While there is no shortage of small home builders and contractors, you can’t really work with a home builder you find randomly. Because, hiring such a contractor could turn out to be a fatal mistake in your home construction journey. It’s highly recommended to follow a strategic approach to assess the credibility and capability of the builder before hiring. And therefore, the first task at hand is to make a list of a few probable builders and then narrow the list down by asking the right questions to the builders before hiring.

How do you think you can do that?

By asking the right set of questions, and that’s what this post is all about.

If you are planning to hire the best home builder and you are wondering about what questions to ask a home builder contractor before hiring, then here’s the post worth checking.

Finalize your requirement and the scope of work

Once you have finalized and selected a house plan design, the next step is to finalize the scope of work. Building a home is a time taking process as it involves civil contractors, interior contractors, plumbers, electricians, flooring and waterproofing technicians, landscaping contractors etc.

There are home builders that offer end to end construction and interior decorating services. However, every building contractor may not suit your needs because they might have different specialization or might have some budget preference.

Similarly, not every home builder will have the experience of building homes like what you want. Some of them may have specialization in building high end luxurious homes, and others may have specialization in building small Indian style homes.

It is important to finalize the scope of work and tentative budget. Once you have a budget in mind and you have narrowed down your construction requirements, you will be able to find the most suitable home builder contractor for your new home.

Approach home builders

Now that you have the scope of work and you know what style and size of house you want to build and under what kind of tentative budget, you should find a few reliable and suitable building contractors available near you.

The best way to find a reliable home builder and contractor is to check with your colleagues, friends and family. However, if that does not fetch any encouraging result, then you can always search for a builder online using your favorite search engine.

The idea is to make a list of top three companies and then narrow down the list to the most suitable, rightly placed and a credible home builder for your new home.

Top question to ask your new home builders

Now that you have the list of probable builders for your new home, you have to ask them the right set of questions to assess them better.

You can ask these questions to your new home builder before hiring.

Since how long you have been in this business?

This is the first question worth asking a builder to build your new home because you want to ensure that the builder you are hiring to build your home has been in the business for a few years and has the experience to pull it off successfully.

Do you have any industry certification or membership?

Since the construction business does not require specific licenses in many states, it’s important to know if the builder you are considering has other certification like ISO certification or is a member of another national or local trade body. In fact, you can also ask about other business licenses and insurance etc.

What’s your specialization?

Every builder has some specialization and they are known for building certain types of building. Some home builders may have expertise in building high end luxury villas and bungalows and others may specialize in building tiny houses and small homes.

When you ask about the specialization of the builder, it helps you assess if the contractor will be the right fit as per your home style and size?

What sort of warranty do you offer for new homes you build?

This is an important question to ask your new home builder because issues may arise after construction and it’s better to work with a builder that offers some post construction warranty, at least for initial few months of moving in.

Can I give you my own house plan to build upon?

There are specific architectural firms available who offer best ready to build house plans and hoe designs at extremely affordable rates. And if you decide to use such house plans, then it’s important to ascertain that the home builder you are considering to work with will be able to build on your house plan.

Would you collaborate with my architect if required?

If you are giving your own house plan, then the builder should be able to collaborate and communicate with your architect independently and hence this question is an important question worth asking a home builder contractor.

Do you assign a dedicated project manager to manage the construction work?

It is important to have a dedicated project manager who can become the single point of contact for you to ask any question and get any update. It’s easier to communicate with one person than different people for different needs. Therefore, a dedicated project manager is important.

How do you ensure that the house is being built as per plan without any deviation?

You have spent a lot of time planning and finalizing a house floor plan and exterior elevation designs for your dream home and therefore it is important to ensure that the building is being built as per the specification of the house plan. And asking this question will help you understand how the builder will ensure that the building will be elevated as per the plan.

How often do you update your client about status and construction progress?

It may take months to build a new home from the plan level. It’s a time consuming project and as a project owner you should get frequent updates about the status of construction and progress reports. Builders are supposed to share progress reports weekly or fortnightly and hence it’s important to ask this question to your new home builder.

Do you share a detailed bill of quantities in your estimates?

Usually, the builders prepare a bill of quantities to build a new home and based on this they prepare a detailed estimate and quotation for their client. Often, they do not share the bill of quantity, which is a vital document to understand the quotations and estimates. Ideally, you should opt for builders willing to share the bill of quantity with you.

How long is it going to take to build my home?

Time to completion is an important factor, especially when you are staying in a rented apartment. So asking this question will help you know when you can expect the construction work to get completed and by when you can actually move into your new dream home.

What kind of budget deviation do you notice in your projects?

No matter how deep you dig, but there may be some deviation in the overall construction cost. Sometimes it happens due to price hike in materials and at other times it may be due to change in specifications or construction plan. But, such deviation should not be more than 10% of the initial construction budget and therefore this question is worth asking your new home builder.

Can you schedule a live site visit for me?

When you visit a live site, you get to know a lot of things and I suggest you to see if you can visit an under construction project which is currently being built by the builder you are considering to hire. Not only it helps you get the idea of how they work on a project, you get to see and understand much more.

Can you connect me to a few of your past customers?

If you can get a few referrals of the past customers, you can talk to them and assess the overall build quality, about warranty and gauge the overall performance of the builder based on real testimony from a real client.

Over to you

Building a dream home of your own is a resource intensive and time consuming task. But it becomes much easier when you have a reliable and credible home builder contractor on your side. But choosing a builder is not easy, especially when there are so many builder contractors available near you.

However, the best way to find a reliable and efficient home builder is to ask them some important questions and then assess them based on their replies. Observe their replies carefully and see to it that they are responding openly and answering transparently.

And most importantly, trust your instinct. Value the positive or negative vibes you receive while interacting and asking these questions. And then take the final call on hiring the right home builder for your new dream home.

What other question do you think one should ask a new home builder?

Share your favorite questions by commenting below!

Happy home construction!

The post 15 Important Questions to Ask a Home Builder Contractor appeared first on Houseyog.

Custom home builders have a very crucial role in new home construction. When you have a rightly placed custom home builder and contractor on your side, they can make the entire process of home construction much efficient and hassle-free.

However, if you fail to choose the right builder for new home construction, then you may end up shooting the entire constriction budget and have to make, break and re-do many things during construction.

Home construction is a costly and time taking affair, and therefore it is important to work with the best builders and contractors in town, because they can complete the construction as per the house plan, and without shooting the construction budget drastically.

We deliver hundreds of house plans every month and help future home owners like you with all the resources and connections to make the process of building your dream home cost-effective and hassle-free.

No matter at what stage of planning you are today, if you are unsure about what to look for when choosing and hiring the right builder for new home construction then we have got you covered. Today in this post, I am sharing a few of the best tips on how to choose the best builder to construct your dream home smoothly and on budget.

Tips to choose the best home building contractor

As I said, a well placed, reliable, licensed and experienced building contractor will add plenty of value in building your dream home. They can build as per plan, reduce wastage of materials and help you stay close to your initial home construction budget and building construction timeline.

But how do you find and choose the best custom home builder near you to build your new dream home?

Well, finding and choosing the right home builder is not that difficult, especially when you know how to get it right.

Here’s what it takes to choose the right builder for new home construction.

Get house plan design

Before you reach out to the builder, you have to get a house plan and elevation design in place. Without a properly designed house plan, the builder may not get the complete picture and enough information to finalize the scope of work.

Unless the scope of work is defined, the builder may not be able to calculate the build area and accurate estimates of materials and labor charges.

Moreover, if you insist on quotation without showing house plan and building elevation designs, the quoted price will be much inaccurate. And therefore, even before you approach a custom home builder, it is important for you to either purchase a ready to use house plan design or get a custom house plan designed as per your plot, space requirements and construction budget.

Search for reliable builders

As you might be aware, there are hundreds of small home builders and building contractors available near you. But, all of them may not be the best and you can’t really choose them just like that.

Anyone with a little knowledge and experience can start a small home construction company. There is no specific regulatory norm or licensing to start a small home building company, especially in small towns in India. And therefore, you can easily find many small home building contractors near you. It does not really take a lot to become a building contractor, and that’s why you should be a little cautious when choosing and hiring a custom builder for home construction.

How do you find the best building contractor?

Now the question is how do you find the most reliable custom building contractor for your dream home construction?

The answer is to be practical and start early on?

When you have time in hand, you can actually pay attention to even smaller details and that is very crucial for finding and hiring a right builder and contractor for home construction.

And here’s how you can get it right:

• Talk to your friend and relatives and check if they know any reliable custom home builder in town.
• Search online on Google and other social media platform
• Check out local news papers and classified sites to find contact details of any reliable building contractor.

Please note that the idea is not to find the contact details of home builders and contractors, but the idea is to reach out to the very specific type of builders and contractors with proven track record who can complete the project on time and in budget.

So be specific when asking for referrals from your friends and colleagues or when searching online. Use very specific keywords e.g. home builders in Kolkata is so generic and therefore you should refine your search phrase as “Award winning small home builders in Kolkata” to be more specific.

Screen the list

Whether you got some referrals or you have found a few home builders online, you should dig deeper to narrow down the list before proceeding any further. The goal is to end-up with a list of not more than three building contractors.

The best place to start screening is to check out their website and social media pages for reviews, testimonials and general background of the company.

Reviews and testimonials shared on their website may not be treated as the most authentic testimony but reviews and testimonials on social media can definitely give you some idea of how they work and treat their customers.

Be a little smart and think practically when screening the list of companies you found online or through referrals from friends and colleagues.

Remember that the idea is to gauge a custom home builder based on their expertise, quality of work, diversity of their portfolio and overall ability to build the kind of building you want to get constructed.

If you have any specific question then you may like to contact them through their website and official social page to check out how promptly they respond and how friendly the team is.

Approach the builders

Now that you have a list of two or three screened and sort listed custom builders, it’s time to approach them one by one. To begin with, you may like to call them or send them an email asking for quotations.

At this stage of screening, the idea is to get a ballpark estimate as per your custom home build requirements and get to know more about the builders, their approach, cost estimates, delivery time and beyond.

So, share them your construction requirements along with the house plan and elevation designs. Usually, they need a house plan and elevation design to prepare a bill of quantity and tentative estimates for construction.

Meet face to face

Once you receive responses and cost estimates, it’s time for a face to face meeting with the probably home builders and contractors. Be prepared to spend some time with the builders and ask them all the questions you might have related to the construction of your new home.

Ideally, you would want to work with a custom home builder and contractor with relevant experience who is known to complete the construction in due time and within a specific budget, without compromising on the construction materials and overall build quality.

The builder should also be credible with plenty of completed projects and happy clients in their portfolio.

Question to ask a custom home builder before hiring

Finding and screening the best custom home builder and contractors for your new home construction can be a time consuming process.

But trust me, it’s totally worth it.

The more time you spend screening builders and construction contractors, the better for your project.

Here’re a few of the questions you should ask the home builders to understand them better:

Do you engage and communicate with the architects?

During the construction of your new home, the contractor may need to engage and collaborate with the architect for clarification and to sort out any issue with the plan and elevation, especially if the design needs some clarification.

It’s always better when the contractor or the project manager communicate to the architect to get any query clarified or to resolve any issue.

Have you built similar size homes that I want to build?

Ideally, you should work with a builder that has expertise and experience of building homes like you want to build. There is no point working with a large builder who specialize building big residential and commercial complexes, especially when you want to build a simple 3 bedroom duplex house.

When you ask the probable builder about the kind of project they maximum work on and if it matches your building requirements, then that builder may be the right fit for your construction project.

How fast can you send the construction estimate and budget?

Sometimes, the builders take weeks to send a detailed estimate and that shows they may not have all the resources to complete the construction. They often get estimates from other independent contractors and that could be the reason for delays. And in most cases, such estimates are not accurate and therefore it’s better to work with a builder who has ready resources available to complete the project cost effectively and on time.

Could you share the cost breakup and explain the estimate?

It’s really important for you to get all the details as far as the construction cost is concerned. When you have a detailed construction estimate on the table, you will be able to compare apples to apples and make a better decision.

Some custom home builders and contractors send consolidated cost estimates, but it is better to get detailed cost breakup as it helps you understand everything correctly.

Can I source and provide construction materials?

It’s also very important to have the flexibility to procure and source the best construction materials like floor and wall tiles etc as per your preference and budget. Some of the home builders offer this flexibility, but you should clarify this upfront.

Do you offer service warranty post construction?

Service warranty is very important because you may have minor issues here and there and these can be best discovered when you move into the house. Ideally, you should opt for builders who offer such issues.

Some of the most common issues include damp, water leakage, water logging etc. It’s also important to work out a detailed list of post construction warranty and know what is covered and what is not.

Could you provide me with some references of past customers?

This is vital, and you must see to this.

No matter how many positive or negative reviews you have found for a particular construction company online, but nothing matches the kind of assurance you get from speaking with their past customers.

Not only it helps you verify the credential, but you get to know real experiences of real customers and this could help you big time in choosing or not choosing a particular home builder and construction service provider.

Can you arrange for a live construction site visit?

This question is equally important. If you get a chance to visit a live site, you will be able to discover a lot of things about how the company works, the kind of materials they use, proportion of concrete, sand, iron etc. Given a chance, you should visit a live site because it will help you get a better understanding of the way they execute the construction project.

Is the payment linked with different stages of construction?

In case of home construction and interior designing, the payment is linked with sourcing of materials and different stages of construction. It’s not that you have to make 50% payment up front and 50% on completion.

Sourcing of materials involves a lot of money, but at the same time you have to ensure that the payments you are making are actually being spent on your project. Therefore, you should always look for builders that offer flexible and transparent payment terms.

Compare and choose a winning builder

Now that you have found, screened, met them face to face and asked them all the right questions, it’s time to evaluate all the inputs  you have received and take a call on hiring a builder and construction contractor for your new home.

You have already reviewed their website, checked for publicly available feedback and testimony, spoken with their past clients and even visited an under construction site. You have also got the detailed cost breakup and estimates and that should help you to choose the final builder.

While evaluating all the offers and proposals, you should always look at the overall cost and estimate. But, it’s equally important to evaluate a company based on their credential, capability, team, industry certification, license etc.

Conclusion

Home construction is a budget intensive, time taking project. There are a lot of stakeholders involved in designing and constructing a beautiful dream home. From finest architects to the best custom home builders, you have to spend time and work with them to get your dream home designed and constructed.

If you are looking for beautiful house plans and modern elevation designs, then we can help you get it right. We have a team of finest architects and a huge catalogue of ready to use house plan designs to choose from.

But, if you have already chosen a house plan design, then the next crucial step is to find a reliable builder to construct your new house. Choosing a reliable and the best building contractor is not as easy as it appears.

The best is to find a few building contractors from reference, and if that does not work, then you should search for them on the internet. When you have the basic contact details of the builders, you should request for estimates.

Once you have the quotations, you should compare their offers, evaluate their credentials and then take the final decision on hiring the best possible builder for your new home construction.

What else do you think one should look at to find the right builder for home construction?

Feel free to share your tips and hacks by commenting below.

The post How to Choose the Right Builder for New Home Construction appeared first on Houseyog.