The Art of Dealing With Issues Before Stating a New Home Build

New home building is an exciting process but calls for lots of planning. Fortunately, there are some key issues that customers can address before getting started on their projects. Your home builders will appreciate it if you address these four concerns early.

Choose a Season for Building

Many home-building efforts start rolling in late spring or early summer. This is particularly the case in regions where cold or wet weather may shorten the building season. It's a good idea to closely look at the calendar and determine when would be the best time to start construction. Bear in mind that you can get a lot of preliminary work in before the home builders break ground. Design, planning, and even some engineering work can often take place during less desirable months.

Review Your Finances

Verify that the financing for your new home building work is lined up. Speak with a loan officer at your bank and confirm how much you'll have to spend. Ideally, you'll have between 10% and 20% more than the proposed price of the job in case there are issues or opportunities along the way.

Ensure Utility Connections

Especially if you're constructing a house on a lot where there has never been one before, you'll want to make sure everything is ready to go with utilities. Contact the companies and ask them about providing services. In some instances, they may need to run lines out to the lot. You want as much of the utility connection process out of the way as early as possible. For example, you don't want to have to dig a new water line while other construction work is happening.

Address Easements, Permits, and Other Permissions

If you need permission from a local government or a neighbor to handle some aspect of the job, try to address it right away. You don't want to find out, for example, that you're crossing a neighbor's property while equipment is coming in and out. By this point, you should have a completed survey in hand. Use it to identify where there might be concerns.

Similarly, it's wise to reach out to the code enforcement office of your municipality or county. They can tell you about the permitting process. Talk with the home builders to confirm when they'll be at the site so you can avoid overspending on permits. Also, verify that you'll have the right to use adjoining streets or roads to move equipment and materials.

To learn more, contact local home builders. 

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