How to Select a Home Builder
The odd thing is when picking a Columbus or Central Ohio home builder you shouldn't really start with which builder to select. There are many other decisions to make first. You may find your selections of home builders to be much easier after you have decided on:
- Neighborhood or areas of town
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First thing is to think about where
you want to live. This can have a significant impact on the price and on
the choice of builders.
- The price range
-
Certain builders specialize in
specific price ranges and once you select a price range you will find
the list of builders to be more targeted.
- Features and floor plans
-
After you've narrowed down your locations and price range you can focus on the features and floor plans that are important to you. Some home builders may be more appropriate depending on the type of finishes you want, if they have the floor plan you are interested in, do you need them to customize?
If you focus on the process you will narrow down your choices to at best
a few builders. Or you may find only one builder who is in your area and
price range. This makes the process much easier. If you start with
thinking about which builder to select you will be confused by the
choices and in the end it may not make a difference.
Some other issues that can impact your choice on which builder to select
are:
- Quality
-
Some home builders will emphasize their quality and you will pay for it. Their standards use higher end finishes then other home builders and it is already built into the price. Other builders are marketing value and focus on other issues like price or size. If you want higher end finishes you will have to pay for upgrades.
- A lot of house for the money
-
What buyer doesn't want a larger home
for the money? But there are trade offs that can effect why you get a
larger home for the money. The size of the lot, the location and the
quality all factor into the equation. For some buyers these trade offs
are worth it.
- Market niche
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Builders will often specialize in certain market niches.
Only a few builders offer a broad range to many different markets.
Others will specialize in higher end, middle range or entry level with
some cross over but not much.
- The building process
-
There are some builders that are just easier to
build with and take great pride in how they handle the process. If you
are buying a spec home this is less of an issue to be concerned with.
Differences Between Home Builders
- Build on your lot
-
Most builders will not build a house on your own lot. They find it too
hard to control the cost and the process. But there are some select
builders who specialize in that market. The pricing can be confusing if
you aren't careful. You may be quoted a price for the home but make sure
it includes: the lot, permits, utilities, financing, driveways, etc.
- Small niche builders.
-
There are many smaller home builders who will focus on particular niches. The
variety of niches is huge with some builders strictly staying in certain
price ranges or areas of town. They build a limited number of homes and
will stay focused on the product that they do best. They can be entry
level, high end, mid range or geographic, meaning a particular part of
town.
- Large production builders
-
These are the ones that dominate the market. They can either be very
strong regional players or national companies. Production builders can
vary from entry level to semi custom. They are able to deliver a good
value because their methods allow them to control costs. The higher the
price range the more choices you will be given to select finishes and
modify floor plans.
- Custom home
-
These builders only build higher end custom homes. They will have their
own designs that can be modified however the buyer wants or they will
build from an architects design. These are for the top tier buyer's who
can afford to have it exactly as they want.
- Semi custom
-
This is for a mid to higher end buyer that doesn't need to fully
customize their home but is looking for custom features. This market has
a large variety of choices. The large production builders have semi
custom divisions that are very competitive. There are also other smaller
builders that specialize exclusively in semi custom homes.
- Mid size production builders
-
There are a lot of home builders that fit into this category. You will see them in multiple subdivisions but they won't be as dominate as the larger production builders. Instead of building in the 1,000's of homes they will be in the 100's. They will mostly specialize in certain areas of town or certain price ranges. Often they will be carving out a more unique niche, like `more home for the money' or `higher end with superior quality'.
- Condo builder
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A large share of the market is now devoted to condominiums. There are
builders who are only building condo developments. They will have a
formula that they follow and will focus on particular segments of the
market, such as first time buyers or empty nesters who want to scale
down.
