10 Truths About The New Home Process

We know that your satisfaction with your home purchase is the result of comparing your expectations with the realities of the experience. To maximize your satisfaction, we would like to call attention to several common areas of confusion or misunderstanding. Our hope is to prevent surprises and assure that you enjoy the new home process.

Time
The contract session, arranging financing, making selections, visiting the site to meet with the builder, orientation, closing, moving in, and warranty service – all require your time. Several of these will necessitate your taking time off of work.

Pace of Work
Between your commitment to build and the start of work, time is needed to finalize plans, arrange financing, obtain engineering, apply for and receive a building permit, and schedule the initial trades to begin work. These essential activities take several weeks to accomplish.

Once work begins, several construction stages – for instance, framing, drywall, interior and exterior trim – proceed in spurts offset by slow periods. For instance, at frame stage, the big walls go up quickly, while detailed work takes time but makes less visual impact. Also, expect days when no one is working due to such things as pending inspections or weather delays. These occur with every home.

Questions
Avoid incomplete or inaccurate answers by channeling all questions through our office. Field personnel, including trades people, are unlikely to know all the factors that affect the answer and can unintentionally give you wrong information.

Change Orders
When a new home is started, a momentum has begun. We schedule some trades and materials weeks in advance. The actual cost of a change may be minor compared to the cost of confusion and mistakes that can occur when changes generate conflicting instructions in the field. Avoid this by requesting any changes within the schedule we outline.

Neighbor’s Homes
Speaking of changes, with today’s increased flexibility, builders everywhere are accepting more custom changes. You may see a great idea – in the home of a future neighbor. Even the most talkative builder could not mention every conceivable change or combination of features to their buyers. Shop thoroughly and think carefully about what you want in your home. Your future neighbors will see things in your new home they wish they had thought of, too.

Variations
Expect slight variations between the model home you viewed and your home – even though the floor plan is the same. A new home is like an oil painting. Even with the same view, same paints and brushes, the artist creates a unique interpretation of the scene. Similarly, no two homes are exactly the same. In addition other changes may result because manufactures change models, codes are revised, or new regulations go into affect.

Ugly Duckling Stages
Be prepared for the ugly duckling stages. Construction of a new home occurs outdoors in all kinds of weather. Mud, wind, dust, rain, and snow are part of the process.

Every home goes through a couple of periods when it looks messy – such as the point where drywall scraps are all over. Another seemingly chaotic stage occurs just prior to delivery as dozens of details are adjusted and finalized. The intense activity of so many trade and builder employees can make the most experienced buyer nervous. The models you visit went through these same stages.

Perfection
Your new home is one of the few hand-crafted products you purchase. Each home includes nature’s fingerprint on the natural materials and the equally natural variations that result when human beings rather than machines assemble the parts.

Unfamiliar Products
Learn about the performance and care of familiar products. Nothing in a home is indestructible and each component has individual needs. Avoid disappointments by becoming an expert on items that may be unfamiliar such as marble, hardwood flooring, or fiberglass bath fixtures.

Maintenance
A new home requires care from day one. This care includes protecting its surfaces from damage, routine cleaning, replacing consumable parts, lubricating and adjusting items that move, and preventive maintenance. Review all the literature that comes with your home and be aggressive in its care – it is your most important investment. If you need additional information, contact our office for assistance.