The Rules Before You Call A Builder About A Custom Home

As August and the summer vacations rolls to a conclusion my email has lit up with people interested in building custom homes.

That's great for business except for one little problem, 75 percent of the emails I receive are people that have only just started thinking about building a custom home. They don't know what anything actually costs and they really don't know what the house they want to build will look like because they don't have plans.

Now everyone has to start somewhere when starting on the road to building a custom home, there are certain things that people want to know before they start down that road of building a new cusotom home.

Here are some rules to use when you want to build a custom home, these are rules and recommendations that you should know and consider before you call a general contractor asking for quotes or advice;

1. The average cost of a custom home to build is $210.00 a square foot. This is the starting point of the cost custom homes, its hard to get lower priced then this but the cost goes up from there depending on how fancy you want to get in your home.
2. Custom homes are expensive, if your only thought is that you can build a home cheap don't bother trying to build a custom home.
3. If you are worried that you can't afford a custom home to the point were you don't even want to get drawings done then you shouldn't bother.
4. There are a lot of extra costs to building a custom home above the square foot price.
5. NOBODY prices custom homes per square foot, that is only to help people with budgeting.
6. If you want to know the costs for permits and other fees in your municipality you should take the time to call your local building department.
7. Drawings are going to cost you money, the more expensive the custom home the more that you should be paying for your drawings.
8. Most custom homes are time and material plus a management fee on top. That is industry standard.
9. There is no way to get a proper price on a custom home without a set of official drawings.
10. If you want help finding the right piece of property or with designs of your custom home be prepared to pay someone for their time.
11. The larger the home you want to build the MORE IT WILL COST YOU!
12. Custom Homes are not a used car, there are no big deals, the cost of constructing a custom home is the cost. There is no real with to make it cheaper.
13. Quality costs money. A properly quoted custom home should be pretty close to the same price from every company, the only difference will be how much they charge for a management fee. If you get a price that is a lot lower then any others then there is a reason, there's something missing from that quote!
14. Understand that your contractor is going to know more then you, expect it and take there advise. If you believe that you know more then your contractor then you either picked the wrong contractor or you don't need a contractor as you don't want to listen to them.
15. Just because you are building out of the city doesn't the cost of your custom home will be cheaper. Construction costs are the same everywhere, don't be surprised when the cost to build up north is the same as in the city.
16. Be prepared for your contractor to offer you upgrades, these upgrades are for your benefit, some will cost you more and some won't, but remember there for your benefit to make your new custom home better.
17. To finish the basement will cost you more money.
18. Doing things different will cost you more money. 
19. Don't be afraid to have your home built out of newer materials, technology is making homes better built.
20. If your in a hurry to build and move in to your new home and you haven't started your going to be disappointed because designing, getting permit approvals and building the actual home is going to take a longer time then you think.
21. Be prepared to not to get everything in your custom home that you want unless you have a budget that is very flexible.
22. Do not get more then 3 prices for anything to do with your home, it will only waste your time and confuse you.

There's probably many more that I could list but this is a good list to get started with, if you understand what your getting yourself into when wanting a custom home built and that there are costs associated with them and that custom homes are not something that you get a deal on or something you shop for like a used car then you won't be disappointed when you start talking to custom home builders you will be prepared and understanding.

Rob Abbott

Village Builders Inc.