You’ve successfully navigated the design center, selected your home finishes with pride, and finalized your list of home upgrades. Now the really fun part is here: it’s time to sit back and watch your home be built right before your eyes.
It’s not all fun, of course. A house is a huge investment, and it can be nerve-wracking to play the waiting game with little to no construction progress. Seeing the house in its incomplete form is both thrilling and terrifying, as you wonder to yourself, “they’ll fix that before we move in, though, right?”
When our house was being built, we drove to the home site every weekend to check in and see how things were progressing. We loved leaving our apartment behind in favor of our “real” house, and dreaming about what our future inside its walls might be like. As first-time buyers, we found ourselves stressing over everything from trash at the site to whether we picked the right floor plan after all. We just didn’t know what to expect or when to speak up about our concerns.
Now that we’ve been in our house for over a year, I want to share some of the most helpful advice we received, as well as the things I wish we’d known while the house was still under construction. My own experience is with KB Home specifically, but this advice can be applied to new construction homes from any builder. My goal is to help others to navigate and enjoy the thrilling, terrifying process of seeing a home built from the ground up.
Know the Ground Rules
Before you do anything, make sure you know and understand the rules in regard to site visits. Remember that your home site is an active construction site with several inherent risks to your personal safety. Our sales counselor suggested checking in at the office before visiting the site, and our purchase contract strongly advised the use of hard hats when wandering around. If you’re breaking the rules and sneaking around the site, it becomes much trickier to speak up when you see problems that need to be addressed.
The Sales Counselor is Your Friend
A good, trusting relationship with your sales counselor truly can make or break your experience. We had a wonderful sales counselor who sent us weekly construction updates with photos, checked in with us on move-in day, and advocated on our behalf about construction issues that lingered on for weeks after we got settled. It was comforting to know that we had someone in our corner to help us navigate the construction process and address our many questions and concerns along the way.
Remain Respectful
Buying a home is often an emotional process, and that is doubly true for a new construction home. No, you’re not the one actually building the house, but it can often feel that way as you choose finishes, stay on top of construction updates, and second-guess everything from the bedroom-to-office conversion to the type of tile used in the bathroom. It’s easy, therefore, to let your emotions get the better of you when you see something you don’t like, or that is flat out wrong. Always, always approach the situation with respect and civility and try to maintain a productive working relationship with the people responsible for building you a safe, efficient home. If you’re really steamed about something, give yourself some time to cool down before speaking up, or ask your realtor or co-purchaser to speak on your behalf.
Take Photos of the Framework
It’s a good idea to take photos in general, as they can help builders to quickly identify and correct any problems you find. Plus, it’s fun to look back on those photos once the house is completed. Taking photos of the framework, however, is an especially practical choice that will continue to serve you well after move in day. Here’s why.
- It lets you see the placement of every single stud, wire, and pipe that will eventually be hidden behind drywall. Knowing the layout of each wall makes it so much easier to mount shelving, TVs, and other heavy items later down the line.
- Should you (or the next potential buyer!) ever wish to add or remove walls, knowing what is behind all that drywall can save a lot in terms of time and renovation costs.
Hire a Private Home Inspector
One of the final steps in any home purchase transaction is the home inspection, in which an inspector surveys the house and makes sure it is solid and up to building code. The builder may provide their own inspector; typically a city official with many more houses on their to-do list, who ensures the house is up to basic building code before signing it off. Always hire your own inspector to check for all the little things you cannot see, like whether the roof shingles are installed correctly, or if the home has sufficient insulation. We knew the inspector we hired would uncover a few issues, but we were shocked when he gave us an itemized list of 97 items to correct. They ranged from small things like a dinged up sink sprayer cap to biggies like roof shingles that weren’t sealed against water intrusion. Things that, in other words, we never would have seen or corrected prior to finalizing the purchase of our home. A private home inspection may cost more out of pocket, but it is a small price to pay for peace of mind that you’re making a good purchase.
Our very thorough home inspection was completed by James of Central Florida Building Inspectors. If you’re in Central Florida, give them a call!
Bring an Upgrade List to the Home Inspection
Remember all the home upgrades and finishes you selected at the design center? Bring a printed list of those selections to the final walkthrough, and go through every single item on the list to make sure they are all correct and accounted for. Are the cabinets the right height? Did you get that beveled edge on the bathroom counters? Are the fan switches in the right rooms?
In our case, the builder completely failed to install gutters or a medicine cabinet. They showed us their version of the punch list, in which the gutters had inexplicably been crossed out as a canceled item. We had our own list ready to go, which still showed the purchased upgrades in question, and both items were installed before we closed on the home.
Enjoy the Process
Remember, building a home is supposed to be fun! Whether this is your first home or your fourth, a brand new home is one of the most exciting things you can buy. Try to relax, let your realtor do the talking when possible, and remember that soon you’ll be in a house built just for you.
Did I miss anything? Let me know! I’d love to know how your build is progressing and hear what worked best for you along the way. For more on our build and life after move-in, check out some of the posts linked below.
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