Audrey
Looking for a home builder is a serious task. You are looking for someone that you’d entrust not just your money but your future home. Choosing one should not be taken lightly.
To help you in your search, we suggest that you consider our tips from industry experts:
Organize, organize, organize!
The first step is to finalize a list of your options. In creating one, you should do the following:
1. To ensure that you’d only be choosing from a list of trustworthy home builders, you should contact your area’s local home builders’ organization or association. They can easily provide you with a list of registered, accredited, and reputable members that you can consider as your home builder. As the list will come from an official organization, you know that your options will be limited to fully insured and dependable home builders in the area.
2. Rely on newspapers. Newspapers have real estate sections where builders publish their ongoing projects. Look through it and take note of the mentioned builders. If you’re lucky enough, you’d even encounter articles on builders together with projects that they’ve completed. Your local newspaper will give you a solid idea on the current number of active home builders in your area. You will also have a clue as to how much home builders charge in your area. When coursing through a newspaper and you read an item that discusses a residential project, always take note of the name of the builder.
3. You will also greatly simplify your search if you’d ask for help from local real estate agents. Local real estate agents know the ins and outs in the industry and they have massive networks of different stakeholders including home builders. They have years of experience in the area so they know which ones can be trusted. They can also easily share past histories of home builder companies that you’re considering.
4. Never be too uptight in your search. Start with people you trust by asking your family and friends for recommendations. Asking them is fool-proof because you can be sure that your family and friends will only recommend good and trustworthy companies. Start with ones who’ve recently had their home done or underwent a renovation. They can easily connect you with their home builder if they feel like the company that they worked with is worth the recommendation. Your friends and family can also know friends and relatives who recently had their house done and they could easily ask on your behalf.
Research, research, research!
Once you’ve finalized your list, this is how you should go about:
5. Schedule a meeting with each of the home builder companies on your list. Ask them the same questions and duly compare their answers. You should observe how they interact with you and see if they truly understand your vision. See if you meet eye-to-eye with any of them.
6. The best home builders in WA have a solid portfolio. You should ask for one when interviewing your prospects. For more in-depth research, you can also opt to visit their recently built projects. You could easily do this on weekends as you will simply need to drive-by houses that they’ve built. If you’re lucky, you may even chance upon their owners. You can politely ask to check on the house. Connect with different homeowners who have had their houses done by your prospect.
7. Ask the following when talking to owners who have recently worked with your prospective home builder:
- Are they satisfied with the end project?
- Are they happy with their home?
- Were they heard immediately when they encountered issues and concerns?
- Is the home builder easy to reach and talk to?
- Would they work with the same builder again?
The following questions are important because they will give you a clue if your prospect home builder of choice is easy to work with and can deliver solid results.
8. If one of the owners will tell you something off about the home builder, don’t hesitate to inquire and ask follow-up questions. Owners will freely share their experiences and point out things and reasons that made them feel off. They are in the best position to judge the home builder’s workmanship because they’re currently living at the house that such a company recently built. Be candor and transparent with your intention while having the conversation.
9. If you’re not comfortable with talking to strangers and asking about their work relationship with your prospective home builder of choice, you should at least make it a point to check out their houses. Choose a free weekend to allow you to check out as many houses as you can. Just by driving by, you’d easily be able to determine if your prospective home builder of choice can indeed offer great workmanship.
10. Have a notebook with you at all times. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed while doing your research and interacting with different people as you’d be talking with different homeowners and prospective home builders. You should take note of important tidbits of information and personal impressions to ensure that you get things truly organized. It’s easy to get things mixed up so it’s best if you remember your impressions and evaluations. You can also use your phone or tablet if it will be more comfortable on your end. The important thing is to ensure that all your collected data are organized to enable you to properly compare each home builder on your list.
