AT CALVIS WYANT, WE PRIDE OURSELVES IN BEING A DESIGN AND BUILD CUSTOM HOME BUILDER. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
It means the same people who are responsible for designing your home are also responsible for building it – your luxury custom homebuilding team is working together like a well-oiled machine, all under one roof.
For several decades now in this industry, we’ve noticed a number of custom homebuilder characteristics that seem to make all the difference to the client between creating a remarkable home building process, or a frustrating and painful one. Especially for projects being managed cross-country, there’s nothing more important than finding better ways to make the homebuilding process not only predictable and smooth, but actually enjoyable and fun.
Here are a few of the key challenges we see in the industry that can have a serious impact on your project, either positive or negative, and what you should look for when evaluating options for your custom homebuilder:
- Miscommunication. This is the most critical aspect of any project. Not only is clear, accurate communication the cornerstone of building, it transcends across every aspect of the project–from the initial consultation to understand a client’s vision, unique desires and personal lifestyle, to effectively managing the project from beginning to end, and even handling details post move-in.
- Poor follow-through / lack of attention to detail. It is estimated that clients make somewhere near 400,000 decisions over the entire course of a luxury home building project. It can be overwhelming. If builders do not have a defined process for documenting and communicating every decision big or small, the project will be rife with errors, and therefore stress. And the ripple effect on the timeline, budget, quality and ultimately, success of your project, will be at serious risk.Many builders shortcut the documentation process throughout the client’s journey, and with long project cycles (often 2 to 4 years) and that many decisions to make, it can be easy to lose track of everything.That leaves clients repeating information, making too many trips to the project city, and often extremely exasperated.Having your builder and architect work hand in hand, ideally under the same roof, will go a million miles to shore up the details.Your builder should also have a well-refined, systematic way to document your project, changes as they occur, and then communicate with clients, project managers and sub-contractors in a timely fashion. This integrated approach to managing your project to a master timeline not only saves time and money, it significantly reduces the chances for errors.
The Result?
We’ve seen time and again how this integrated approach to managing your project to a well-documented master timeline not only saves time and money, it significantly reduces the chances for errors. For you, that means far less stress and rework, and in fact, changing your project from high-stress to true, meaningful enjoyment.
Sure, you may feel seriously ‘put through the paces’ early on, but understand that time and energy will pay off in the shape of an on-time, on-budget project. For one of the biggest projects many clients undertake in their entire lifetime, this is a game-changer.
So if you’re looking to build a second, third (or more) home in Arizona, be sure you add these criteria to your hit list when evaluating potential builders. Ask to speak with multiple recent clients to get real insight into what it’s like to work with them. Ask the HOA and sales team in the development you’re considering if the builder has built other homes there and how things went on that front too.
And be sure the builder understands the unique climate and topography of your new home destination city so they can effectively map your dream home wish list to the kind of environment you’ll be in.
