31 Aug Lance’s Top Tips To: Avoid Stress When Building A Custom Home.

Keep Calm and Stress Less!

 

We acknowledge that building your dream home can be an overwhelming and stressful process. Whether it is your first build or you are a seasoned renovator the process can still make you feel nervous and apprehensive.

After all, it is more than likely the largest financial investment you will make for your family.

 

Here are some important tips our director Lance has provided to help create a stress-free process.

 

RESEARCH

Exploring local builder options in your area, is the key point to start your process and reduce stress. Do some market research and find recently completed projects that suit your design and your style.

You need to make sure the builder is experienced in your area and if possible, do drive-bys of projects they have completed.

Also asking for a list of past (but recent!) clients to get as much information from as possible, will give you an accurate idea of how they operate their business.

 

 

TRUST

The next step is to work through a tender; It’s all about trust, which will allow you to be confident and will lead to less stress throughout the process. The tender should give you the assurance and understanding of how detailed this builder will be with their communication throughout the entire process. They will need to piece together the particulars of your job and make sure that they have a high understanding of finishes and the types of products to be used within your home. At this stage you should have a good feeling as to whether you have a sense of connection on a personal basis with a builder and their work.

Once you have made your decision on a builder, multiple factors are needed to be considered to give you the best building experience possible:

• When building a custom home, the lowest quote doesn’t always mean quality work or access to the products that you’re after.
• Once you’ve entered a contract, you are working with your builder anywhere between 8 to 18 months! So you need to feel comfortable and have the confidence to communicate over this time, to give you the best quality finish and actively be doing the best things for yourself as a client.

You need to be able to trust:

• That they have a good team of contractors and trades.
• Their provided information and quality communication skills.
• Their wealth of knowledge and access to products.

 

 

ASK QUESTIONS

Asking questions is significant to avoiding stress, especially throughout the tender process. The more you ask and understand the process and the products in the build, the less there is to worry about and the less stressed you will be.

Builders sometimes tend to get familiar with technology and terminology within the industry and can assume everyone is on the same page as them when talking about products or how things are constructed. It can be especially difficult to understand all the details from seeing plans in 2D to then coming together in 3D.

Don’t feel embarrassed! The simplest questions may be the most important, particularly with the way things are designed.

Going back to the relationship with your builder, you want to be comfortable and confident enough to ask these questions. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed or be worried about the response of your builder – that’s just added stress you shouldn’t have to come across!

If the builder isn’t responding to your questions, then that is going to be an area of concern highlighted in the beginning of the process. Not taking the time to respond and review questions and provide you with correct information, will potentially cause product and design issues that are built into your home that you don’t want!

 

 

KNOWLEDGE

As a client, gaining more knowledge and understanding about the building process will help your stress levels greatly. If you don’t take the time to read and understand the contract and the actions of the build, as well as knowing obligations to payments, schedules and timing to do with these, it can cause a lot of stress throughout your build. Having an understanding of what increases you will potentially endure through the job will make you feel more comfortable as you progress, particularly during the current climate of price increases of materials. There’s nothing worse than getting progress claims with certain variations you didn’t understand and feeling like the builder was trying to rip you off, when this very well may not be the case.

Lack of knowledge could also cause miscommunication between the client and the builder, with them thinking you have an understanding of the processes.

This can definitely be stressful for both parties from the start, so once again, good knowledge of your contract and particularly your potential variations are good points to confirm with your builder at the start. This way everyone is on the same page and understands where there can be potential changes, additional costings throughout the job and any price increases you may be exposed to within this volatile market at the moment.

 

 

PRODUCTS

These days clients cannot play the card of “I didn’t know that was available!”

The Internet now is very well acquainted (which can also be problematic with too many options!)

Researching is significantly important for custom builds, as you have the availability to use any product you want; and that goes hand in hand with communication and questions. You need to take time, prior to construction, to do your product research and make sure that you’re getting products you want and that best suit your needs.

Once selections are placed in your home, it is costly to have them removed or replaced. If you don’t have the financial ability to do that, you will be moving into your home with a product, material or fitting that you are not happy with. You would wish, that every time you saw it, you had picked something else and thoroughly completed your groundwork.

Most builders will have a package they offer as part of their standard fit-out, so have a look and see if you’re happy with their package. If so, that’s a great scenario, but if not, there are so many products on the market in relation to fit-outs and features, so take your time to do product research and refer to your trusted builder for advice.

 

 

BUDGET

Another great tip to avoiding stress is to pick out your hero items and have a list of things that are really important to you at the start the build. Use your budget wisely to focus on those key points. Pick areas that you know will be used often and are most important to you (and these differ for everyone!)

Once you do that your stress levels will stay at a minimum, because you know that you’re using the best of your budget to maximise the areas that have the most value to you in your home.

Make sure you’re understanding where your money will be spent and where you’re going to be getting the most benefit for your money, in relation to your home. This will result in you not being stressed about using a more cost-effective option in a storage area, office or third bedroom and maximising costs in main areas.

Any good quality, custom builder should definitely be able to offer you price effective alternatives in other areas of the house to save money in your budget. This way, it will give you the allowance to ‘sink your money’ into your kitchen, entry and any areas that will have the WOW factor.

 

 

A lack of understanding, communication and trust can definitely be a huge risk during the building process, which can cost you big time!

 

But you don’t need to experience this worry and extra strain when building your dream home.

 

Enjoy the journey!

 

 

 

At Len Pro Building we will guide you from concept to completion. We have a structured process to ensure your new home is delivered to your vision, in a timely manner. We place large emphasis on communication to ensure that you will be well informed throughout the entire design and building process.

If you want to learn more about building a new home send us an email today

info@lenprobuilding.com.au