Step 3: Assemble Your Dream Team
Once you have your basic budgets in place, it’s time to assemble your Dream Team. Here are the people you’ll need to hire at this stage:
1.Your Architect – If you’re building a custom home from scratch, you’ll work with an Artchitect to prepare the home plans. If you’re planning on buying plans then your builder will often help find plans previously designed by an Architect.
2.Your Designer – Even if you have a keen design sense and know what you want in your home, a Designer or Decorator who is skilled at planning and rendering is a wise financial decision.
Having a Designer on your team will
– Pull together a far more detailled plan that just a blueprint. Your Designer should prepare renderings of your home that allow you to walk the space and choose what level of finishings you wantbefore you get your build quotes.This will ensure your build quotes are more accurate and that you aren’t being asked for money late in the project that you simply don’t have.
– Help you avoid expensive change orders and paying build penalties. Only 20% of a Designer’s job is making things pretty. Your Designer will also help you think of the things you may never think of. Like the fact that your plans are missing a linen closet. Or the fact that you want your stove centered on the back wall of the kitchen, but the framing plan doesn’t make that possible.
Even though a good designer will be expensive (expect about $6-$10 per square foot in a smaller market and $10-$15 in a large market) they will easily save you their fees and more over the course of your build.
– Speed up the decision process. You’ll be asked to make over3,100 decisions during your build. And, because you don’t do this every day, most of those will require you to research options.
It’snot your builder’s job to make decisions for you. It’s their job to focus on the project itself so that nothing falls through the cracks and you end up with a sturdy, beautiful home.
So, your Designer is who you’ll turn to for help with this long list of decisions. They do this every single day and can help speed along your decision-making process saving youhours every week.
3.Your Builder – We highly recommend having your renderings in-hand from your Desigenr before getting a detailed build quote as it’ll be much more accurate and you’ll have fewer surprises. But hiring your Builder early means they’ll be able to liase with your Architect and Designer to ensure every angle of the plan is considered before ground is broken.
You’ll want to consider a few things when hiring a builder like their reputation, their work, and their price.
The cheapest quote — even when detailed — often will wind up with a lot of extra expenses at the end of the project. You’ll be expected to cover those out-of-pocket and it can sometimes be a $30-$50,000 bill!
This is because the way some builders operate their quotes is to give smaller allowances for finishes and have you choose from their small selection of product they’ve purchased in bulk. These finishes are rarely what you’d choose on your own, so when you add in the finishesyou want, they run over budget.
Instead of looking for the cheapest, look for someone who is patient and detailed right from the very beginning. This is someone you’ll be spending a LOT of time with over the next 6-12 months (longer if you’re building a sizeable custom home).
Although most blogs will tell you to check references from homeowners, I always say to ask experienced Realtors for references instead.
Think about it. Is a Builder going to give a Homeowner reference from someone whose home started crumbling just after their warranty expired?
There’s a reason most companies don’t call references when hiring anymore —it’s been proven not to work time and time again.
Instead, look for an experienced Realtor who understands the area and ask them which Builders they’d recommend.
Realtors are the ones who sell these homes 5 or 10 years after they’re built. They’re present at Home Inspections. And theyknow which homes are a pleasure to sell because they’re solid and which ones are a nightmare of issues.
As a caveat, don’t make the mistake of asking a Realtor whoworks for a builder.Clearly their opinion will be biased.
4.Your Realtor – Speaking of Realtors, you’ll need one for your land purchase and for the sale of your current home. Can you handle it youself? Maybe. Should you? Not unless you like throwing money out the window.
Many people who skip using a Real Estate Agents do so because they think they’ll be saving thousands of dollars. In reality, they’re usuallylosing tens of thousands instead.
Let me give you an example. One of our neighbours from down the road listed their home on one of those flat-fee for sale by owner sites. Right now as I’m writing this it’s ahot market. Like really hot. And the home sat for 3 weeks selling for just under what they listed it for.
Sounds okay, right? The house sold for $340,000 which means they saved nearly $20,000 in commissions!
The problem was, the home should have been listed for $100,000more than what the homeowner thought. In fact, a Realtor called them with a buyer willing to compete up to $450,000 but the homeowner had already sold it.
There are dozens of stories like this and we always think we’re smarter than our Agents. But nothing beats the experience of someone working in the field every day. Trust me, I work with clients just after they’ve bought and sold homes every day and I can’t tell you the number of times a for-sale-by-owner has thought they got a great deal but they’ve actually left tens of thousands of dollars on the table. That money goes along way in this process. Just hire an Agent.
5.Your Structural Engineer – Most often your Builder will have someone they work with and I typically recommend trusting their judgement when it comes to engineering because they’ll be the ones dealing with the Engineer most frequently.
6.Other Trades – Same goes for other trades. Yes, you may have an uncle who is an electrician. But if that person is doing it at cost for you, you’ll be at the bottom of their list (which could cause expensive delays). Before bringing in family members or friends ask your Builder how they feel about it. Some will be okay with it. Others will prefer to use their trades. We recommend trusting your Builder’s process as this will save you money in delays, overages, and build penalties.
7.Your Landscaper – You won’t need your landscaper until the very end of the project. However it can be great to have them involved right from the start as the Architectural plans are being drawn up so that they can begin planning their design and help you set an accurate budget to set aside.
