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Second Step: Document your Ideas
· Get your thoughts and ideas about your home on paper before you see a contractor.
· Get one or two home plan books from a leading home improvement store. Choose only two books, more will lead to confusion and frustration.
· Pick one or two plans which approximately fit your ideas. You will not find exactly what you are looking for, because of your specific conditions of lot configuration, topography, southern exposure etc.
· Have Complete 3D Home Design draw your home. Get several sets of “study plans”, till your ideas are clearly represented on paper. The price for this service should be about 1% or less of the building price and it is well worth your money. Why? Having all your ideas plainly on paper, saves you time and money in the process of building your home.
· Without it, weeks of building delays and thousands of dollars of cost overruns can be a nightmare for all concerned.
· With a clear vision and 3D renderings documented, which are clearly understood by you and the prospective builder, only then you are ready to obtain bids.
Third Step: Meet your Builder
- Obtain a list of reliable builders in your neighborhood. Ask the people you know, the building department or consult the yellow pages.
- Set up an appointment with one builder and get a quote. The builder will suggest some modifications to your plans from his construction perspective and experience.
- Have these modifications integrated into your plans by Complete 3D Home Design.
Fourth Step: Tell the “Authorities”
- Get a building permit. This may involve 2 steps. If your property is in a development, the owner of the development or the committee members of fellow owners may have to issue a permit first, before the town or the county will issue theirs.
Fifth Step: Get more Bids
- Obtain more bids with all the facts on hand. This is most important, because you have to be able to compare bids based on identical information you submited to the contractors. This is the key to saving money during the project.
Sixth Step: Finalize your Budget
- Get references from your chosen contractor.
- With a firm price in hand, make out a building contract. There are simple contract forms you should use. They should contain other than the obvious:
- Start and completion date, with “mile stones” in between
- Description of work
- Allowances
- Total price and payment schedules
- Work and material specifically excluded from the contract, such as work you want to do yourself or will contract out later.
Seventh Step: Watch your Money
- Payment schedules should be, as a rule, 10 / 80 / 10. This means you, as an owner, pay the contractor 10% up front, 80 % according to theconstruction progress, and 10% should be held until the job is completed to your satisfaction.
Eighth Step: Break Ground
- Take time out to be there together with your builder when your home is staked out on your property. The survey plan should give a clear indication where the house is going to be. However, obstacles on site, like boulders and septic leach beds, may necessitate minor relocations.
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