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Let’s talk about one of the most thrilling journeys you might embark on as a homeowner: building your very own home. Now, the question at hand is, “When should you start looking for a contractor to turn your dream home into a reality?” Let’s break it down in a way that’s as cozy and welcoming as the home you’re dreaming of.

The Very Beginning: Dreaming and Planning

Imagine you’ve just started dreaming of your home. You’re pinning ideas on Pinterest, sketching on napkins, and daydreaming about the perfect kitchen or the cozy reading nook. At this stage, you’re in the realm of inspiration and imagination. It’s a bit early to call up a contractor, but it’s the perfect time to start gathering your thoughts and preferences.

This is the time for you to gather all of that information, create a folder on your google drive, Dropbox, or other online drive system. Break it down into sections, so you can easily go through it later.

Some people like hard copies, with pictures cut from magazines, articles printed out, etc. There is nothing wrong with this. Keep a binder for all of your parts, break it down into sections. (Your going to need a large binder, or two. Probably sheet dividers, as well.)

Step into Reality: Budgeting

Once you’ve got a good idea of what you want, it’s time to face the numbers. How much are you willing to spend on this dream home? This is crucial because it will guide you on the scale and possibilities for your project. It’s still a tad early for a contractor, but you’re getting closer.

You may be wondering how you are able to figure this out. Well, there are some things you should be doing, prior to this stage.

First, you should have a comprehensive home budget. This helps you see where your money is currently going. I like to think of it as a way to tell my money where to go. This allows you to see what you can afford and if there are any areas that you can change to comfortably afford more, or at least afford what you want. Here is an Amazon list of budget planners you could look through to see if there is one you like. (This is an affiliate link)

Once you have your budget, find a lender. They will help you get qualified for a loan. This, with your monthly budget, will show you what you have available to build with.

Blueprints Come to Life: Design Phase

This is where things get real. You’ll need an architect or a designer to turn your dreams into blueprints. These are the detailed drawings and plans that a contractor will later use to build your home. Some folks start looking for a contractor at this stage, especially if they’re keen on having a Design-Build arrangement, where the design and construction services are managed through a single contractor. This can streamline communication and potentially save time and money.

I have created a post that will help you communicate with your designer or architect. Click here to read it.

As a custom home designer, I feel like how you approach this will depend on what you are looking for.

If your goal is to get a new house, but this won’t be the forever home, just, well, a layover home, per se, getting involved with a design-build company may be exactly what you need. They will have ready made plans that you may be able to work with, allowing minimal customization. This can be a streamlined way of getting into a home at an affordable price. Remember, you are not saving money on design costs, as they are just built into the final price.

If you are looking at land and want that forever home, finding a design firm first is in your best interest. They will work with you to get the house plans the way you want them, they will also help with selecting a contractor and possibly be able to help you with selections. They can be the communication expert you need to help you through the building process. The designer will be your advocate, helping you convey your ideas to the contractor.

The Golden Time: After Preliminary Plans

Now, we’re at the sweet spot. You have your preliminary designs in hand but haven’t finalized all the details yet. This is the perfect time to start looking for a contractor. Why now?

1. Expertise on Tap: A good contractor can provide invaluable input on the construction feasibility of your design, potential challenges, and even cost-saving opportunities you might not have considered.
2. Budget Reality Check: With preliminary plans, contractors can give you a more accurate estimate of the costs involved. This helps ensure your dream stays within the realm of what you’re willing to spend.
3. Permitting and Paperwork: Starting the search at this stage gives you enough lead time to navigate the often complex world of permits and regulations. Your contractor can be a great ally in this domain.
4. Timing is Everything: Good contractors are often booked months in advance. Starting your search now means you’re more likely to find the right fit for your project timeline.

In Conversation: When discussing your project with potential contractors, think of it as getting to know someone on a first date. You want to ensure their values align with yours, they communicate well, and they have a proven track record of bringing dreams to life. I have even created a checklist of 10 main questions, with red flags, to help you interview your potential contractor. Click here to see it.

Starting the search for a contractor after you have your preliminary designs but before everything is set in stone gives you the perfect balance. You have a clear vision to share, but there’s still room for expert input, ensuring your dream home doesn’t just exist in your imagination but becomes a place you can actually step into and live in.

Remember, building a home is a journey, and choosing the right contractor is one of the most important steps. Take your time, do your research, and get ready to see your dream home take shape!

I see a lot of fuss regarding change orders during construction. Usually it isn’t good and hearing that something you want or need done will cause a change order can become one of the most stressful terms you could ever here.

Let’s demystify this process and help you understand why change orders are necessary and sometimes, good.

What is a change order?

Think of a change order as a formal way to make changes to a plan or contract after it’s already been agreed upon. Imagine you’re at a restaurant and you order a pizza, but after placing your order, you decide you want to add some extra toppings. You’d tell the waiter, and they’d update your order to make sure you get exactly what you want.

In the context of construction or a big project, a change order is similar. When you start a building or renovation project, you agree with the contractor on what work will be done, how long it will take, and how much it will cost. This agreement is like your original “order” at the restaurant. But as the work progresses, you might decide you want to change something about the project—maybe you want to use a different material, add a new feature, or you’ve discovered something unexpected that needs fixing.

A change order is a document that describes these changes in detail: what the change is, how it will affect the project’s timeline, and how it will impact the cost. Both you and the contractor need to agree to this change order. It’s a way to make sure everyone is on the same page about what’s changing, why it’s changing, and how it affects the original plan. This helps keep the project organized and avoids misunderstandings about what is expected, ensuring that you end up with the final result that meets your needs and wants.

Good Reasons for a Change Order.

Change orders during construction can initially seem like a nuisance or a sign of project mismanagement, but they often present opportunities for homeowners. Here are five reasons why change orders can be beneficial:

1. Improvement of Original Plans: Change orders allow homeowners to make adjustments or improvements to the original plans as the project progresses. These changes can enhance the functionality, aesthetics, or overall satisfaction with the final outcome. For instance, a homeowner may decide to upgrade materials or finishes upon seeing the initial installations, leading to a more desirable and personalized result.
2. Correction of Unforeseen Issues: Construction projects can uncover unexpected issues such as structural problems, code violations, or hidden damages that were not visible during the planning phase. Change orders provide a formal process to address these issues promptly, ensuring that the construction meets safety standards and legal requirements, ultimately protecting the homeowner’s investment.
3. Adaptation to Changing Needs or Preferences: Over the course of a construction project, homeowners’ needs or preferences might evolve. Change orders allow for flexibility to adapt the project scope to accommodate new requirements, such as adding an extra room, modifying a layout, or incorporating smart home technology to meet current or future needs.
4. Cost Management: While change orders are often associated with increased costs, they can also offer opportunities for cost savings or more accurate cost control. Homeowners can use change orders to adjust the scope of work, possibly eliminating unnecessary features or choosing more cost-effective materials and solutions, thus optimizing their budget.
5. Enhancing Property Value: Strategic changes made during construction can significantly enhance the property’s value. By upgrading certain aspects of the project or incorporating high-demand features, homeowners can improve the functionality, efficiency, and aesthetic appeal of their property, which can be beneficial in the long term, especially if the property is sold.

While change orders can introduce adjustments to the project timeline and budget, they offer a structured way to adapt the construction process to better meet homeowners’ expectations and requirements, ultimately leading to a more satisfying and tailored final product.

Warning, Not All Change Orders are Equal!

Generally, if my client has not already chosen a builder prior to hiring me to design their home or addition, (Which I prefer they hire me first, but that is a whole other post.), I will share some tips and tricks of hiring a contractor. (See my post on 10 questions to ask you potential builder.) During this interview process, Questions 5 & 6, refer to changes in the field and changes to the design and question 10 refers the their contract and schedule. This is where the concept of watching out for the cheapest guy comes into play.

As you go through the process of bidding this out and speaking with contractors, be careful to avoid the scenario where a contractor comes in significantly less than the others. Compare their bid to the others, ask questions about what is included in their bid.

Often, these preliminary bids are fairly vague, they are trying to get you a decent budget price so you have an educated guess at how much your build may cause.

Some, less than trustworthy contractors, will bid the project low and create a contract for you to sign that will not fully cover the entire cost of the build. They may use extremely low allotments, to bring the price tens of thousands of dollars below others to get your business, but then use change orders to increase the cost to build as each allotment is exceeded.

I cover the concept of allotments in my second book, The Ultimate Custom Home: A guide to Budgeting and Scheduling, which is available on the link below.

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Oh, how often I have heard this, from posts on Facebook groups to meetings with a client after a few builders sent back their proposals. There always seems to be a momentary loss of air in the project when the client sees these proposals and they are way over budget. The first thought, “Oh, I need to make my house smaller!”

I say “Wait!” there may be other areas that you can change to reduce the cost on your build. Areas that you possibly didn’t know about. The idea here is that you reduce the cost to build your home, not the quality.

I will say, however, these changes are not always going to get you where you need to be. Sometimes, we want something we just cannot have, or afford, so, before doing any of this, consider the idea that you may be trying to build outside of your ability to pay.

Interior Changes

1. Look at the flooring.
   • Often, instead of going with the higher end of flooring, we can find a great alternative in the mid-range arena. Consider all of your choices.
     • Can you choose a different style, same coloring?
     • How about a different material?
     • If you are choosing tile in a room, maybe look into a less expensive tile, something that looks close, but isn’t as expensive.
   • The same with all of your other flooring, check out different grades and price ranges. You may be able to save several thousand dollars just in changing to a different grade or material.
2. Paint.
   • A few things can happen here. Maybe you have different colors picked out for each room, maybe you chose the highest quality, with the highest price. All of this can be dealt with to lower your cost. Generally, a painting company will charge a lot more for multiple colors. It takes time, the material costs more, etc. Maybe decide that, to get the house built at budget, a neutral, or off white color throughout the house. This could greatly reduce your paint costs.
   • Also, by changing colors throughout, that means the quantities of each color are going to be in gallon containers, which will end up running your material costs up. So, one color for the ceilings, one color for the walls, one color for the trim, makes for a faster job for the paint company and can bring your costs down.
3. Kitchen cabinets and vanities.
   • Oh yes, this is an area where you can increase your costs exponentially, if you are not careful. You can save thousands of dollars on your cabinets just by limiting the trim options, or changing or doing away with glazing options.
   • Often, you get an allotment, based on contractor grade cabinets. They know that you will probably go over this amount when they give it to you, because the kitchen design center will try to get you to buy the highest quality, most expensive set they can get you to purchase. You can say no to some of those features. You know, it would look nice, maybe seems useful, but, really, why do I need chocolate glazing and gold highlights on my doors?
   • Consider that just doorstyle and glazing choices can save you thousands.
4. Cabinet hardware.
   • The look and color are important, however, cabinet hardware is expensive. Look around, check ALL of your options. Settle for a lower priced set that may have the color you want, but the style is slightly different.
5. Countertops.
   • This goes right along with the cabinets. Choose your materials carefully. Yes, granite and quartz are probably going to be the best in regards to everyday use and beauty. But do you need the higher end when there is a really nice one you like 3 tiers below? The quality is the same, it is just how rare it is that drives up the price. Another area you can save a few thousand in.
   • Also, look at rooms and countertop types. Maybe granite throughout the kitchen is an absolute, but, do you need granite in your laundry room? Here is an area where a less expensive countertop material would make great sense.
6. Interior doors.
   • Choose the standard, or in stock door styles over custom door styles.
   • Choose hollow core in rooms that do not matter. Like closets, pantry, laundry room, etc.
   • Only do solid core in the rooms that require it, like bedrooms, bathrooms.
   • Choosing in stock standard doors can save you money and time.
   • While looking at the doors, look into door hardware, both interior and exterior. See what is being offered and how much the cost is. Search around and see if you can get it cheaper, maybe talk to your contractor and see if you can do this, to offset some cost.

Exterior Changes

1. Roofing.
   • Metal roofing lasts longer, but is much more expensive than asphalt shingles. Take into consideration that a good quality architectural shingle can be as high as a 50 year warranted shingle and still come in cheaper than a standing seam metal roof. Basically, look at your arera, the cost of what you want to do and see if there is an alternative that gives you comparable quality and looks, but comes in less expensive.
2. Exterior finishes on your home.
   • There are so many types of exterior finishes, all of them are designed to last a long time and generally have good quality and good warranties. See if there are other finish materials that would work well, give you a similar look, but may come in less expensive.
   • Also look at any extra add-ons you have and see if you really need it. Will it downgrade the look if I remove it, is it worth the cost to have that look?
3. Exterior decks/porches.
   • How big are they?
     • Can you make them a little smaller without jeopardizing the look or feel that you desire?
   • Can you go with a less expensive material?
   • Just changing the railing type can decrease the cost of the deck by several thousand dollars.
4. Exterior structures.
   • Do you need to add that in-ground pool this year? Or, can it wait a couple of years?
   • Do you need that pool house, or pole barn right now?
   • Is it necessary to put up a fence right away?
   • These are areas you can easily cut tens of thousands off the initial build costs. You may still want to build, but it could be at a time when you are already in your house and can focus on making the funds available for the new structure.
5. Landscaping.
   • Sod vs. seed.
   • Types of trees, bushes, or plants and how many.
   • These are areas that you may want to consider cutting back on until after your first full year at this new house.
   • Maybe you put in the landscaping a little bit at a time, after you get in. Again, this can reduce your cost by a few thousand dollars and spread that out over the next few years, rather than putting it on your new mortgage.

I know there are other areas that could be a cost savings, but these are some of the really big ones. Areas that you can choose different grades or types to end up saving thousands.

Of course, as with anything, this is just an opinion from my years of experience and may not always work the same for you, but, going through these areas and making sure you are not overspending where you shouldn’t be will never have a bad effect on the total price of your new custom home!

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We have now moved into the final stage, Construction Documents.

Construction Documents are just that, documents used for the purpose of securing a building permit and to use to build the structure. (If a contractor tells you he doesn’t follow the plans, walk away, you will not get what you want, you will get whatever he builds.)

These documents are the fruit of your labor, so to say. They visually and textually communicate your ideas and desires to the permit review office so they can determine if it fits within the codes they have set forth for their area and also communicates how you want this structure to be built and what materials you want to use and where you want them.

It dictates the placement of the house on your lot and of the rooms within the house. It dictates the room sizes and the door and window sizes and placement. It dictates the exterior materials and can dictate the actual colors you want inside and out.

These are very important documents and you worked hard to get to this stage. With these in hand, you have the ability to finally see your build come to life. Now you can sit back and relax. Well, maybe not.

First, as stated above, these plans will be used to acquire your building permit. Several copies will be needed. Hopefully, by this stage, you have chosen a contractor to build your home and have made your selections of materials and finishes.

Your contractor will then send these drawings into the permit office for approval. Yes, they may make comments and require some corrections. They may have a requirement that exceeds the standard codes, which they are allowed to do. At this point, comments are sent back to the contractor, who should send to the designer to get revised drawings with the comments addressed. This is actually very typical as designers do not know every detail of every localities codes. The corrections should be made expediently and returned to the permit office for review. Once this is done, you should get an approval and you can move to the next step of construction.

It should be noted that every locality has their own timeline on getting permits approved and their own set of guidelines to go by. They are based on the International Residential Code book, but it is within their right to add to this set of codes. As of this post, the IRC2022 is being planned out and most localities are still using the IRC2012 to the IRC2015 codes, so your designer may know the main code book, (Which is about 2″ thick) but may not realize that your area has added something more stringent to a specific code.

Got the permit, now what?

At this stage, your house has probably already been staked out, silt fence up and equipment brought in to begin digging for the foundation. At the very least, your contractor will have a start date for all of this scheduled out. You will begin to see your site developed and your foundation placed. During the construction, there will be many inspections, depending on the permit office and your area. Your contractor can let you know what their schedule is and it is your responsibility to stay on top of the schedule and the budget.

Things like weather and material delays can change the schedule, often dramatically. So, when you go over the schedule with your contractor, you may want to find out what his/her contingencies are for things like “acts of God”, or just severe weather that stops the project for days. What they do if materials are delayed, what they have in place to secure your lot and materials.

Now, you are under construction and your dream home is being built. Congratulations and enjoy it for years to come.

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If you haven’t purchased the books yet, here is your chance to get them.

We left off with preliminary drawings, so let’s take a look at what you should do when you receive the drawings.

Your designer will send you some plans and at least one elevation so you can see their interpretation of what you have communicated to them. These are usually not very detailed as a lot of structure and selections have not been addressed yet. At this point, the basic layout is figured, with exterior doors and windows placed.

Some details, such as bathrooms and closets will show up and a few design features may be evident. Otherwise, there won’t be a lot of extra details to look at.

As the homeowner, you now have a job to do to move the project forward.

1. Make sure the layout is What you want. Some changes may have been made to meet code, or make the flow work. Keep an open mind and write notes so you can discuss it later. Look at how you live and see if this layout truly reflects that.

2. Make sure the front elevation looks the way you want it to. You may have to imagine how the sides and rear will look at this stage, because they will be dependent upon the layout and front elevation. Are the main design elements in it that you wanted or did you have to sacrifice a lot to get the look that fits the layout?

3. Make sure to note any changes you want to make. Maybe you now see where you want a patio instead of a deck or you want to add some space to a few areas. This is your chance to discuss all of the possibilities. If you have the ability to mark the PDF, or printed sheet up with a red marker, this helps with visual communication.

Remember that sometimes things you thought you wanted may not work with your layout. If things are missing or different than you asked, make notes and discuss it with your designer. They may have missed it or just hadn’t added it yet, or there may be other reasons they can share with you at your next meeting.

This stage is the infancy of the preliminary stage and you may need to go through it more than once to finally get a layout or look you are good with. I have had clients who have gone through this three or four times because their layout didn’t match what they envisioned, but they didn’t know any other way to communicate their desires other than to address and ask questions during this stage. They were finally able to agree on a good layout/elevation and we moved into the final part of the preliminary stage.

Prior to this, you may have been working on a preliminary budget. This is where prices will now change. This is where the plans get sent out to be estimated off of and you begin to see actual costs of building your dream home.

The final part of the preliminary stage is when you are good with the layout and the elevation, you have begun to make some selections, but now, you have a preliminary plan that you can send out to contractors and vendors to get pricing.

Unfortunately, this is also the time you may find that there are areas you may have to scale back. Things like the flooring and the kitchen may have originally been a “budget” price, meaning this is the allowance we are going to put towards that cost. Allowances, or “budget” prices, are an amount placed in until an actual cost can be ascertained. Generally an amount based on previous project prices.

For example, you may see an allowance of $25,000 for your kitchen. This may have been a general amount figured based on a mid-range cabinet and Formica countertop. Maybe based on a standard used by a contractor, etc. However, when you go to have your kitchen designed, they showed you a lot of options. The options you chose and the type of countertop you want will come in at $35,000.

Once you have finished your selections, your actual budget to build is determined and any last minute changes based on the selections are made, you can move into the final stage, construction documents.

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If you haven’t purchased the books yet, here is your chance to get them.