Selecting Your Home Builder – Part 1

I realized I may have jumped ahead a bit in the blog without addressing a very important topic: selection of your home builder. So before we get any further, let’s discuss why it’s so important to do your research and how to go about finding a top Louisville home builder.

Do you want to save money in building your new home? Do you want a house that will last with minimal upkeep and future costs? Do you want a home that is customized to your family’s needs? Are you scared to build because of the horror stories you’ve heard about building a new house?

Who you chose to build your new home is the most important decision during the entire building process. This can not be emphasized enough.

  • How much research and time did you spend looking at your new TV, camera, or car? Now compare the cost and importance of these items to your new home. Your home is likely the most costly and important purchase you will make in your life, so be sure to give it proper consideration and educate yourself on your options.

Your builder will have a profound impact not only on your overall satisfaction with the final home, but also with your enjoyment of the building process as a whole. You will be working very closely with this person for several months during construction and the personality and ability of the builder to work as a team with the client is extremely important. This relationship is ultimately about trust. Having confidence that your builder has the qualifications and the commitment to you and your new home, both now and in the future, will put your mind at ease so you can actually enjoy the entire building process.

At times, quality is difficult to determine, especially in a complex structure like a home. An experienced builder will place utmost importance on the design phase of your new home. This phase is as important as the actual construction in many ways. The builder and client will analyze the function, flow, and needs of every room to not only meet the customer’s demands, but also to avoid the excesses that result in increased costs. The home builder should guide the client to understand what parts of a home may be worth spending a few extra dollars up front on – to avoid unnecessary and expensive repairs and maintenance in the future…and which ones won’t.

So where do you start looking for a top Louisville home builder? How do you know where to find trustworthy and reputable builders?

  • The best place to start is with your local home builders association, like the Louisville Home Builders Association. This organization will have a listing of all registered builders in your area, like Sterling Development Group. Any reputable builder should be registered with their local association, so be sure to check there first.
  • Next, make a second list by speaking with an older, more established real estate agent in your area for recommendations of builders they know and trust. Real estate agents are often an excellent source of information for local service providers.
  • Then, call at least two local lumber companies (there aren’t usually more than a few) and ask what builders they know and trust for quality home building. You will now have three separate lists and should begin to see some repeat names popping up.
  • Finally, word of mouth is most often how clients hear about a builder. Your friends and colleagues will likely provide the most candid feedback about their building experiences and can recommend a builder you can trust. Note that it’s important to talk with friends who have built homes in roughly the same price range as your desired home so you get a clear picture of the level of quality that the builder provides. This last detail can’t be emphasized enough. As we will discuss throughout the Sterling Development Group blog, building a $700,000 home isn’t just taking a $350,000 house and making it larger – there are a lot of details that go into building a quality home. If their builder isn’t on your “short list” you need to investigate why.

In the next blog post I will show you how to narrow down your list of 3-5 builders. Have questions? Please feel free to contact me to discuss.