It is always a good thing to acquire a new home, either for you and your family or for rental purposes. However, there is a lot of information you should know about home constructions to enable you to make the best choices when building or buying a new home. One of such things you should know includes various home construction types and their unique intricacies.
But the reality is that the housing market is red hot, prices for homes in most areas are sky high, and the cost of building materials has increased exponentially.
Luckily for you, this article will discuss some top essential information you should know about home constructions and their various types when buying or building a new home. Knowledge is power when it comes to paying less money for your new house build. Read on to discover these fascinating facts about cutting construction costs on new home builds.
Fully Custom Built Homes
Just as implied by the name, custom homes come as you want them to be. In this case, you are expected to hire an architect who fits your needs and plan the house together. You will also have regular meetings with the architect and a home builder to design the intended home according to how you want it. After you have completed your signature on the house's proposed design, the next step is to forward it to be stamped by a licensed engineer who will ensure that all its design features are structurally adequate and in line with necessary state specifications.
One disadvantage of custom-built homes is that they often take longer to build than other construction options. They also require many repeated meetings with dozens of home designers, builders, architects, constructors, and many other people to ensure that you get the exact result you want from the construction. Also, many cities across the world have various policies and regulations for building new properties. You must ensure that your home design is in line with these regulations.
Semi-Custom Home Constructions
This construction type often entails a home construction type where the builder will offer you a catalog of various home plans and designs to choose the one that best suits your taste. The houses may either be on the ground already or not. In this case, you are at liberty to make little changes to the home design so that they can be more suited to your desired specifications. However, these changes often can not be made to the structural elements of the plan. You also get to decide the type of finishes you want for the house. The construction type is one of the most popular options today, and most modern homeowners, agents, and other real estate players prefer it to other construction types. This is mostly because it is considered a very flexible construction option.
Tract Home Construction
This construction type is often considered the most cost-effective option available in modern times. It entails a housing development style where multiple homes that look similar to each other are built on a land tract. The tract is then further divided into small lots for individual acquisition. This construction option is most prevalent in North American suburbs. The disadvantage of this housing style is that even though the homes are new, their quality is often lesser than houses in the other categories discussed here.
Speculative Home Construction
This home construction type entails a situation where a home builder handles all the planning, designing, and building of a home with the hope of seeing a buyer who is interested enough to buy the home. In this case, the builder is merely "speculating" that he will find many investors interested in purchasing a pre-designed and built house.
There are various construction options to choose from when building a house or buying a home. This article has discussed some of the most popular options to help you make the best choice.
Undoubtedly before you embark on any home construction project whether it be home remodeling for an existing house, new home construction, kitchen remodeling or room addition, you would wisely research how pricing construction and home construction rate work. Assessing and pricing construction projects are not too complicated to understand and are definitely not quantum mechanics science. As an experienced general contractor, I know how my clients think and what would make them happy, they basically want the best of the best in terms of quality and materials for as low as possible. Sometimes I can almost hear them think what they don’t dare ask – “do it for free “.
Well unfortunately and as the old saying goes, nothing is free in life. Knowing that home construction price is the main factor in the decision making process of most people; I tend to explain how “prices construction” works and how I actually calculate estimations. In general the factors a home contractor takes into account are: materials, labor, equipment, licenses and permits, office expenses, time and scope of work. All these elements must be considered very carefully and thoroughly before the final building cost is presented to the client. Any home construction rate may also vary according to the quality of the materials and the subcontractor’s credentials, as well as the area and state where the project is done because of differences in permits costs and charges. To avoid over-charging or under-charging the experienced home contractor also studies and reviews past projects and current costs of materials to come up with an accurate answer to the “prices construction” question, as it is often asked by my clients.
To elaborate a little on the cost of materials let us start with the fact that on any single home construction or home remodeling project, builders use more then one kind of material, whether it be just tile installation, counter top replacement, bath room remodeling or even painting a house, the materials and equipment necessary are many and the accumulative cost of all of them can be very expensive for the contractor, thus making the home construction price high in the eyes of the home owner. Many a times the contractor would need to rent heavy machinery and equipment for the job and this too can bring the home construction rate higher. The cost of specific materials can change according to the quality, the strength and brands. For instance tile varies in price tremendously, depending on the kind and brand, therefore a bathroom remodeling can change considerably from one project to anther, while wood price for framing is relatively the same.
Of course it is not the place or the scope of this information to detail the prices of materials, but rather to give an idea of what is involved in pricing construction jobs. Professional labor, as mentioned before is another significant aspect in the equation of home construction rate a general contractor will place in the estimate. Crews of trained, experienced and licensed professionals have earned their expertise with a lot of sweat and years of hard work in the field, such as driveway resurfacing in Sarasota Fl, and therefore legitimately deserve a fair salary for the high-end job they deliver. When it comes to home construction and home remodeling, precision and craftsmanship is crucial and should not be under estimated by home owners because the difference between an expert and an amateur is huge.
Furthermore, cutting corners and hiring nonprofessionals for house construction is going to cost more in the long run. Needless to say, many of these workers are unlicensed which makes it also illegal. A good home contractor will chose a craftsman who has the know-how and over of brand named materials if he needs to keep the budget low in the pricing construction process. Home construction is regulated by the CSLB and city municipalities and almost every home remodeling requires some type of permit from the city. It is something that a builder will calculate and add to the home construction price, unless it is agreed with the home owner that expenses for permits are covered by the client.
And last but not least, like any other business, a general contractor must have an office and other overhead expenses that add a small percentage to the over all home construction rate estimation given to the home owner. All of the above is meant to sum-up in very general terms the basics of home construction price estimation, and is the first article in a series of blog posts on the subject of pricing house construction, or as home owners tend to say “prices construction”.
