Home Builders: How To Find Good Contractors

Congratulations on your decision to build your own house. Theres nothing that can compete with the feeling that comes with knowing you are the first person to live in a house that was designed to your specifications. Now the important part: finding the right home builders. It isnt always the easiest task. There are those in the contracting business that exist solely to rip people off. There are others who are simply incompetent. And then there are those whose prices are sky high. To avoid all of these and find someone you can work with takes some research.Remember that you dont have to choose your home builders in a day. Take your time and plan to interview at least three to four different contractors. If you have access to an architect, ask them if they can recommend anyone. Do likewise with anyone you know who has experience in creating a house from scratch. The more input you can get, the better. People will be more than glad to turn you on to a great company and even more glad to steer you away from the bad apples. If you have plans already made up, be sure to let the home builders see them and have them express their thoughts. Try, if you can, to talk to the actual people who will be completing the job rather than the salesman for the company. You wont be working with the salesman when it comes to the construction of your house. Part of the process is finding someone who will not only listen to your ideas, but will give you good feed back and constructive criticism where you need it. You dont want to have to argue and fight on every point, but you also dont want someone who will just blindly say yes to everything, knowing full well that some of your ideas are impractical.Finally, get a price quote from each of your prospective home builders. They may not be able to hit it right between the eyes, but they should be able to give you a rough idea of the cost. If you have someone giving you a really high or a really low estimate, you know something is probably wrong. Find someone in the middle and judge them on the other important aspects of your search (including references, BBB reputation, and your personal rapport with them).