for their customers. Buyers purchasing new home construction do not need to order a separate inspection unless they feel more comfortable spending the $550.00 to have their vendor check it out. Just keep in mind the inspector team inspecting the home is typically a reputable third party company.
