Page 12 - What You Need to Know to Find the Right Builder

Whether a client had a good or bad experience, they will most certainly tell you

all about it.

Another good option is to stop by the local lumber yard and ask what
they know about the builder. Do they typically buy cheap materials, or do they

buy better than average materials? Do they take the time to select the better
2x4’s or do they just take whatever is on top of the pile? Do they have many
returns from materials that get delivered directly to the job? If they pick through
the materials properly, they will often reject 5% to 10% of the materials and send

them back to the lumber yard. Those rejects then end up on the top of the stack
in the lumber yard, for the bad builder to just grab and use. Therefore, not only

does the bad builder take the inferior materials that were already in the pile, but
they also take the rejects from the quality builder.

Always ask your prospective builder to see some of the projects that they
have completed. Ask to see a newly completed home and a home that was done

5 or 10 years ago. If they are a good builder, they would have a good relationship
with their former clients and those clients won’t mind showing off their homes to
help the builder out. When you walk through be sure to look at the small details.
Look to see what the trim looks like. Are the joints still tight? Did they use glue?

Does the mechanical room look neat and organized or is the wiring and plumbing
sloppy? Has the home stood up well over time? The proof of a good builder is in

the details and the little things. If a builder cuts corners on the parts of the home
that are visible, what do they hide behind the walls? After 5 or 10 years, if they
did cut corners behind the walls or if they did use inferior materials the signs
should start to become visible with cracked floor tiles, or water stains from roof

leaks. I’ve even seen homes that I call disposable homes. They last 10 years and
then you have to either renovate them or sell them off to an unsuspecting buyer.
Who wants to put thousands of dollars of renovations into a home because it’s

falling apart in 10 years?

Be careful putting too much trust in the references of real estate agents.
While they may be a great resource, they may also have ulterior motives. Some

builders are real estate agents themselves, or their spouse is an agent, so
obviously, they’re going to recommend themselves or a relative. Also, some
builders pay a referral fee to agents when a new client is sent to them, so there

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