Page 9 - What You Need to Know to Find the Right Builder

Chapter 2

Can you save by spending?

Have you ever bought a couch for say, $700.00, at a discount furniture
store, and had it wear out in 3 or 4 years? What if you had saved a little more

money and later spent $1,200.00 on a better couch that lasted 10 or 12 years?
Wouldn’t using it for 3 times as long be worth 60% more in upfront cost?

Have you spent $12,000.00 on a used car with no warranty only to have it
break down months later? If the transmission goes it can easily run into many

thousands of dollars. Now consider that the used car will probably only last 3 to 5
years. If you can afford it, wouldn’t it be better to buy a $20,000.00 car that
comes with a 100,000-mile warranty and will last 10 years?

Building a home works in much the same way. You can sign a $300,000.00
contract for a home from one builder who cuts corners, uses inferior materials,
and then later bills you for cost overruns which bring the final cost to

$340,000.00, or you can go with a Quality Builder who does his homework before
the contract, does quality work, includes better materials, and may have charged
$350,000.00 up front, but who has little to no overruns. The home lasts longer,

has less repairs that need to be done after a few years, and in the end saves you a
lot of money, not to mention all the headaches you’ll avoid.

How do you feel about hiring an architect? Many clients tell us they don’t
want to spend the extra money because it can run into thousands of dollars but

consider the fact that a detailed set of plans in your builder’s hands will save vast
amounts of time, guesswork, and conflict down the road. You work out every
design detail with your architect beforehand, you know exactly what you’re

buying, and if your builder doesn’t follow the plans to the letter, you have
grounds for the courts to get involved, protecting your investment. How much is
that worth to you? Now consider that your builder has all the information at his

fingertips when he has a question about how something should be done. Not only
can you be guaranteed the home is built to engineered specifications, but the
builder will spend less time guessing and more time building which saves labor

and helps to avoid mistakes. Mistakes and guesswork always lead to cost
overruns. Even if the builder assumes the cost of the mistake, he may very well

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