How to Choose the Best Custom Home Builder in My Area?

Selecting the wrong custom home builder can be a costly mistake. Let's look at 3 types of home builders, and 6 questions to ask yourself BEFORE you start looking.

What You'll Find in This Guide

3 Types of Home Builders

Broadly speaking, there are three different types of home builders: 

Additionally, there are homebuilder industry terms that people outside of the industry don't use, but they can help us understand what different builders are best suited to do. 

FULLY Custom Builders

Fully Custom Home Builders' contracts tend to be written cost + a percentage or contractor fee. 

I know a builder whose client asked him, "Where are you going to buy these doors, Rick? I don't see the profile we've drawn at any dealer showrooms." The builder looked up toward the ceiling and said, "David, the trim man, is up in the attic now, with his table saw, milling the lumber." Now that's a custom builder. 

PRODUCTION Home Builders

Production Home Builders will offer financing options, have a full-service staff and design studio and make limited modifications to their stock home plans. Their contracts will always be fixed pricing and they can afford to buy land in appealing locations close to job centers. 

SEMI-CUSTOM Home Builders

SEMI-CUSTOM Builders are a blend of fully custom and production builders. Builders in this category take the operational processes of a production builder and combine them with some of the flexibility and creativity of a custom builder. 

The key points to keep in mind here are: these builders are best at different things. 

What Type of Home Builder Is Hedgefield Homes?

We at Hedgefield Homes would be classified within the semi-custom builder group. Now you may say, "So you're not a custom builder?" 

My answer: We are absolutely custom builders. 

We do offer a portfolio of plans with pre-designed popular structural options, and many will opt to build one of these combinations. However, we also have a custom design option for folks who don't see a plan in our portfolio that fits their needs. 

Furthermore, we tell everyone: We embrace customization. We will customize anything and everything about your home up-to and including the pre-construction meeting. In the pre-construction process, we don't limit our customers, their only limits are money and time. 

When you are building your dream home on your land, you have a vision for how that home should sit on the lot, what the views should be and how you'll live in it. So we call ourselves custom builders, because to our customers that is exactly what we are. 

6 Questions to Ask Yourself BEFORE Seeking a Home Builder

---

 

What Is Your Location?

Choose a builder who is actually located near your build site. We suggest that the builders’ location—either sales or field office—is located a maximum of 50 miles from the site. This means they can be adequately present on the job site every day and address issues in a timely way. You don’t want to call your builder with a problem on site and have him tell you: “I’ll check it out when I’m at the job in a few days.”

Additionally, home builders located nearby will be more familiar with local codes, restrictions, utility providers and possibly site or soil issues. Their trade and vendor partners will also be familiar and accessible.

What Is Your Budget?

Understand your budget and what builders in your area can offer you, then start to compare your options. 

Remember to only compare builders who are similar.  If you want to build a 2,000 square-foot, single-story ranch home with a 2-car garage, then find a plan from two different builders in your area and ask for the pricing and included features. You should be able to easily acquire this information. You’ll also want to verify which site improvement expenses are and aren’t included. 

Create a simple matrix with budget line items in rows, and Builder 1 and Builder 2 in columns. This is basically the process of building up the initial budget

From time to time, I will get a call asking me what our standard price is for building a standard house. My answer used to be: "What are the standard features you would want in your house?"  

“Oh, you know, granite counters and wood cabinets.” But now, I simply quote them our starting price and refer them to our website, which has all of our updated pricing for every plan, along with our standard included features.  

You need to understand what standard means to your builder prospects. 

A builder should be able and willing to help you compose a budget for your entire project, even the parts they aren’t handling directly, such as: well, septic, roads, culverts, utilities, etc.

Ask builders if they will commit to their price, once quoted.  Is it fixed? All of our pricing is fixed—once contracted, it will not change.

How Custom Do You Want Your Home to Be?

Think through and list out things you need to be involved in and those you wish to control, and decisions you don't need to drive. Share this with potential builders and listen to their responses.

What Are Your Expectations for Attention, Communication and Reporting?

Small custom builders can be very effective building a few homes at the same time. These smaller operators tend to be experienced in the field, so that's where they really shine. They understand how things get built. 

However, if you need design support, pricing or documentation, small operators may drag a little getting you what you need. They may also (but not necessarily) lag behind in warranty service, simply because they are busy with other jobs. It's best to simply ask: What is your average time to complete warranty calls? If they don't know, pay attention. If they say 14 days or less, that's a good sign. 

Smaller firms may also lag in communication: Keeping customers up-to-date on what's happening, what comes next, obstacles and ongoing completion updates. Larger teams have dedicated sales and support staff to help the customer along the way, and their processes for doing so tend to be more defined.

However, it can also be true that very large organizations can lose touch with their customers if they are not intentional. Ask builder candidates: Who manages our relationship as we go along? How do we get updates, get questions answered and stay in touch with your company. If you get a vague answer like, "Oh, we'll call you when things come up," you'd better get your running shoes on, because you're going to be chasing your builder. 

What Is Your Personality and What Is Theirs?

Ask a potential builder: Who on their staff will you be working with during your pre-construction and construction process? Will there be an opportunity to meet them before you commit? See if you can get a feel for their personalities and style; after all, you'll be working with them for months, and the best way to get to know a builder is to know their people. 

Which Type of Home Builder Can Best Execute the Vision You Have for Your Home?

There are a lot of details and expenses to manage in the homebuilding process.

Questionnaire for References

A customer sent the following questionnaire to an actual customer of mine as she was checking our references. It was so good, I’m including it here. Use it!

Good Morning!  I am hoping you can help me.  Hedgefield Homes gave me your name as someone I could contact as a reference.  I am in the final stages of selecting a builder and Hedgefield is high on my list of choices. 

I have your phone number as well and would be happy to call instead of asking you to draft responses, just let me know what is easiest - if you are willing to share your experience.  

My questions are below:

I really appreciate your time in sharing your experience!

Thank you.