8 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Builder

Choosing a builder is one of the first, and most important, decisions you'll need to make for your custom home build. The right builder can be the difference between a dream home and a nightmare. These questions can help you get a sense of who your builder is, and whether they are the right partner for you in your custom home endeavor.

1. How many houses are you building at any given time?

Is your builder spreading their attention over many projects at once, or will they be solely focused on your home? Most builders can easily balance several builds at once, but depending on just how custom or unique your home's features are, you may want to bias toward a builder who can pay your project special attention.

The math is simple: less concurrent projects = more focus available for the minute details of your home. This is not to say that a builder that has many projects going will never be as good as one that only has one project going on at any given time. If your builder has a larger team, they can be better equipped to work on multiple homes at once. But it’s important to get a feel for their project load and make sure that the level of support you want matches with what they are able to provide.

2. Who will be your main point of contact for your project?

For larger home building operations, you might only ever meet with the owner to sign the contract, but day-to-day you may be working with a project manager. Make sure you meet and get along well with whoever will be your main contact for your project.

3. Does the builder have someone that can help you select finishes?

Find out if the builder or someone from their team will be accompanying you to select the finishes for your home. Oftentimes this is your project manager or a designer that’s employed by the builder to help with this process. This person can help you stay on budget, keep selections straight and follow up with the supplier to make sure the items you selected are delivered on time to keep the project moving. If your builder does not have someone to help with this, it’s important to know up front so you can keep track of these things or hire an independent interior designer to help with your project.

4. What’s your process for handling changes while building?

It's incredibly common to get part-way into a build and think "oh, what if we tried this in this room instead?" or "we should add a window here." Or maybe the paint color just went up and it doesn't look quite like you imagined. These kinds of changes are to be expected with any home build project, and it’s important to know your builder's process for handling them.

How do they want you to contact them in order to make these changes? Is there an official change-order request form? How will any incremental costs be quoted, approved, and when will they need to be paid for? Make sure to keep a written account of all change requests for your records as well. You don't want to ask your builder for a change you thought would be simple, only to be hit with an extra bill amounting to thousands of dollars later.

5. What’s your process for fixing mistakes during the building process?

Mistakes happen! Take a deep breath, and trust the process. But it helps to know ahead of time how your contractor will handle those mistakes. Who will bear the financial responsibility?

In our first home build, we showed up for an on-site inspection only to find that one of our bedrooms had been framed out according to an old version of the blueprint that had been previously changed. Luckily, this mistake was caught while the room was still only wall studs, so it was an easy fix redo the framing. You should expect your builder to assume all costs for clear mistakes, but it is good to set this expectation ahead of time.

6. Do you offer a warranty?

Many builders offer some type of limited warranty covering various aspects of the build, typically for one year. In that time, they may come back and fix any minor or major issues that arise as the house settles, to as long as they are not caused by the homeowner or an act of God.

Additionally, individual items may have their own limited warranties like your roof and foundation, as well as appliances like the water heater. Ask your builder how issues with those items will be handled. Can you go through the builder to get these fixed or will you have to reach out to the supplier or manufacturer directly?

7. Are you available to contact if we have any issues with the house in the future?

Also ask your builder if you can reach out to them after the one year mark. Even if your house is no longer under warranty, if you are having an issue with something it will sometimes give you peace of mind to be able to reach out to the people that actually built the house. They may be able to come take a look and either give you a quote for repair or recommend someone else that can fix it.

For example, we had some minor water coming into our basement during an extreme rain storm about two years after we finished our house. We reached out to our builder and they came out to take a look. Turns out we just needed to clean out our gutters, super embarrassing 🤦‍♀️, but it did give me peace of mind that they were familiar with our house and were able to quickly assess and tell us how to remedy the problem. Many builders won't do this, so ask this question up front so you know what level of assistance to expect after the home is built.

8. Do you have a current build site we can visit?

There’s a lot you can learn about your builder and their team from visiting a current build. If possible, you want to visit a site that’s still at the stud stage as well as one that’s complete or almost complete. You’re looking for a relatively organized build site where the building materials are treated with respect. Any worksite is going to be inherently messy, but you can still get a sense of their attention to detail.

If the site is at the stud stage, you’re looking for ordered studs without a lot of cut outs. You can see how organized a builder is by looking at the wiring and plumbing. Are the pipes labeled and logical? Do the wires look neat and tidy or is it a jumbled mess? This can be an indicator of how detailed-oriented the sub-contractors selected by your builder are.

If the site is almost complete, you’re looking for those little details in the finishes. Is the tilework clean and flush? Is grout messy and splashed onto areas where it shouldn’t be like countertops and floors? Are high traffic areas as pristine as less trafficked areas? Have they painted or fixed any nicks in the main doorways into the build? These areas tend to have more incidental damage from when things like appliances get installed.

These walkthroughs are also great for gathering inspiration and ideas for your own home you may not have thought of.

Conclusion

Your custom home is likely going to be the largest purchase you ever make, so if you have a question: ask! The way your builder responds to your questions can tell you just as much as the answer itself. You’re going to be working with this person for 9+ months, so you want someone you can connect well with.

If your home has a very specific style with a lot of unusual features, you probably want a builder who specializes in those kinds of things. If during your first meeting, your builder keeps saying things like, “We’ve never done that before, but I’m sure we can figure it out,” you may want to consider other options.

If you have a fairly typical house plan and don’t want to be consulted on every single detail, you can probably save time and frustration with a builder that specializes in semi-custom. Ultimately you want a builder that’s easy to get in contact with, will answer all your questions, and will make this process the least stressful as possible.

Good luck, and happy building!