Almost everything you need to know before designing and building a new home in Winter Park, Orlando and Central Florida.
We recently met with a new potential customer that had invested a lot of time and money designing a new home that they couldn’t afford. Additionally, the architect had failed to research the community standards and overlooked so many requirements that their plans were probably worthless. I felt terrible realizing what must be going through these owners' minds.
This scenario is actually not all that uncommon. Numerous times we've been approached by potential new home customers that have drawings and are looking for bids. Conventional wisdom says that this way they can compare builders against each other and should receive the lowest price because of the competition. Frequently they discover that they may have started the new home process in the wrong place.
In order for a builder to prepare an accurate estimate, they need a thorough set of construction drawings and written specifications. Too often the drawings we see are incomplete or don't provide enough detail. As a builder, there's a substantial risk that I might invest my time only to be undercut by another builder that has lowballed a price to an unsuspecting owner. Imagine if you receive a proposal from a builder that's based on the incomplete information that was provided. The stories about builders that make lots of money on change orders are real.
Getting a builder involved early on might help prevent some of the missteps although not every builder is up for the job. We provide pre-construction services for a nominal fee. Our initial consultation is no cost or obligation. Be aware that there is a fair amount of research and planning needed before beginning the design and preparation of construction documents.
You may request a couple of helpful documents that may on the front end of the project.
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Little is more meaningful and personal than a home, and the experience of designing and building your own home should be rewarding and enjoyable. Choosing a builder is difficult. The process of designing and building a home involves numerous decisions about components, systems and services selected from criteria that includes price, quality, appearance and performance. How can you possibly understand everything unless the builder is willing to share all of the information?
Allow us to introduce you to The GCH Way of building your next home. Please let us know if you have any questions. Keith Groninger