How to Assemble Your Home Build Team.
PLANNING SERIES PART 5 | WHO WILL BUILD YOUR HOME?
Your home building planning continues!
If you’ve been following along with the series, you’ve now prepped a rough draft of your budget, have an idea of what you want to build, and have found (or are closing in) on where you want to call home. Now it’s time to assemble your dream team for your project. Welcome to Part 5 of the Planning Series.
What professionals should you hire? Where and how do you find a builder that you love and trust? Should you GC this project yourself to save money?
Let’s start with WHO should be on your team.
You can hire professionals for each and every piece of the home-building puzzle, or you can choose to hire specific professionals that make sense for your needs, budget, and timeline. Many professionals now offer different ways to engage with them - for example, we offer pre-designed home plans to help you save on architectural fees (while not skimping on design & quality drawings). Every project will require a different lineup of pros, but the list below is “typical” for a standard home build. Please note, the list below is by no means exhaustive for all of the wonderful trades out there!
Land: Realtor
Design: Architecture, Interiors, and Landscape Design
Engineering: Structural, Mechanical
Build: General Contractor & Subcontractors
At Hereabout, we believe that teamwork makes the dreamwork - and is what makes for a project successful. For each professional you hire, you’re not just hiring their service - you’re hiring their years of experience and knowledge as well. Approach hiring professionals with kindness & respect and you’ll get the same in return. A healthy working relationship is a two way street :)
Your Land Team
Your Realtor
A realtor can help provide valuable insight to a piece of land and the surrounding area, and not to mention take care of all the legal docs and coordination behind the scenes to negotiate and purchase your plot.
Your Design Team
Your Architect: A necessary investment, whether you’re choosing to design a home from scratch or using a pre-designed home plan. Learn about which route makes sense for you here. You’re investing in the design of the home and the construction documents, which are the main communication tool for the builder and every other professional to work off of.
Your Interior Designer: Interior design is about a lot more than making things pretty. While it seems simple enough to choose a paint color, an interior designer brings a lot more to the table. From choosing light fixtures to tile grout color, an interior designer can help you choose and organize the specific finishes and fixtures (and furniture if you choose) for your project ahead of schedule so that the entire build team can install everything once.
Your Landscape Designer: While you won’t implement landscaping until the very end of your project, having someone help you with the design earlier on can help you set aside an appropriate budget. A designer is knowledgeable about native plants and can help create a landscaping plan that works with seasons, making your landscape investment last longer.
Your Engineering Team
Your Structural Engineer: A structurally sound house is always a great investment. While your architect will design the shape, size, and layout of your home, a structural engineer will help design and calculate the load-bearing capacity of the home, mainly ensuring that the home can withstand external forces such as wind, snow, or earthquakes. Guess what? If you choose a pre-designed home plan from Hereabout, your home comes with a full set of structural drawings from our nationally licensed structural consultant.
Your Mechanical Designer/Engineer: Mechanical design is all about comfort. While your architect will design the “shell” or “envelope” of your home to keep you healthy & comfortable, having good mechanical design is the next step to ensuring health & comfort. Mechanical design covers HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning). While a lot of folks will rely on their installer to specify their HVAC system, we believe it’s a great investment to work with a designer to get a system designed for your specific home, needs, and climate zone.
Your Build Team
Your General Contractor or Builder: The “GC” or builder will orchestrate and translate the design of your home into reality, working with the blueprints and information from each design and engineering professional to get your home built. They will be the main point of contact on your build site, hiring and coordinating each sub-contractor (plumber, electrician, etc) on a defined schedule, phasing each trade at the appropriate time. Choosing a quality builder that you like, and not just the most affordable option, is always (always) a wise investment. Some choose to be their own GC, thinking it will save money… more on that below to see if it’s the right choice for you.
Your Subcontractors: Did you know it takes an average of 22 subcontractors to build a home? (NAHB, 2015). While this number can vary depending on your GC and your home, it goes to show how teamwork really is the dream work in the homebuilding world. Subcontractors include all of the specific trades that will come to complete a portion of your home build. Some of these trades include concrete, plumbing, framing, electrical, roofing, windows/doors, and finish work (among others).
How do you find a builder that you love and trust?
Hiring the right GC or builder for your project may take some time, but it’s a worthwhile step to invest some time and energy into. This is someone you’ll be spending a lot of time with over the next 6-12 months (or more!), so make sure you’re hiring someone who is patient and detailed from the very beginning.
🌶️Hot Tip: Choose a builder based on character vs estimated costs. Most builders charge similar markups (~15-25%), so the main difference in final project costs are largely determined by the quality of the materials & labor that go into the project. A lower bid doesn’t necessarily mean a cheaper project. Oftentimes lower bids miss scope, resulting in unforeseen costs & headaches throughout the project.
- Tim Kelly, APRÈS BUILD, PARK CITY, UT
When searching for a builder, there are a couple avenues we recommend.
Get Matched: As part of our Planning Package, our friends at Matriarchy Build will help match you with a builder through their vetted network.
Ask Around: You can also start by getting references from people you know who had a good experience with their builder.
Be a Sleuth: Another approach is to find projects you like (from an architect or designer’s website or instagram feed) and find out who the builder was.
Use Your Local Resources: Local builders’ associations or green build forums will likely have a list of recommended builders as well.
After you’ve made a list of a few builders, reach out to them with your specific project details: what you’re thinking about building, the location, your ideal budget, and your ideal start date (flexible is a great answer, but only if you mean it), and what you’re looking for in your build (sustainability, teamwork, etc). It’s really never too early to start a conversation with a builder. Many are a year or two out from taking on new projects, so starting conversations to narrow down your preferred builder early is always helpful.
🌶️Hot Tip: Attaching a Planning Set from Hereabout to the intro email with a builder will give them a nice sense of your vision!
Interview & Collect Information: This is a great time to get to know the builder and see what their values are. This will help you determine if you’re a good match for each other. Ask for a sample contract, see if they handle the permit process, and double check that their insurance is up to date. Also, talk about the home you want to build and have them walk you through what their process is. Your job is to listen and learn about how they like to do things. If it’s a match, move into getting a cost to build estimate from 2-3 builders you like. Review the bids in terms of final cost, but also for attention to detail. In our Planning Package, we connect you with a Pro from the Matriarchy Build builder network who can help you review your build estimates!
When should you bring your builder on board?
While some wait to bring a builder on board until they know what they’ll build (or at least have a bit of a direction), Karen Ramsey of Cottonwood Custom Builders recommends hiring a contractor during the design process. We find that this approach is incredibly valuable and love working with builders to fine tune your design, even if you’re choosing a pre-designed plan.
“We highly recommend hiring a contractor during the design process. This allows us to manage the budget throughout the design process so our clients can design a house that not only fits their style but also incorporates energy-efficient features within their budget. Oftentimes, when a homeowner hires an architect without having a contractor on board, the budget isn’t being managed effectively, and they may overlook opportunities for energy savings. Knowing your budget and hiring a contractor during the design process will help expedite the preconstruction process.
On every home, whether new build or remodel, we look for ways to make the home energy efficient, healthy, and resilient. This is another reason it's valuable for a general contractor, with experience in sustainable construction, to be involved during the design phase. Considerations such as insulation, high-efficiency windows, energy-efficient appliances, and renewable energy systems like solar panels and geothermal should be discussed early in the planning stages. Thanks to that extra planning at the start, homeowners get to enjoy the long-term benefits of a more comfortable home with reduced operating costs and a smaller environmental footprint.” - Karen Ramsey of Cottonwood Custom Builders
Should you GC this project yourself to save costs?
While this may seem like a way to save costs on your build project, GC’ing a project yourself is not for the faint of heart – and won’t necessarily save any money, especially if you don’t have experience in the building industry. Remember, part of the benefit of hiring a professional is gaining their breadth of experience and knowledge. The act of scheduling, coordinating, supervising, and hiring all subcontractors during the right time (for example, you don’t want to install drywall before your electrician comes) is – well, tricky! Also, as a recent client has said, “Being your own GC is a full time job, and some.” Our opinion is that hiring a great GC is a worthwhile investment.
🌶️Hot Tip: If budget is a consideration, ask yourself what your true needs vs wants are. A smaller footprint & simpler finishes are the safest ways to cut costs. Don’t cut corners on the building envelope or hire “cheaper” contractors because their mistakes often cost more in the long-run.
- Tim Kelly, APRÈS BUILD, PARK CITY, UT
If you’re excited about being super involved in the building process, find a builder that you can work with to be involved where it makes sense. Trust your builder to offer areas where your involvement will help the project - and don’t try to bite off more than you can chew. Building a house is a marathon, and remember: teamwork is the dreamwork.
Let’s recap.
You’ve got a bunch of professionals you can hire - each one with a different and specific avenue of expertise. Your builder is the big kahuna of the project, bringing all of the design and engineering together to get the home built. You’re the homeowner, and your job is to make decisions. Download and use our guide to map out your dream team and hire the right builder.
Teamwork is the dreamwork, ya’ll.
Did you know we help folks all over the country kickstart their home building journey and find success in their build with our bespoke home plans?
Kickstart your project with our Planning Package or find your perfect (and customizable) home plan in our bespoke & sustainable home plan collection.