Transcript of Build Your Dream Home Podcast - Episode 10:
Mark Mathis:
The Build Your Dream Home podcast with Mark Mathis, episode 10.
Announcer:
Always wanted to build your house but not sure where to start? You're in the right place. Welcome to the Build Your Dream Home podcast where experts in the industry share their knowledge and help you to be one step closer to building your dream home. And here's your host, Mark Mathis.
Mark Mathis:
Hey everybody. This is Mark with houseplangallery.com and the Build Your Dream Home podcast. Really excited about today's show. This is something that we get so many questions about, I cannot tell you and that's how to find a good builder.
Now we're going to be going through a lot of different ways that you can actually how to find a good builder in your area that's reputable and has done work before and you can actually go out and check out what they've done before and actually in many cases talk to clients they worked with to get some more information.
But before we do that, I want to send out a shout out to a recent review on our podcast and this one is by MillenniaBabe So she says, “It's a great place to start. If you're going to build your dream home, then this is where you should start. It's very informative and breaks down the steps so you can easily understand how to do it.” Thank you so much Millennia Babe and if you're listening to this podcast, be sure to just send me an email at mark@houseplangallery.com and note the episode that your testimonial was in and what it was and I have a very special gift for you and for all of you out there who are listening to this, if you've not yet subscribed to our podcast, be sure to do that by going to houseplangallery.com/subscribe.
We're going to be giving a shout out to one of our viewers every single week and I have very special gifts for anyone that I read on air, so definitely check that out. Also, if you've not had a chance to check out the Dream Home Success Kit, you'll definitely want to do that as well. Basically, it's a free resource that gives you everything that you need to know when you're starting out the process of building a new home are looking at purchasing house plans and this is not just a sales tool for us at House Plan Gallery.
Of course, we're home designers and we sell house plans so we would love for you to use our plans. However, what we're trying to do is just help you every step of the way whether or not you choose our plans and this Dream Home Success Kit has got some special reports, links to internal tools that we use, like our cost to build estimator software. We've got links to webinars that we've done before that basically goes through every single step in the process of buying house plans, building a new home, getting quotes, having modification done and that kind of thing. So definitely check that out at houseplangallery.com\dreamhome.
Announcer:
Are you excited about building your new dream home and want instant access to even more bonuses? Then just head over to http://www.houseplangallery.com\dreamhome to claim our new Dream Home Success Kit, which includes thousands of dollars’ worth of additional videos, training, tools, secret online resources, and much more. Again, that website is www.houseplangallery.com\dreamhome. It is completely free to join. So what are you waiting for?
Mark Mathis:
With that we'll get right into the meat of the episode and in this we're going to be talking about how to find a good home builder. So first of all, we get many questions each and every month on can you recommend a builder in my local market? There are clients that actually bought our plans and they're looking for a builder. And we cannot recommend builders because we're not in your local area. All designers are geographically located obviously, and the builders that they interact with on a daily basis are just basically right around their area, maybe within 30 to 50 miles. So if you live anywhere other than where the designer lives, obviously then we're not going to have any resources for you. You can definitely go out to Google and search for builders if you'd like to, but I'm going to give you some better alternatives.
Number one, builders are great in that they can act as a general contractor for you and save you time, money and worriation. You can actually contract the building of the house out yourself if you're knowledgeable and you have the time to actually devote to that but I can tell you from personal experience that managing a single family residential project takes a lot of time.
When I was growing up, I used to go out to all my dad's job sites when he was actually building homes, so he was a designer and people would hire him to actually manage the process and serve as a general for that particular job. And I can tell you it takes a lot of time. There's a lot of frustration and worriation trying to get people out the job site on time and make sure that the quality is where it needs to be.
So definitely look at the possibility of using a builder or a contractor to actually build your home because it will save you a lot of time. Now that being said, the number one way to find a good builder is to ask friends and family. Anyone that's done remodeling or built a new house that you're close to and you value their opinion, they're a great resource to let you know what they thought about that particular builder or if they thought the builder was not good. And that's also very helpful information to know. So, that's definitely where you want to start the process out.
Next, you can call and meet with several of these builders that you find just by referrals from other people or that you find online and actually just talk to them and see how well you like them and ask for referrals that you can then call previous clients and find out how the projects turned out. This will give you a good frame of reference to start out and knowing that the builder does good quality work and that their previous customers were happy with what they've done for them.
So next you want to again, take that a step further and actually call these previous clients and check out the actual homes built. Now you definitely don't want to be one of these people that gets the actual address of the house and goes over and stalks the homeowner. That's invading their privacy and we've even had people that we've heard of actually going up to the door and knocking on the door of the client and asking to see the interior of the house and to be walked through on a tour. That's not something that you ever want to do. That will get the homebuilder in a lot of trouble. That may get the designer in a lot of trouble.
Just be respectful of the previous clients and if they allow you to talk to them on the phone, then that is fantastic. You can typically drive by and actually look at the house yourself. However, don't go ahead and ask them to see the interior of the house. They have to clean up the house, they have to get everything in place and it's just problematic and it can get the builder in some deep water really quickly. However, that is a good way for you to be able to see an actual home that has been completed by the builder and you can get a sense of their build quality, what their houses typically look like. You don't want someone building your house that's never built a home in your particular style, obviously. But that's another good way to find a good builder.
Next is to get referrals from local and national home builder’s groups. Now your local home builder’s groups, they have local associations where builders pay dues and go to meetings to learn about the latest building processes and they may or may not be able to give you referrals. However you'll be able to go there and typically they'll have a website where you can check out everybody and you can see some more information about their companies, find out if they're licensed, bonded, and insured, which is extremely important. Something that you definitely want to take into account when you're selecting a builder and you'll be able to get some ideas. There's also, again, The National Association Of Home Builders, which is a national group. There's local groups under that obviously, but that national group will again give you the information that you need to know about where to find these builders, what they specialize in, and you'll be able to see links to the websites, email addresses, phone numbers and that kind of thing.
And then finally you can always look out on old Google or the yellow pages or just driving around to new neighborhoods. I can tell you many of our clients, they just drive around in some of these new neighborhoods when they're looking at lots in areas that they want to live and there'll be signs in the front of the houses that'll say who actually built that home and you can see exactly what they built. Many times they'll be in mid construction. You can take a little bit closer look to see what it looks like, and that can be a good way as well.
But the number one biggest, most important above all consideration other than being licensed, bonded, and insured, is that you need to find somebody that you like. Personalities are very different from person to person as I'm sure you already know, and the ability to have a builder that understands you and is pleasant to be around and works well with your personality and is easy to get along with and is punctual and replies to your emails or responds to your requests quickly, all that is more important than anything because I can tell you after having contractors in my house for the last two months, if you don't have that it's a very negative thing and especially with building an entirely new house, that can be something that comes back to haunt you later on. So hopefully this information was good and it was helpful to you and gives you a lot of good starting points for finding a good local builder in your area.
Again, if you've not already checked it out, be sure and check out the Dream Home Success Kit. You can get for free at houseplangallery.com\dreamhome. Also subscribe and rate our podcast if you will. That's at houseplangallery.com\subscribe. Again, hope this was helpful. If you have any questions, be sure and email us at sales@houseplangallery.com or just give us a call and we'll always be glad to help you however we can.
So with that, I'm going to wrap up this episode and if we can ever be of any service to you, please let us know. Have a blessed day.
Announcer:
The Build Your Dream Home podcast is brought to you by House Plan Gallery, your house plan experts. Find your dream home online at http://www.houseplangallery.com or call one of our expert home design consultants today at (601) 264-5028.
