Whether you’re building your first home or your dream home, it’s essential to have a reliable and skilled custom home builder on your team. There are terrific benefits to building an architect-designed custom home, but it takes many hands to bring your vision to life. In this article, we’ll explore some of the crucial factors you should consider when choosing your custom home builder. Remember, your home is your biggest financial investment, so it pays to be thorough when selecting your building team.
Understand your goals
The first step you should take before even jumping on Google to find a custom home builder is to understand clearly what you want. Are you downsizing and want an aesthetically pleasing but easy-to-maintain home? Are you looking for a first home, or are you considering your dream home after years of hard work?
Understanding what you want from your home allows you to prioritise. Whether it’s architectural features, energy efficiency, modern design trends, lots of open-plan living or any other factor, you can look for a custom home builder who can really meet your needs.
Look for experience
Experience counts for a lot in the architecture and building world. Of course, many builders have great skills on the tools, but it’s their years of experience that deliver real value. Experienced builders know how to find opportunities on site and in briefs. They know how to avoid construction delays and they can often find solutions to problems faster than inexperienced operators.
Remember, building a custom home isn’t just about the workmanship. Planning and project management are typically the areas where the most value is added to your build.
Does the builder’s style match your vision?
If you want a high-quality custom home that aligns with your vision and lifestyle, you need to work with building professionals with the right style. While all architects perform similar work, for example, they all have their own unique way of working. For example, a builder may specialise in luxury townhouses. If you want a sprawling acreage home, it simply might not be a good match.
This is where our first point about understanding your goals is so crucial. Always check your builder’s portfolio to see the types of homes they usually build. Most architects and builders are skilled at adapting their style to suit a client’s needs, but you’ll always get better results if their portfolio aligns with your vision.
Look for social proof
When you’re choosing any type of professional, whether it be a builder or a dentist, the first place to look is online. Google reviews are a good source of information, as are builder’s websites. But social media is another place to search for builders. You can ask your network for recommendations – a friend or colleague may have had a great experience with a builder, or they might be able to tell you who to stay away from.
You don’t want to believe everything you read online, but it’s a good way to get an overall feel for a builder’s professionalism and customer service. Always do your own research and make your own mind up, but searching online can at least help you avoid some of the less-reputable builders out there.
Quality of workmanship
While not the only factor to consider, the quality of a builder’s work must be taken into consideration. We’ve already discussed social proof, where you can get an insight into how a builder works. However, to really see the type of work they do, you’ll have to check their portfolio. Often, local builders and architects can even show you examples in person of the homes they’ve built.
Naturally, you’re not a building inspector and you may not notice every little flaw in a builder’s work, but checking out their previous projects is a good way to see if their work aligns with your expectations.
Communication is essential
The process of building a custom home can take some time, especially in the planning and design phase. Communication is crucial in these early stages to ensure you and your building team are on the same page. So, if your builders and architects don’t offer exceptional communication from the word go, it’s time to look elsewhere. You should be deeply involved in the planning stages, and you should expect regular updates once construction starts. You can usually tell from your first call whether a company is going to be good to deal with or not. If your builders don’t return calls or keep appointments, this is a red flag.
Need a quality architect and custom home builder?
When building a new home, you need a team of skilled professionals on your side. The team at buck&simple specialises in sustainable, modern, custom homes designed to suit your lifestyle and needs. There is always extra value in an architect-designed home, so if you’d like to work with an experienced, communicative, innovative and reliable custom home builder, contact the team at buck&simple today.