Even the most well thought out plan can go awry. There are many different things that can and do happen when you are building your home, anything from natural disasters to self induced disasters. When faced with these situation, you will learn very quickly just how well you can or cannot cope with the pressure when something just doesn’t want to go your way. Below are some steps you can take in order to reduce nasty surprises when building your new home.
Presence
You’ve hired and paid people to build your new home. You should show up daily to the work site either when the workers are still there or after working hours to check the progress. Ensure that the contractors are sticking to the plans as they are working for you to get what you want. Let the person in charge know when you have a concern that needs to be addressed, professionally. While getting your input across to them is important so that they know what you want, be respectful when communicating this. When you visit the site you will be able to see what they are doing and tell the person in charge if there are problems. This will help reduce unwanted surprises.
Ask Questions
Ask questions and make clarification at the beginning of the home building process and make sure the contractor can stay within the plans. This is so that there won\’t be a lot of changes that needs to be made to the major construction while the home is being built. When planning your house, ask if the contractor sees any major problems with the existing plan and what can be done to correct it before it does become a big problem.
Don’t Make Too Much Changes
One mistake some home owners do is to make a lot of changes while the new house is being built. Do not ask for bigger windows, doors etc. when walls have already been put up and the concrete poured. While some contractors will tell you flat out its just not done, other won\’t tell you they can\’t do it. They will still give you what you want but at a price which that will come from your pocket. The bill that comes at the end will be a shocker and there isn’t much done there as it was your decision to change plans mid stride.
Do Not Pay Upfront
If you do you run the risk of them not finishing the work and just take your money and run, thinking that they will be honest and finish the work. Screening on the quality of potential contractors you will hire should be done at the initial stage of planning to reduce the risk of a half shoddy work done on your new home.
Planning Your Schedule
If you live in a place where there are four seasons, then laying of concrete shouldn’tbe donw in the freezing cold temperatures of winter as it may not settle right. Look into the weather patterns, and plan around raining/snow seasons. Is there ice, tornadoes or hurricanes? What about earthquakes? Have a plan in place to alleviate these potential problems and expect that there will be bad weather and plan accordingly.
