Building luxury homes is no easy task, for it involves a complex process, years of experience and requires skillful management of every associated activity.
If you are thinking about luxury home building that stands on its own in your neighborhood, draws appreciative glances from the passersby or visitors, and meets every requirement to its finer details, you need the services of an experienced luxury home builder.
Professional luxury builders can guide you in selecting the high-end products and architectural features that can provide a high-end finish.
Even though the types and levels of finishes are many, the expertise of a high-end house builder and the target budget will decide the ones that suit your luxury house.
Luxury homes require a highly specialized construction that carry a certain number of risks and therefore, should entail thorough planning and a large capital outlay. Hiring a luxury home builder will transfer and mitigate most risks and reduce the stress typically associated with such projects.
It is always in your interest to employ the services of a custom builder that fit your needs. Since the role of luxury home builders is crucial to building your dream luxury house, it is important to know the type of work he or she does.
So, you may be thinking, what is a luxury builder and what is their role in the house building process?
What is a luxury home builder?
A luxury home builder has the expertise and experience in building luxury homes replete with high-end features that meet your expectations within the approved cost.
The most common luxury builders normally offer two types of house to build and design delivery services; a) bid to build method (you provide the builder with the construction documents), b) design to build method (the builder facilitates the plan design and construction documents),
In both cases, design development go hand in hand with the need for the owner to have the custom builder involved with the preliminary design of the planned house to contribute to the architectural design process.
It is common for custom house builders to lead the house design process either by referring the owners directly to designers or architects or have a professional designer or assembling an appointed design team.
A quality custom builder should be aware of the latest trends in designing luxury homes and be able to offer ‘luxury’ features for different budgets and lifestyles.
Generally, the custom home building begins by selecting a house building site, followed by the planning and house design.
To learn more about the luxury house design process, please click here.
What does a luxury home builder do?
A luxury home builder oversees the entire gamut of the custom house building process right from the designing stage to the final completion.
He or she works towards delivering a unique custom house tailor made to the needs of the client’s lifestyle. The various activities undertaken by the house builder are as follows:
Understanding the owner’s lifestyle and needs:
As an owner, you may have certain expectations for your luxury house. These may include incorporating high-end features or using premium materials, among others.
To ensure the luxury house building results in the best quality dwelling that everyone would marvel at, the luxury builder should understand your requirements and lifestyle in the first place.
This is communicated from the owner in how they would use the house, the number of bedrooms you need, the architectural style you want the house to incorporate, the type of flooring, or key lifestyle features required for yours needs regarding entertaining guests.
Also, Houston luxury home builders may ask about the children’s needs, especially when they grow up, the kind of landscaping you want, or any other features you want in your luxury house. This is needed to plan any future accommodations.
Most importantly, the luxury builder is likely to have an open conversation about the budget as many of the future accommodations or inclusion of some high-end features would depend on it.
The custom builder can offer different approaches for project contracting delivery, namely, fixed-price construction management, cost-plus project management, and negotiated design-build methods.
You may read our resource on custom home builders and know about the various features to be incorporated in a new house.
Designing the luxury home:
Depending on the type of construction approach you want to take as an owner (design-build or custom) shall determine how the builder would approach the designer or architect.
For instance, under the design-build approach, the builder will contract directly with the architect.
On the other hand, for a design to bid approach, you need to present the design specifications prepared by an architect to the custom home builder.
If conventional wisdom suggests that you should directly hire the architect and then take bids from luxury builders based on the design plan, the approach may have its set of challenges.
What if the design has errors or omissions in the plan, the resultant house can turn out to be incomplete in some aspects.
Hence, it is better to avail the design-build approach to ensure both the builder and architect are in agreement with the design.
Further, in the design stage, the builder can suggest the incorporation of a host of features to take the quality of the custom house several notches higher.
These features can be related to luxury house security, house energy intelligence, and include sauna and spa room, gaming room, well-stocked gourmet kitchen, wine cellar, house office, gym, swimming pool, and a landscaped garden, among others.
Creating a project plan:
Every project comes with a schedule or plan that mentions the timelines for completion and the requisite budget.
The schedule should have a completion date, which the custom builder strives to meet unless there are some extraneous factors beyond anyone’s control (extreme weather for instance).
In addition, custom home building requires logistically planning the arrival of special material orders and coordinating them with the labor schedule.
If the shop drawings are held up from indecision, the result can be a bottle neck in the schedule.
The luxury builders create a project plan containing the budget and completion dates for each stage along with the following activities/responsibilities:
- Identifying the equipment and materials needed for the job and planning their procurement.
- Addressing any regulatory or legal issues.
- Creating a budget to track costs and identify waste.
- Predicting probable challenges and creating strategies for risk mitigation.
- Creating an effective communication mechanism among all stakeholders.
You may read our blog on luxury home builders and custom house building services to learn more about their responsibilities, and others.
Managing the project:
Managing the luxury building construction project and completing it within the constraints of time and budget may involve a host of activities as listed below:
- Ensuring the supply of funds (sourced from the owner) to keep the project going.
- Procuring equipment and materials in time and ensuring they reach the project site when needed.
- Arranging the workforce includes hiring various subcontractors to carry out the construction work. Since the subcontractors will be entrusted with completing some of the specialized jobs such as flooring, roofing, etc., they need to be interviewed first. It is only after ascertaining their quality of work that such subcontractors should be hired.
- Should have a good working relationship with every subcontractor and have knowledge about each specific trade. For instance, if the temperature is very cold on the day of the concrete placement for the slab, the builder should have the knowledge and exercise authority to put things on hold even if the subcontractor wants to move ahead.
- Hiring or purchasing any construction equipment needed for the job.
- Completing the documentation of each stage of work to be shown to the owner for verification and validation.
Tracking the project:
This is an important activity to be undertaken by the house builder to ensure the completion of luxury home building within schedule and as per the contract specifications.
So, in addition to tracking the progress of construction, any disruptions coming in the way should be tackled as well.
The builder must take the project scope, budget, and timelines into consideration while making decisions. The activities involved in tracking the project are:
- Scheduling the purchase, hiring, and procurement of materials in advance.
- Maintaining quality control at every stage of the construction.
- Using cost-effective methods of construction to prevent overshooting the budget.
- Ensuring the safety of every construction activity.
Regulatory and legal issues:
The custom home builders should obtain all necessary licenses and permits including the payment of any taxes or fees.
The entire construction process must be according to the building codes and guidelines as stipulated under the law.
The builder should have updated knowledge of all legal requirements to prevent any disruption. You may view our video to know the ideal features of a luxury house in Houston.
Health and safety issues:
The project site will have lots of equipment and construction material strewn around, which may lead to accidents if not handled or managed properly.
The house builders are responsible for ensuring the safety of the workforce at the project site.
They should oversee the proper operation of equipment and ensure every member of the workforce is aware of the safety rules and carries adequate safety tools (helmets, gloves, etc.)
The house builder should bring any unforeseen issues to the notice of the owner. He or she should have proper insurance cover for the workforce to meet any exigencies.
Conclusion
Houston luxury home builders don many hats of responsibilities during various stages of the construction process.
The professionals should be able to manage any unforeseen challenges and take appropriate decisions in favor of luxury home building.
From luxury home design to constructing the finer details of building high end homes, the custom home builders have the skills and solutions for all your needs.
You may read a blog to get some more information on the role of a builder.
