Those who have had their house built, or purchased a new home as part of a development or community, have undoubtedly had some experience with house builders, home builders, or house building services. Whichever name they may go by, these building professionals are the ones who turn new home dreams into reality. Depending on the type of job, and kind of new home purchase, they may work directly for you as the client, or they may be in a sales role, as part of building a neighborhood or development. Still, regardless of the interface, house builders, home builders, and house building services all perform mostly the same day-to-day kinds of tasks on the house building site.
In this guide, we’ll explore the role that house builders, home builders, and house building services fill, both for individual clients seeking to build their own custom homes or as part of a development or community-building project. We’ll look at what these building professionals typically do, the services they offer, and some of the other reasons that you might hire one of these kinds of building companies as well. Finally, we’ll provide some relevant and useful advice on how to choose the right house builder, home builder, or house building service provider to suit your house building project needs.
When you’re building a home of your own, you’re the client, and you may decide which housebuilder, home builder, or house building service to hire. That is a crucial choice in the home building process since the company or individual you choose essentially acts as the central hub of activity for the house building job. Their purpose is to serve your needs while coordinating with all the contractors and different services companies who may be involved in the house building project. They are also responsible, in most cases, for house building site safety, filing paperwork and building permits, inspections, and other managerial and reporting tasks. Depending on the type of job, house builders, home builders, or house building services companies may also be involved in the architecture and design phase of the house, or merely be executing finished plans turned over to them from an outside company. Whatever the case may be, mostly, you’re go-to job manager when you are building a house on your own.
When you are buying a home as part of a development, community, or planned construction the role of house builders, home builders, and house building services providers is a bit different. In these cases, they are usually both a house builder and a bit of real estate agent or salesperson. While the actual professionals may not be the same, these kinds of home purchases are usually part of an overall planned community or development build, with several home model’s choice options. In these cases, the house builders, home builders, and house building services providers may employ outside service firms to help present model homes, complete sales transactions, and so forth with potential buyers, or may have someone in-house to manage it.
The main difference in this kind of home buying setting is that usually, the builder is the one fronting the money for the building project and selling off houses that are either pre-built or built-to-order (the latter being much more common). While you are the ultimate purchaser, you are not the client, per se, in the same way as building a home on your own. The dynamic of the relationship is a bit different as a result. However, housebuilders, home builders, and house building services companies generally have mostly the same tasks to perform here, with added oversight, regulatory, managerial, and building project management tasks relating to the overall development and sales functions as well.
Housebuilders, home builders, and house building services generally serve as foremen and building project managers for the entire house building process. From design and architecture to planning and permitting, to materials purchasing and house building contractor hiring, day-to-day management and oversight, scheduling, payment of sub-contractors, and keeping the entire building project on task, they do a bit of everything. In many cases, house builders, home builders, and house building services may be companies of varying sizes, with in-house specialties, paired with contracted professionals who handle things like excavation, laying a foundation, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and other related tasks. Like any project, they develop and manage milestones, costs, timing, and other elements of the plan, to keep things on track and budget as much as possible. Additional functions may be performed in some cases, depending on the specifics of the house building company involved and the job at hand.
In addition to building homes, as is implied from their names, house builders, home builders, and house building services often have other services available that are similar and related to homebuilding. From building outbuildings and stand-alone structures to commercial construction, and even repairs or handyman tasks, many of these companies diversify. New home construction is not an evergreen industry – it tends to be cyclical, coming in waves, based on the overall housing market and economic conditions. As such, many house builders, home builders, and house building services diversify their offerings, to ensure they are profitable and have work even when the new house construction market has a downturn. Therefore, other forms of construction, renovations and improvements, repairs, handyman tasks, and even public works are often additional services that these companies may perform.
When you’re buying a home as part of a development or community, you usually don’t have the choice of the house builders, home builders, or house building services – that’s often part and parcel of the project. But when you are building a home on your own, you typically have full authority to hire and fire one of these house-building professionals or companies as you see fit. Therefore, it’s important to know what to look for, so that you can choose a quality house builder, home builder, or house building service company that will bring your dream home to life. To help, we’ve provided six key categories where you should research and question potential home builders, and compare them to other possibilities, to choose the best one for your house building project.
Many people who are fortunate enough to own their own homes may periodically need to add extra space. That is common following the birth of children and other purposes. While selling your home and buying a larger one is always an option, many people choose instead of having an addition built onto their house. That can usually be accomplished by knocking out a wall or adding a door to an existing wall and building out new room(s) adjacent to the current home. It can be a cost-effective way to add space to the house, without the need for moving.
When people require a house addition of this type, they usually turn to professionals from house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services. These experts can provide a full range of house addition construction services and oversee the entire addition construction process, working with the customer to make choices and decisions about the size and scope of the renovation, developing work plans, executing the build with sub-contractors, and much more.
In this guide, we’ll provide the information you need to know about house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services. About the differences between these types of companies, what they offer, why they are preferred over general contractors for home addition work, and how to go about choosing a quality house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services company to meet your house addition construction project needs.
First, it’s worth mentioning the subtle differences between house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services. While both perform home addition construction and building work, the latter may specialize to a greater extent in remodeling or renovating existing spaces as well. Often, this aspect of house addition work is overlooked, but it doesn’t always involve new construction. Renovation of an existing area to provide more usable space, such as finishing in a basement, is a perfectly valid way to add more room to your home, and often more the domain of house addition building and renovation services than house addition construction services.
However, in practice, a lot of these distinctions may not exist. Many companies are far more generalized, and, while still not general contractors, will typically complete any building or renovation work that a consumer will need. It can vary a good deal by region, with more populous areas usually having a greater range of options and specializations than more rural areas. But, in general, an excellent place to start a search for a company to complete a house addition construction project is to look for either house addition construction services or house addition building and renovation services and review their websites to see what they exactly offer and if it matches up with your house addition construction project needs.
The exact capabilities of any given house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services company will vary, with some offering far less than others. The most robust full-service companies typically oversee the entire house addition process, from the initial consultation all the way through final inspection.
To start, a house addition construction service or house addition building and renovation service will typically meet with a client and discuss their house addition construction project and special needs. They may take measurements, do a visual inspection of the proposed work area, take pictures and notes, and schedule a follow-up. They’ll take all this information back to their office, and pass it off to an architect or engineer, or both, to work up drawings and a project plan. With drawings or renderings in hand, as well as a proposed scope of work and price, the house addition construction service or house addition building and a renovation service contract can return to the client for approval.
Once the job is approved, next comes material purchasing, scheduling of the work, and hiring of sub-contractors. Some house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services have enough in-house personnel and capabilities that they may not hire sub-contractors, whereas others need to hire sub-contractors for almost everything. Regardless, the role of the house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services company is to act as a foreman or hub of activity, and schedule, manage and pay all relevant personnel.
They’ll also usually deal with permitting and paperwork necessary to complete the construction, as well as on-site management of the building process. Most house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services companies will also manage the house addition construction in an on-site capacity, and be present for a final inspection, as well as serve as the point of contact if there are questions, issues, or problems.
The most compelling reason to hire a house addition construction service or house addition building and renovation service for a home renovation, rather than a general contractor, is that they typically have a good deal more experience and a larger pool of resources available. These firms usually have several different specialized specialties, with representatives of various disciplines on-staff, from architecture to electrical, carpentry to masonry, project management, purchasing/procurement, scheduling, and more. That can make them more favorable, as a one-stop-shop, for consumers, with a higher degree of confidence that house addition construction projects will be completed on time and budget.
At the same time, many house addition construction services and house addition building and renovation services companies also warranty their work when complete, which is something that most general contractors often do not do. That provides peace of mind for consumers, that even if there was a mistake and something goes wrong, it will be promptly fixed without cost to the consumer.
Most people don’t build additions to their homes often. So, when it comes to selecting the right house addition construction service or house addition building and renovation service provider for a project, it can be a bit dizzying with all the options that are available. But, like hiring any other service business, you can cut through the clutter and find the best house addition construction companies. It just takes some research, and looking at some key categories, and asking some key questions, to compare house addition construction companies on an apples-to-apples basis. Below, we highlight six important categories of information you should obtain about these businesses and provide some sample questions that you should ask, to find the ideal house addition construction service or house addition building and renovation service to meet your project needs.