Custom Home Builder Portland: An Informative Website for Prospective Home Owners
November 10, 2010
Why a website named Custom Home Builder Portland and what importance could it have for you? Read on.
Are you thinking of having a custom home built in the Portland area, but you’re not moving ahead because of fear of making serious mistakes? Or are you overwhelmed with all the steps involved and don’t know where to start?
Custom Home Builder Portland is here to help you! Read on and we’ll give you advice on how to avoid some common, yet costly mistakes.
As you probably already know, the process of building custom homes is a fairly complex undertaking. You have the design phase, locating available lots, the financing, and the construction phase. Things can go wrong in any one or all of these areas making your building experience a virtual nightmare.
Then you have the building contractors who will try to scam you by taking your money and heading for the border or by giving you a quote to build your home then increasing the price as the job progresses. Some just put out low quality workmanship. Still a bad thing.
We at Custom Home Builder Portland have researched all the possible pitfalls and dangers involved in having a custom home built and are here to share them with you so you can enjoy the building process and minimize the stress which can accompany this venture.
One mistake potential homeowners make is to pay big bucks for a designer to create an architectural design of a dream home without first talking to a mortgage broker about how much money they qualify to borrow. How much you can borrow will determine the size and style of your home as well as what type of lot you can build on.
Your income, credit rating, and down payment may put you in the luxury homes category, or it may require you to build a more affordable classic home with standard features.
So don’t go plunk down thousands of dollars for a set of plans you’ll never be able to use. Get some building cost estimates, add in the prices of available lots, and total it all up on a mortgage calculator. Then get pre-qualified by a lender. This will help you decide what size home you can build.
Another costly mistake people make is to hire a custom homebuilder on a cost plus basis. The home is built based on estimates from the builder. His profit is based on a percentage of the total cost of building the home. Because there is no guaranteed cost figure, it can and does go sky high. To make more profit, the contractor actually wants the price to go up.
You’re much better off to sign a fixed contract that you know won’t go up during the building process. Of course the cost will go up some if you make a change or two, but at least you have control over that.
When you hire someone to build your custom home in Portland, make sure that he is a custom home builder. Avoid using a tract home builder or a contractor who usually specializes in remodeling. You want a builder with preferably years of experience building custom homes.
You might want a builder who can include energy efficient features in your home. Maybe you want to build a green home.
Here’s the bottom line: Your home is your largest investment and you don’t want to screw it up. You want the best value for your dollar. You want your project to flow smoothly all the way from the design of the floorplan, through the financing stage, through the building process, to the completion of your dream home.
The building contractor is a major factor in how your home building experience will be. Make sure you hire the right one.
Custom Home Builder Portland has other articles which will assist you in your quest to build that perfect home. Feel free to visit these other informative links to continue your education. We also have a local Portland builder who we can highly recommend.
Villa Home CCB# 108910