Communicating with Your Custom Home Builder

A custom home builder isn’t only an experienced professional who has the skills and knowledge to build properties. Such a builder is responsible for ensuring that every aspect of the house is completed to your satisfaction while also guiding the project to its completion, on time and within budget.

Great communication skills are a key trait to look for when searching for custom home builders. Still, it is a two-way connection, so here is a quick guide to help you ace your side of the interaction. 

Custom Home Builder Communication 

For those starting the custom home building process, this may be the first and potentially only time that you will embark on this journey. Naturally, you will want to get it right so that your homeowner dreams don’t turn into a nightmare.

On the one hand, you want to be involved in the process to ensure that it moves toward the intended outcome. On the other hand, you don’t want to miss out on the benefits a custom home builder can provide by micromanaging or not trusting your builder’s expertise.

Balanced involvement and trust can help avoid unnecessary—and costly—delays. In other words, remain open to the expertise of your custom home builder while still actively communicating your ideas, especially in the planning phases.

And even before you get into the custom home building process, you can help prepare for effective communication. Following are some ideas of how to get ready for and carry out communication with your custom home builder: 

Identify a Builder 

Before committing to a home builder’s services, identify a builder who aligns with what you want out of the home-building experience. Asking these questions will soon help you determine whether the builder is right for you. 

Make a List

In connection with finding a reliable builder, make sure the builder can deliver a custom-built home that aligns with your requirements. Take the time to identify what features matter to you, formulating a list that includes elements such as:

• Lifestyle and convenience: Record features that suit your lifestyle and will promote convenience in your daily life. This could range from an EV charger to your home office.
• Hobbies: Include household items that help facilitate your hobbies, whether that’s gaming or exercising. These assets make the house truly feel like a home.
• Budget: Balance the dollar amount with building materials and preferences that can keep your build on time and within budget.
• Pain Points: List features that would help you overcome any pain points or challenges that you experienced in previous homes.
• Short- and Long-Term Factors: Consider household elements that satisfy short- and long-term requirements. Identify components of a luxury home that can evolve with your needs.

This checklist can help you enter discussions with the home builder prepared to express your expectations with clarity. In turn, your custom home builder should be able to enlighten you about what’s possible before designing, developing, and delivering a house that you’ll be proud to call home.

Know Your Custom Home Builder’s Approach

The methods of communication between a homeowner and a builder are connected to the frequency of communication. Therefore, speaking with custom builders about how they plan to communicate with you and how often is important. If the builder won’t provide many updates and isn’t reachable either, you’ll want to steer clear.

Communicating with a builder may occur through many outlets, such as:

• Face-to-face interactions, including the initial consultation, early-phase planning meetings, and ongoing on-site situations 
• Telephone calls, including video calls, that allow you to discuss key matters like revisions to plans that have previously been addressed
• Email, which creates a documented record of conversations and removes the threat of crossed wires and/or ambiguity
• Live Chat, instant messaging, or social media DMS, which may not always be appropriate, but can be convenient and effective

Ask your project manager or custom home builder about preferred channels and established methods of communication. Also, respecting a builder’s hours of operation is important. Unless it’s an emergency, that late-night telephone call can probably wait until the morning.

More about our communication approach is available in the FAQs area of our website. Ultimately, Guardian Homes provides multiple tools to aid communication:

• A pre-bid checklist
• Real-time information access
• A live calendar
• Jargon-free explanations

Pay Attention to Milestones

While a lot of your communication with a builder takes place during the planning and design phases, regular updates throughout the building process is important to the building process. These updates allow you to verify the accuracy of the work while checking that the property’s development follows the intended path.

On average, it takes 14-28 months for a custom home building project to reach completion. Of course, that’s far too long to wait without any update. Ask your contractor to let you know when:

• Excavation and groundwork is finished
• The framing has been completed
• Wiring is in place,
• Plumbing installations are final  
• Cabinetry is installed
• Finishing work is taking place
• And more 

Be Ready with Responses, Preferences

Ultimately, a custom home builder works for you. Their role is to build a house that is aligned with your needs, expectations, and personal preferences. If the property is right for you, that is truly the metric for success.

In supporting the success of the build, it’s important that you make yourself available to answer questions that may surface. The last thing you want is to be caught by surprise, consequently leading to an error of judgment. As such, being prepared with answers to the following issues may be helpful:

• How much additional capital can you find if an issue occurs?
• What colors, finishes, flooring, and decorative items do you prefer?
• If a feature has to be lost or downgraded, which one(s) are you okay to sacrifice?
• Can you afford for the project completion date to go beyond the original deadline?
• What materials would you use if the first choices aren’t available?

Communication-Friendly Custom Home Builder

Great communication can enhance the custom home building process. Guardian Homes is a custom home builder committed to effective communication and positioned to build quality custom homes in Idaho. We value transparent, timely, and continued communication.

To find out more or to start a communication-friendly home-building process, get in touch with our expert team.