New Home Construction Is Complicated – David Dumont 09/24/2024
The point to this post is to explain that there are costs to getting everything you want. In having a home built, you have the chance to get your next home just the way you want it. Buying a pre-owned home, you are buying what someone else wanted, and most likely there are many things you would have done differently (cabinet colors, counters, flooring, carpet color and pad, style of doors, etc…)
If you’ve ever put a model car or airplane together, you know how easy it is to make a mistake. Even using the “accurate” directions that come with a model, quite often there seems to be pieces missing, extra pieces, or the pieces they show just don’t fit together the way they are supposed to.
Now imagine 10,000 pieces, 50,000 pieces, or 100,000+ pieces. Even with the best directions, do you think 30 people, working at different times, with different people telling them what to do, could come even close to getting it 100% correct? If you think the answer is YES, stop reading this blog and purchase a pre-owned home. Seriously. You may not be able to deal with the new home process (in a future blog I’ll write in detail about all the trades that make a new home happen).
The simple truth about new home construction is that it’s complicated. It just is. It’s also messy. There will be times where if you show up on the construction site, there are piles of debris and trash. Piles and pieces of scrap lumber. Piles of boxes, carpet scraps, broken tiles, etc… Keep in mind that you are on the production floor of a new home builder in Broken Arrow, or somewhere else in the Greater Tulsa area. It’s not your home yet, but it will be when it’s done.
So, things are getting messy. The long grass that once covered your dream homesite has been pushed around into dirt mounds. Cement trucks have emptied their guts out. Piles of lumber have been cut up and filled with nails. Suddenly you have a frame that begins to look like a box of sorts. The home is slowly taking shape as the crews do their different jobs to move the plans along.
Many buyers having a home built like to visit the site to watch their future new home come out of the ground. It’s fascinating to watch it take shape and grow. As they watch, odds are pretty good that they will catch a mistake or mistakes. This is where it’s necessary to remember once again that new home construction is complicated.
In the real world, perfection is to be sought but is rarely achieved. Know from the beginning that mistakes will be made. Make sure that when you find a mistake, or mistakes, you don’t overreact and harm your relationship with the Construction Manager, Trade, or the home builder. “If I’m not here, this is never going to get done correctly”. That’s a phrase that comes from someone who is about to slow everything down, and most likely make things worse. New home construction in Broken Arrow is a process that is thoroughly inspected at many different stages by licensed professionals. Tulsa County has tough housing inspectors that do their best to make sure the building codes are followed. A good builder also has their own people walking their construction sites, looking for problems or errors in an effort to get the customer exactly what they want, and of course to prevent them from slowing the progress or costing money.
This is where new construction homes and pre-owned homes coexist. Mistakes in the construction process are going to happen. Mistakes are always going to be made while building the home, but with new home construction there is a chance to catch them. Pre-owned homes have their mistakes built-in. Energy gaps we didn’t think about 5-10 years ago can be avoided. Materials are mass produced with high levels of quality control and usually better than they used to be. The energy efficiency and technology points taken into consideration in new home construction are far beyond what was probably done on a home even 5-7 years ago.
If you’ve read this far, take this from this article: New home construction gives you the chance to be a part of your dream home coming into existence. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Wear thick soled boots when you’re on-site in case you step on a nail! Take lots of pictures. Ask the Construction Manager to notify you prior to the drywall going up so you can show up and take pictures of everything in the walls. Take hundreds of pictures so you know where gas lines are, electrical lines, water lines. It really can be an adventure to have your home built right in front of you.
IMPORTANT: If you consider what I’ve written here, I want you to also think about exactly how valuable a Realtor with almost 2 decades of new home construction experience could be to you during the process of building a home. I promise you my clients know. I began specializing in new home construction in 2007 and haven’t stopped. My knowledge and experience will serve you well.
A high percentage of the homes I list are new construction home. If you would like to see some beautiful new construction homes by Shaw Homes, click here.
Enough for now. I hope this information has been of some help to you, and serves you in making your new home buying decisions.
Hopefully you’ve read several articles I’ve written here on my website and you appreciate my experience. If you have any needs concerning real estate, please call me now at (918)409-5195, or email me at [email protected].