Keep Your Budget Intact – Consult with a Custom Home Builder Before You Draw Plans

Custom home-building is a significant undertaking that can result in a life-long feeling of considerable accomplishment, pride, security, comfort, and enjoyment for generations to come within your family—all based on you building the home of your dreams! 

Fostering and maintaining good collaborative communication between your architect and your builder is essential for a successful project—before any plans are drawn or other agreements or financial commitments are made. This proactive approach will save you considerable time, money, and headaches as your project get underway.

Good Working Relationships Make for Quality Building Outcomes

Custom home builders and architects are generally quite proud of their work and their reputation. They also want you to have a good experience working with them as they help to make your dreams a reality.

Cultivating a good relationship with your builder and architect is just as important as achieving your desired results for the home you are building. Keep this in mind, as you and your builder will be spending considerable time together before and after the architecture plans have been drawn. From concept to completion, you’ll realistically be working together for a year plus to complete your dream home project. Your ability to effectively communicate your vision, regardless of how abstract it may seem at first, and likewise your capacity to understand things from your builder’s point-of-view, are the two primary things that will help to achieve the best outcome; one with which you can both be happy and of which you can each be proud.

Keep the Lines of Communication Open

Creating a place where you and your family will live is as much structural as it is emotional in terms of importance. There will be many instances during the process when you will have questions and concerns that will need to be addressed. Never feel like you shouldn’t say something if you have a question or concern; after all, it is your house.

The best course of action is to schedule time to collaborate with your architect and builder in the planning process to explain the project aspects that are and are not important to you. Share your intentions and choices well in advance of any work or related processes beginning. If the work is already underway, be open to working with your architect and builder to find the best answer or solution.

Be clear about your discussion points. Writing them down or making a list is a great way to keep everything in order and ultimately make sure that all of your questions and concerns receive the time and attention they deserve. This can also make it more manageable for your architect and builder to focus on getting the results that are most important to you.

Let Them Get On With the Job

Professional builders understand and appreciate that you are the customer and they want to make sure you will be pleased with the work they do for you. For the best results, let the builder and architect work to guide you through their respective processes to create a cohesive vision that integrates your ideas without blowing up your budget.

That doesn’t mean you should not communicate openly and provide feedback, but just not while the work is going on. Set a consistent time during key milestones to visit with your builder for a Q&A session, but always with an eye towards honoring their work schedule.

Check Customer Feedback

Your custom home builder’s professional reputation and good standing are important to your custom home builder. It is wise to do a little research and check the comments and feedback offered by your builder’s prior clients, and especially their preferred trade partners. 

It is not at all unusual to find little things that need to be adjusted or corrected once you move into your new custom-built home. That’s when you will be glad you chose a builder with a great sense of follow-through after the project has been completed. This is something that is very often of high value and of the utmost importance to custom home builders and architects alike. They rely heavily on their reputation in their community to grow their business. 

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

When the work is done and the curtains are hung, it’s always a good thing to let your architect and builder know that they did a great job—not just to their face or to your friends, but also online for all to see. And it doesn’t hurt to spread the word to other places, such as architect- and builder-centric blogs, social media and similar places where others will look to find the contractor who will build their family’s dream home. 

Schedule a consultation with R.E.A. Homes, LLC, the premier custom home builder in St. Louis — let us make your dream a reality!