Home Building and Remodeling

Everyone seems to be asking the same question. “How long should I continue to postpone my home building or remodeling project?”

My answer to that question is usually the same. “What’s stopping you?”

I’ve spent years as a home building coach. I’ve had the good fortune to work with hundreds of people as they built or remodeled and I’ve learned a lot. In good markets and bad, with high interest rates and low rates, through booming economies and slow ones, people build.

Make a Frank Assessment of Your Situation

What is your goal? Do you want to build or remodel just to create immediate equity? Or, is your project designed to improve your lifestyle?

If you have a longer term approach, it may not matter much what the current market is doing. The down cycle can be a great opportunity. There are often better deals, more availability of professionals and less time pressures.

I suggest this is a great time to focus on quality, long-term value, and improving your home environment. If your personal finances permit, why wouldn’t you take this opportunity to build? Why put your life on hold just because everyone else seems to be doing so?

What is Your Dream Home Project?

Take some time to outline what it is you want in your dream home. Research, plan and talk to industry professionals like interior designers, architects, builders, and others. Develop a strategy to get you informed so that you can make an intelligent decision about your own personal goals.

Hire a Home Building Coach

A home building coach is an industry professional that can help you develop your plan of attack. He or she can help you refine your goals and get you moving along the right path. Your coach should have plenty of industry contacts and relationships to pass along to you. This is a great first step in getting your project started.

Is the thought of building your custom home just a distant memory now? Have you dismissed the notion of that major home remodel? Does the economy have you barricading your wishes, hunkering down and waiting it out in resignation?

So where do our dreams go when things turn sour? In times like this, optimism and growth tend to get pummeled by bad news. Verbal clutter, dire predictions and worried feelings overwhelm us. The dream doesn’t vanish, it just gets buried in the deluge.

Our homes are central to our lives, Yet, the love we hold for our homes and the desires we hold to create a “comfortable nest” remain. For a time, you may need to tuck away a particular vision you have for your home until the next opportunity comes or is created.

What can you do in the meantime? Plan! Prepare! Learn! What I’ve found in my years in the business is that if we allow our home dreams to languish completely out of mind, they die off and resignation sets in. I don’t want that to happen to you … if you truly want to make that dream home a reality.

Homebuilding requires specific preparation.

Sports teams practice for weeks before the season starts. Business convention organizers prepare tirelessly for weeks and months prior to the event. Long trips are scheduled out well in advance for places to stay, sights to see, and people to visit. Building or remodeling requires even more preparation for the best results. And I’m talking about well before you have even set a date for your project!

Planning, preparation, and learning are the keys to your success. Use the down time to get yourself ready and keep the dream alive.

* Plan: Some have been “planning” all their lives. But when I ask them for specifics, it almost always falls short of planning and amounts to little more than wishing. Plan! What specifically do you want in your home? Where do you really want to live? How do you want to be involved? Make an extensive list, prioritize it, whittle it down and make some decisions!

* Prepare: This is where you can get more specific. I’m talking about preparations that precede the actual homebuilding preparations. This is time to lay some groundwork for the future. Prepare! If you don’t have a building lot, find one. If you don’t have a house plan, research and choose one. If you don’t have good enough credit, fix it.

* Learn: Successful homebuilding and remodeling experiences do not happen by accident. I mean the type of success where you get the home you want, all the goodies you want, at a fair price and you thoroughly enjoy the process. Education is critical. Learn! Go online. Read books. Talk to builders and contractors. Talk to architects. Talk to friends in the business. Become insatiable and learn everything you can.

Home building is a process. An Owner Builder, to be successful, must implement a process management system that lays out the steps required. And this is true whether it’s a major home building project or a simple remodel.

Home building and remodeling projects follow logical sequences that, while self evident in some cases, can be confusing to people who do not do it for a living. Operating without such a system is a recipe for disaster.

What is a Process Management System?

Simply put, a process management system guides the project manager through the entire building or remodeling project. Take a look at some of the important phases of home building and the items that a good system will include:

Analyzing the land or parcel that the home is to be constructed upon
Accessing and understanding the building codes for the area
Working with a home designer to create the house plans
Deciding on building materials for the home
Devising a construction strategy for building the home
Identifying the contractors to be used
Coordinating the deliveries of building materials
Coordinating and managing the efforts of subcontractors
Scheduling the inspections by the local authorities
Quality Control, trouble shooting and implementing remedies
Setting up regular communications channels
Loan processing and handling payments to suppliers and contractors
Completing the all important punch lists

From this outline, you can see that a thorough framework is needed to keep the project moving forward to completion. Each of the above segments will have numerous sub steps and a good process management system will guide you through them.

Who Can Run the System?

Not all systems are in print. Some builders, although these are a dying breed, fortunately, operated by the seat of their pants. They rely on their experience to get them through each project. Even in this way, they are still utilizing a management system. Process management resources can be found with the following:

General Contractors: A good General Contractor will have a written or online process management system that often includes a communication tool to keep in touch with his clients.

Architects: Architects have been known to provide industry contacts and management help for their clients. Sometimes this works well. Often they lack a proven system that empowers their clients and the experience can sometimes be disappointing at best.

HomeBuilding Coaches: The biggest advantage of the home building coach is that he or she empowers owner builders to manage their own projects at a reduced cost. They do this with personal involvement and good process management tools. These tools can come in the form of manuals or online software or a combination of these.

What Works Best for the Owner Builder

I have long been an advocate of the home building coach. Giving more power to the homeowner to get more of what they want, save money, and have a better overall experience just makes sense today. So, my advice is to hire a coach who has an excellent process management system for the owner builder.

Ask questions of your home building professional. Demand the implementation of a good process management system and stay closely involved with your project.

When building or remodeling, you need professional help. Rarely does an Owner Builder go it alone. The subcontractor could be the single most indispensable building professional for the homeowner builder.

What is a Subcontractor?

Subcontractors are not builders. They are trades people. They specialize in their craft. They do not manage your entire project nor should they be counted upon to coordinate their efforts with other subcontractors. Whether a plumber, framer, electrician, excavator, roofer, carpenter or other trade, a subcontractor simply provides his unique service.

When you build or remodel, you use whichever tradespersons you need to complete the task at hand. These professionals must be evaluated, hired, and managed throughout the building or remodeling process.

When evaluating your potential hire, consider and determine the following:

They should be licensed and bonded/insured
Experienced in your market and knowledgeable about local codes
Have references that you can easily verify
You must get at least three competing bids for each trade
You should evaluate the quality of building materials they use
Inquire about their availability and time for your project

Homeowner builders can elect to provide some of their own labor to reduce the overall cost of labor or they can hire these subs for every aspect of the job. Either way, someone has to manage and coordinate their efforts.

Managing Your Subcontractors

In a traditional building environment, the General Contractor (GC) hires and supervises the work of the subcontractors. A GC can also be referred to as a builder. You, as an Owner Builder, may or may not be using a GC to help you. If you have not hired a GC for your project, you will be in charge. This can present a challenge to the average owner builder.

One of the bigger challenges you, as an owner builder may face, is the reluctance of a subcontractor to work directly for you. They worry about your ability to pay them, coordinate the efforts of all the trades, evaluate their work, and keep the project going.

These are legitimate concerns and you, as an owner builder should prepare properly to dispel these concerns. I typically advise you to utilize one of the following suggestions:

Hire a GC to be your Construction Manager
Implement a good building Process Management software program
Retain an experienced home building coach

Most of my clients have utilized the second and third suggestions combined. A good home building coach with a proven process management system provides an excellent and low cost solution.

Successful Home Owner Builders

A smart homeowner and home builder will always use talented professionals where it makes most sense. Regardless of the time and experience you may have, subcontractors will likely play a big role in your success.

Let’s face it. The world is changing. Home building has changed. It’s not just about the current economy and it’s not just about green building. People are more aware, involved, and demanding of their professionals.

Whether you’re a custom home builder, remodeler, or subcontractor, you can jump on board and embrace these changes by offering your experience and expertise in the home building profession by being a “coach” to any consumer with a home building or remodeling project.

Here’s why I believe now is the time to make this change:

1) It’s in Demand: The trend is clear. Stats indicate that well over 60% of people are playing a roll in their building and remodeling projects. Are you going to ignore this trend or find a way to help them and earn money doing it?

2) More Intuitive: Contractors gain a more intuitive control over processes and clients. By offering coaching services with a well-structured process management system, you enjoy a more automated and easy way to administer projects.

3) Better Clients: Home building and remodeling clients gain a greater understanding of process. When clients are more involved and have the benefit of a home building professional coaching them they become better clients and much easier to work with.

4) The “Go-to” Contractor: PR, marketing, and unique exposure spreads more quickly and inexpensively for contractors who also offer coaching services. Set yourself apart from the herd and become unique in your market place.

5) Clients Save Money: Builder’s clients save money while still getting high quality. Since your clients act as their own builders your liability and charges are reduced. The client saves while still getting your professional help.

6) Better Relationships: The contractor – coach builds a great relationship with better communication. This solves one of the biggest issues that makes using contractors so scary for the consumer and makes your life so much better.

7) Clients Get More: Home-owner builders and remodelers end up being able to afford more of the goodies they want. A “well-fed” client makes for happier client.

Less Liability: The builder – coach has far less liability and fewer lawsuits than as a General Contractor. One of the biggest concerns for you as a custom builder is minimized by changing to a professional home-building coach. The bulk of the liability passes from the home owners to their subcontractors.

9) More Fun: The home building client is able to find more enjoyment. As a coach, the contractor is less threatening, more communicative, and more friendly. This often results in a much better experience for both you and your clients.

10) Higher Earnings: With an effective system supporting your coaching services, you will work less to earn more. You reduce the need or urge to protect your profits from the “erosion factor”.