Building a modern luxury home involves a big team comprising designers, architects, home builders, subcontractors, and others. However, the most important players in the whole exercise are the luxury home builders who manage the construction from the design phase to its completion. Since luxury builders are the key to realizing your dream, they must be chosen with due diligence and care. Remember, a less reputable or inexperienced builder can ruin your vision and make you rue your decision for years. So, don’t engage Houston luxury home builders who do not fit your personality or do not have the requisite experience of pulling the job through.
That begets the question how to select a luxury home builder of your choice who ticks all the right boxes? The answer is by narrowing down your search for luxury builders and asking them relevant questions. The answers to the questions will give you a clear picture of the builder’s knowledge, area of expertise, experience, ability to face challenges, and personality, to name a few areas. So, let us get down to know the questions to be asked to builders whom you are likely to choose for a luxury home building project.
Top questions to be asked to your luxury home builder
The main questions you must ask the select few luxury home builders and choose the best among them are mentioned below:
#1. How many years of direct experience do you have in this business?
Experience is the best teacher, so goes the saying. If your chosen luxury builder has many years of experience behind him or her, chances are that he or she may have encountered a good number of various challenges and overcome them. These may include design-budget misalignment, delay in material selection and lead times, etc. Such challenges or obstacles offer lessons in learning about how to proceed with future builds and differentiate such builders from the less experienced ones. So, by knowing the way to tackle challenges, experienced builders can save precious time and money, and keep the project on schedule. Further, such Houston luxury home builders will make your experience stress-free while the project is underway. Additionally, you may read our resource to know about the custom home builders’ process and guide.
#2. What are yourcredentials and are you insured?
Accreditations and insurance are considered basic requirements when it comes to hiring luxury home builders. General liability insurance, workman’s compensation and builder’ s risk is essential risk mitigating instruments for luxury home building. Although most luxury builders do not carry workman’s compensation for subcontractors, they have very stringent practices and requirements for subs to maintain both general liability and workers comp insurances. Builders risk insurance is purchased on a specific project by project basis. You are insuring the home against perils during construction that traditional homeowner’s insurance does not cover.
Reputable luxury home builders have years of experience and training much like other professions such as the medical & legal professions. Like the real estate profession, they should take continued education classes and work towards certain professional certifications such as state licenses and specialty training. Houston luxury home builders are not required to be licensed by the State of Texas, but that should not keep them from continuing their education. Houston & Texas has adopted the International Building Codes (IBC) for structural HVAC, plumbing and electrical trades. These codes change every few years and require the relevant trades to update their education. Since luxury builders are responsible for the overall performance and construction of the luxury house, they also need to stay updated.
Accreditations also play an important role in a luxury builders source of continued education, legislative initiative awareness and increasing their overall credibility. One such accreditation is the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Master Builders accreditation. This designation is issued after the luxury home builder meets the NAHB requirements for years of experience, number of homes built, classroom hours and a series of test to meet their compliance requirements. Also, if the builder provides you the license and insurance certifications, it’sfurther evidence that the builder can be trusted and is open, honest, and transparent. Read our blog if you want to know about the 10 qualities of the best luxury home builders, and go about selecting the one who embodies such qualities.
#3. Can you give references for your recent luxury home building projects?
It is only by looking at previous projects, interacting with thepast clients that you can appreciate the quality of the luxury home builder. Visiting projects completed by the builder and looking at the quality of work is another important step in the process of identifying the right home builder for you. Talk to the owners about the building process, challenges faced, or whether they felt comfortable with the builder. Ask abouttheir experience in the luxury home building journey and their honest pros and cons of working with the custom builder. Past performance evaluation coupled with past clients’ testimonies and your own personal assessment during the interview process will lead you to a desired level of comfort.
#4. Can I make changes to the original design or plan?
It is possible that you may want to make changes to the original design and will experience changes to the contract price in the form of purchasing materials that are allowance items. For the sake of this point, we will address late design changes. Change orders result from a change of mind about the function or aesthetics of the house design. They are a sensitive point between builder and owner and can cause stress on the relationship. Most luxury builders do not like design change orders because they slow the project down and are a friction point for the additional cost. The reality is that these design changes happen while building luxury houses. By the definition, luxury homes are custom homes and are built to the owners wants & needs.
So, it is important to come to an understanding between luxury builder and owner as to the best process and procedures for executing change orders. If the changes are for the best interest of the owner and make your home more functional, aesthetically pleasing, and cost-saving to build, the builder should be as accommodating as possible to see these through. By asking this question you will likely avoid a greater degree of possible conflict while the project is underway and have a clearer understanding of the process and procedures.
#5. How many projects you are building at present?
This question opens the door to discuss how the custom home builder is planning on managing the construction of the house. All Houston luxury home builders companies are not operationally the same. Most custom home builders have field leadership to run the day-to-day affairs of the luxury home building. The actual Master Builder runs the business and builds multiple homes at any given period. You would want the custom home builder to pay more attention to your project as his or her absence can mean other players in the project are making important decisions. In effect, the actual builder of the house is the field manager monitoring the impact of quality, cost, and timeline of the house.
So, this question is very important to ask, for more the number of projects the builder is involved in, the less time the actual Master Builder can give for your luxury home building project. A busy builder would mean scheduling delays for your project and you may end up missing the finished timeline by a long margin. It also means the personal service attention concerning walkthroughs and product selection discussions will receive far less attention.
#6. Does the custom home builder provide a warranty and post construction service?
In the State of Texas, the law provides all newly constructed homes to have a one year all in warranty, two year MEP warranty and a 10 year structural warranty. Your luxury home should also be coveredby a reputable third party warranty company. This provides you with emergency access to service and the assurance that the either the builder or the insurance company will stand behind the warranty.
Your luxury builder is required to provide youa copy of the warranty at the time of contract. The supplemental third party warranty policy will normally be issued at closing of the property title. The luxury builder should provide you with a list of service contractors with emergency contact information as part of post construction service.
So, be ahead of the game and know the steps to be taken should something breaks down post-construction. You may view our video to know the type of features you can incorporate in your dream luxury home.
#7. What is your inspection process and final walkthrough of the completed home?
A good builder will ensure that your modern luxury home meets the relevant building codes and surpasses minimum building practices. He or she will not cut corners and should always follow the intent of the compliance codes and plan design. The custom builder will make sure the completed home is visited by the local building inspector and receives its certificate of occupancy. It is only after the inspection team does a final walkthrough and gives its nod and you conduct your final walkthrough on your luxury home, that the custom builder can hand over the keys to your modern luxury home. In case the inspection process is not followed, you may end up facing issues whereupon the inspector, on visiting your premises later, may put severe penalties or even ask you to demolish a part of the building should it not meet the building code.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned questions can go a long way in understanding the quality of work, personality, expertise, risk-taking ability, and experience of luxury builders. Since so much investment in time, money, and effort is at stake, the builder must be above board and the best in business. You may further read a blog to know about the type of questions to be asked to luxury home builders.
