custom home builders

Questions To Ask Your Custom Home Builder

When looking through listing after listing of homes for sale, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. One home may be practically perfect in every way — if it weren’t for the fact that you could high-five your neighbors through your kitchen windows. The next house may have a lovely, spacious lot with plenty of square footage. Pity none of the rooms are square or rectangular! On and on the list goes until you’ve realized you’ve circled through all of the available listings twice and still haven’t found the right home. Working with a custom home builders may be the solution you’ve been seeking to help you bring all of the right qualities together in one home. When you meet with a custom home builder, ask these questions to help you find the right builder for your home wants and needs.

How long have you been building?

Education can take you a long way, but there are some areas in life in which experience is even more beneficial. When it comes to custom-built homes, that experience is going to be invaluable in guiding the process and understanding the livability of a home. Experienced builders will be able to answer questions about how moving a doorway would change the flow of a home or how appliance placement could make the kitchen less functional.

What are the benefits to the homes you build?

There are often several builders in an area, and the idea is to find the builder who best fits your ideals for a dream home. Ask what sets them apart and what the benefits are to choosing them. The difference from one builder to the next may be the deciding factor on who you choose.

Which features are standard and what upgrades are available?

When custom building your home, one of the biggest questions is inevitably what the final cost will be. Asking about features versus upgrades will give you a good idea about what to expect, cost-wise, but it’s also a good way to see whether a builder is likely to nickel-and-dime you regarding finishes, fixtures, and so on. With luxury home builders, in particular, you should be able to expect a certain level of quality without those finishes being considered extras.

Who will oversee construction? Who can I contact regarding my home?

Once you have a design finalized, you can typically expect to have a project manager overseeing the entire building process, from breaking ground to placing the last shingle on the roof. They will be responsible for coordinating with the employees, suppliers, and contractors on your home to make sure it continues apace. The project manager (or building manager, or other comparable titles) may not be your point of contact. Ask your builder who you can contact for updates and how much communication that person will have with the team working on your home.

Can you provide any references?

Just like nearly any other industry, references from customers can give you a lot of insight. In addition to references, you’ll also want to ask about visiting a home that builder has built. Luxury home builders offer a lot more flexibility in their homes, so a model home may not show you just what your home would look like; however, it’ll give you a good idea about the quality of work. If they don’t have a model home to show, ask if they can arrange an appointment to visit a home they’ve recently built.

The most important things are that you feel comfortable with the quality of work done by your builder, and that they provide the options and features you want in your home. If you’re ready to dream grand and create your own custom home in Fairfax County and elsewhere in Northern Virginia, connect with experienced luxury custom home builders. Contact CarrHomes today to get started!