Moving to the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex? Get your answers and make your buying decisions easy by using our resource guide.
| Building Your Custom Home |
Now that you’re relocating to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, it might be time to consider building a custom home. One good reason is that you can build a larger house with many extras at an affordable cost, particularly compared to building costs on either coast. A regional advantage is that due to our temperate weather, building takes place year around. Once you meet with a few builders and review ideas, plans and budgets, you’ll get a timeframe of how long the process will take and can better determine if a custom home suits your lifestyle. Keep in mind, that master-planned communities in the area also offer custom home building options, which will provide you with built-in community amenities and features.
First, you’ll need to do some research. If you already have a Realtor, he or she can help by recommending a custom builder. You can also visit the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas at www.dallasbuilders.com, click on Consumer Information and select Builder Search in your geographic area. There you’ll be able to search all members who are custom home builders. To get ideas on what style of home you’d like to build, visit your local newsstand and look for magazines that include custom home designs. Also start thinking about materials you’d like to use for the exterior – brick, Texas limestone or other materials.
How to Select the Right Custom Home Builder
According to the home building resource Custom Home Key, there are four basic requirements you should expect from a custom home builder.
• Look for financial security. You will want to hire a builder who is responsible and financially secure. Does the builder have an established track record? Ask for names and numbers of other clients and call them to ask about their experience with the builder. Call the Better Business Bureau for any complaints against a builder. Usually, a clean record is a very good sign. Also check with the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas at www.dallasbuilders.com to search for custom home builder members.
• Look for variety in floor plans. In order to get the home you most desire, choose a builder who will offer a variety of floor plans and can adapt the floor plan to the topography of your lot.
• Does the builder have buying power? The builder should have enough buying power to ensure you receive the best prices for high quality goods. You could save money on the purchase price of appliances, light fixtures, flooring and more. Find out if the builder maintains a design center where you could coordinate your cabinetry and other options.
• Look for a good warranty program. The structural integrity of your home is an extremely important aspect, and you will want certain elements of it to be covered under a suitable warranty. The builder you select should be able to service the completed home and offer a 10-year warranty program on certain elements of your home’s structure.
Getting Started
When you hear the word “custom” associated with the home building industry, you probably think of a one-of-a kind home with everything you ever dreamed, right down to the door knobs, at a price reserved for people with large, six-figure incomes. At one time, that was probably correct. But things are changing.
Today, there are myriad custom home options and a variety of different levels of custom home builders in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There’s still the full-time, custom home builder who builds a few homes each year. There are higher-volume builders, who will customize a home by moving walls or adding square footage. There are even higher-volume builders who offer custom options in just a few areas of the home, such as kitchens with sunrooms or kitchens as part of the family room.
Keep in mind that a custom feature is not the same as an optional feature. Options are usually standard features that are perceived as adding value, such as built-in cabinetry, granite countertops, crown molding or finished basements. Custom features, however, are very personal. What one homeowner likes, another may abhor. So the added value literally is in the eye of the beholder. This is one reason why most builders will ask for you to pay for custom features up front.
By expanding the definitions and boundaries of custom home building, builders have given home buyers more opportunities to build their dream homes without starting from scratch. To customize or not to customize hinges on two things – what you want and how much you are willing to spend.
If you know what you want, have a budget in mind and do decide to proceed, consider these four important steps at the beginning of the process.
—Custom Builder Selection
The first step is to decide on a builder. You can begin by interviewing several builders who have been recommended to you by friends and associates who built custom homes. Contact your local home builder association for a list or recommendation of custom builders in your area. Be sure to talk with the builders’ referrals and look at their work. Any builder should be willing to show off custom work they’ve done in the past. Make sure you feel completely comfortable with your builder, before you tackle such a large project.
—Choose a Lot
By choosing your builder first, you get the benefit of his or her assistance as you make decisions about the lot, the architect and the financing. Have the builder evaluate the lot you’re considering and comment on its appropriateness for the home you have in mind. Working with your builder to select the right lot can help ensure you don’t discover any unexpected problems or costly modifications that need to be made to it before you start building. Involving your builder up front can also prevent you from overspending on the lot, building type or size of home you were planning.
First, you’ll need to do some research. If you already have a Realtor, he or she can help by recommending a custom builder. You can also visit the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas at www.dallasbuilders.com, click on Consumer Information and select Builder Search in your geographic area. There you’ll be able to search all members who are custom home builders. To get ideas on what style of home you’d like to build, visit your local newsstand and look for magazines that include custom home designs. Also start thinking about materials you’d like to use for the exterior – brick, Texas limestone or other materials.
How to Select the Right Custom Home Builder
According to the home building resource Custom Home Key, there are four basic requirements you should expect from a custom home builder.
• Look for financial security. You will want to hire a builder who is responsible and financially secure. Does the builder have an established track record? Ask for names and numbers of other clients and call them to ask about their experience with the builder. Call the Better Business Bureau for any complaints against a builder. Usually, a clean record is a very good sign. Also check with the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas at www.dallasbuilders.com to search for custom home builder members.
• Look for variety in floor plans. In order to get the home you most desire, choose a builder who will offer a variety of floor plans and can adapt the floor plan to the topography of your lot.
• Does the builder have buying power? The builder should have enough buying power to ensure you receive the best prices for high quality goods. You could save money on the purchase price of appliances, light fixtures, flooring and more. Find out if the builder maintains a design center where you could coordinate your cabinetry and other options.
• Look for a good warranty program. The structural integrity of your home is an extremely important aspect, and you will want certain elements of it to be covered under a suitable warranty. The builder you select should be able to service the completed home and offer a 10-year warranty program on certain elements of your home’s structure.
Getting Started
When you hear the word “custom” associated with the home building industry, you probably think of a one-of-a kind home with everything you ever dreamed, right down to the door knobs, at a price reserved for people with large, six-figure incomes. At one time, that was probably correct. But things are changing.
Today, there are myriad custom home options and a variety of different levels of custom home builders in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There’s still the full-time, custom home builder who builds a few homes each year. There are higher-volume builders, who will customize a home by moving walls or adding square footage. There are even higher-volume builders who offer custom options in just a few areas of the home, such as kitchens with sunrooms or kitchens as part of the family room.
Keep in mind that a custom feature is not the same as an optional feature. Options are usually standard features that are perceived as adding value, such as built-in cabinetry, granite countertops, crown molding or finished basements. Custom features, however, are very personal. What one homeowner likes, another may abhor. So the added value literally is in the eye of the beholder. This is one reason why most builders will ask for you to pay for custom features up front.
By expanding the definitions and boundaries of custom home building, builders have given home buyers more opportunities to build their dream homes without starting from scratch. To customize or not to customize hinges on two things – what you want and how much you are willing to spend.
If you know what you want, have a budget in mind and do decide to proceed, consider these four important steps at the beginning of the process.
—Custom Builder Selection
The first step is to decide on a builder. You can begin by interviewing several builders who have been recommended to you by friends and associates who built custom homes. Contact your local home builder association for a list or recommendation of custom builders in your area. Be sure to talk with the builders’ referrals and look at their work. Any builder should be willing to show off custom work they’ve done in the past. Make sure you feel completely comfortable with your builder, before you tackle such a large project.
—Choose a Lot
By choosing your builder first, you get the benefit of his or her assistance as you make decisions about the lot, the architect and the financing. Have the builder evaluate the lot you’re considering and comment on its appropriateness for the home you have in mind. Working with your builder to select the right lot can help ensure you don’t discover any unexpected problems or costly modifications that need to be made to it before you start building. Involving your builder up front can also prevent you from overspending on the lot, building type or size of home you were planning.
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