6 Questions to Ask your Builder

Today I am coming at you with a list of questions I wish I had known to ask before beginning the build process. Home building can be tedious and quite stressful to be honest. You start getting really uptight when you are being charged an extra $182 to stagger your bathroom tile versus leaving it squared off.

1. How will you communicate with me what is going on with my home? This one was huge for us. Our builder actually uses a website that has an up-to-date calendar that allowed us to see exactly what was being done every single day. This was great until the day we logged on only to find that our calendar had been cleared for the entire upcoming month. I mean this is what we were working with:

Guys. Our home was not touched again until July 11. If your builder does not have a fancy little website like ours then ask for a print out of a typical home building schedule. For example: what are the order typical order of events, how many days does it usually take to put up drywall, install lights, put a roof on, etc. The process will be a lot more enjoyable if you are aware of what is going on with your home and what you can expect from your builder during the process. Chances are if the builder has a scheduling conflict, you will be a lot more understanding as to why your home has been at a standstill for a few weeks versus being left in the dark.

2. Will you walk me through the model and show me what comes standard and what is considered an upgrade? Even if the model is not your same floor plan, the builder should be able to walk through and tell you what you need to know. Don't be afraid to go through every single room, you will be extremely disappointed when you find out that all of those little things that made the model look so appealing (crown molding, granite in every bathroom, back splash tile, wainscoting, etc) all comes with a very large price tag. Some of the things that I completely forgot to ask about were garage door openers, a sprinkler system and blinds.

3. In order to cut costs, what are some things I can provide on my own? Okay, so you definitely do not want to phrase it like that but the goal is to save as much money as possible so your husband will let you buy that useless completely necessary accent chair, right? Some things to consider are supplying your own appliances, kitchen hardware, bathroom vanities, light fixtures and any other item that you know you will end up switching out anyway. I would have loved to supply my own bathroom vanity, like this one from PB which would have actually saved us money but our builder wouldn't allow it.

4. May I tour your design center? Every builder is different but regardless there should be some type of design meeting where you get to pick out your cabinetry, carpet, hardwoods or tile, countertops and paint colors. If you have a specific granite color in mind that you know you are completely set on, you will want to make sure they have it or something very close to that before you commit to the home. The point in building your home and not buying a pre-existing one is customizing it to be exactly what you want, or at least very close to what you want. I realize that this may seem ridiculous to some people but if the design of your home is something that is very important to you then this may be the deciding factor between one builder and another.

5. Will I have the option to make a few minor changes to my floorplan? Make sure you know which changes you would like to make, if any before asking this question. For example: my husband and I knew we would never use the jacuzzi tub in our master bath but we both really enjoy showers big enough for the Brady Brunch. Did that just get weird? Anyways, we had our builder credit us for the jacuzzi tub and we used that money to add a second shower head and extend the shower. We also got to enlarge our closet (you can see the before and after photos below) Our builder agreed to do this with no charge to us. Just make sure you get it in writing! Also, builders loathe the word "credit" we figured this one out later on in our building process. They really prefer the term trade.

6. How energy efficient is this home going to be? Although there are a ton of new building code requirements that have to be met, which also help make your home more energy efficient than one built 50 years ago, there are a lot of things you can do that will save you money in the long haul. I would like to preface this by saying that I this is far from my area of expertise but when you have an uncle who is an awesome architect (seriously guys, he designs huge, well-known sports stadiums) to tell you what he would do if he were building his home, you don't ask questions, you just do it. Our uncle strongly recommended spray foam insulation. It lasts a lot longer and it will lower your electric bill significantly. The other advantage? It contains flame retardant.


I hope that this list helped, home building is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. You're building your dream home so don't let petty things ruin that for you. Make sure you have the answers to all of your questions and then sit back, relax and enjoy seeing your home go up :)