Costly Mistakes To Avoid When Building Your First Home

by RobertKeith

Home construction is one of the main once-in-a-long time activities that you may undertake at some point in life.

Like any other investment, constructing your home requires proper management and active involvement to ensure that the overall project is a success. The construction industry especially when it comes to planning and putting up a customized home requires high levels of precision to ensure that your home is precisely what you envisioned. Customizing a house to the specifications you require is sometimes challenging and pelted with some major mistakes that you should beware of. Here are some of the most common mistakes that you should avoid when constructing your first home.

1.Failing to conduct adequate research

Almost every aspect of the home construction industry requires proper research and meticulous planning. Being a lifetime goal, constructing the dream home requires proper due diligence in almost every step of the way. Most people who rush their way into starting the construction process end up getting frustrated and ultimately losing focus along the way. From the onset, failing to research well on multiple home plans and designs could throw you off course where you choose a design that you are not content with. Poor or rushed research could imply that you change your mind after the construction process is already underway, a move that can set you back financially while incurring huge losses.

 

Failing to do a proper research also implies that some home enthusiasts do not obtain sufficient bids from contractors. This often leads to homeowners hiring expensive contractors whose profile in the construction industry they are not so well versed. Spending more time researching would have, in such a case, helped secure the best local builder who would proficiently handle the whole construction process. Such errors can be avoided by taking time to research on every aspect of the construction industry process and the particular home construction undertaking that you desire to venture into.

House Building
House Building

2. Risky cost-cutting measures

Every prospecting homeowner desires to cut on costs and incur the least possible expense. However, in the bid to ensure that your home is constructed at the least possible budget, it is highly possible to incur huge cost-cutting measures to the extent that puts the integrity of the house at risk. Some of the common cost-cutting risks that a homeowner can engage in include reducing on the extent of the foundation or the quality and quantity of the construction material. Such cost-cutting measures can have a major impact on the structural integrity of the house being constructed. They also lead to a compromise on the construction process by delaying the completion of the project.

3. Hiring the wrong contractor

Constructing a home can be a daunting task, one that you cannot manage on your own. If you are looking forward to constructing a good home, you would probably need to hire a contractor. Depending on the scale of the construction works, you may even need to hire subcontractors to handle different tasks such as electrical wiring and plumbing works. The process of finding a suitable contractor for your home design and construction can be prone to making some errors. One of the common mistakes that home enthusiasts make is being too casual as far researching on the pertinent information is concerned. Failing to research well on the bidders may land you in a bad contractor who doesn’t exercise due diligence as far as construction is concerned. Some jurisdictions provide for reviewing of contractors based on their previous performance. Checking such ratings gives you an idea of the past performance of the contractors, therefore influencing your choice.

4. Taking a laid-back approach

After awarding the contract to your contractor of preference, it is common to assume a passive role in the whole construction process. Whereas you may have hired a construction manager for the whole project it is a grave mistake to assume that you should step back and let the contractors and managers work independently. As a prospecting homeowner, you should assume an active role by regularly visiting the construction site to familiarize yourself with the construction process and progress made.

Such visits give you an active and hands-on experience of the whole process while giving you an opportunity to monitor and evaluate the fine details to ensure that your house is constructed to the specifications and preferences you desire. Failing to take such an active role puts your whole project at risk of being thrown off course by neglecting pertinent details or erring on key areas such as the type of switches or the position and size of the bathrooms in your home.

5. Failing to understand the contracts

Also, taking an active role also implies that you would have time and involvement in every step of the construction process. One of the major mistakes that you can make is to fail to read through the pertinent information that relates to the construction process such as the details of the contract and the jurisdictional construction policy and regulations. Failing to acquaint yourself with such information can incur major costs at a later stage. For instance, safety is a major issue in the construction industry. Some contracts may stipulate that construction site injuries would be catered for by the contractor while others may stipulate that the owner would be required to secure the injury damages of the workers. Understanding this fact would give you an idea of whether to secure an insurance policy for the workers or not.

Constructing a home is a process often too involving that many prospecting homeowners commit some serious mistakes that can turn too costly. Failing to research well on the pertinent issues that regard the construction industry can land you in a bad deal, the wrong construction site, or even the wrong home design. Besides, other errors that you may land into include getting an over-inflated mortgage which inflates your construction expenses. It is important to overcome these challenges by working with construction experts and contractors to ensure that the overall research, design and construction process is done in a manner that fits your personal preferences. It is also important to inject some valuable time into understanding the construction process by visiting the construction site more often to rectify some potential mistakes that may turn out costly at a later stage.

Updated: 08/26/2018, RobertKeith
 
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DerdriuMarriner on 08/30/2018

RobertKeith, Thank you for the practical information. What do you think of involving an arborist -- as suggested by some authors of articles in the International Society of Arboriculture's Arborist News publication -- early on in the planning and building process?

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