Building Your Dream Home: Types of Builder Contracts

Working with a home builder to construct your custom dream home is an exciting endeavor. It is a lot of work, both for you and your builder, but it is worth it in the end. While choosing the layout and design elements can be an exciting process, there is an important step that cannot be overlooked: the contracts. Don’t be surprised when your home builder asks you to sign a contract before work proceeds.

Importance of Contracts

Home builder’s contracts not only protect the builder, but they also protect you. They lay out the expectations for each party in clear terms so there is no confusion at any point. Contracts can feel a little overwhelming, but with some careful consideration, you can break them down. Some people prefer to have a lawyer who is familiar with construction contracts explain the details before they sign.

Types of Contracts that Home Builders May Use:

There are a few types of construction contracts that your builder may ask you to sign. Your builder will use the one that makes sense for your project. Some of the most common contracts that home builders use include:

1) Lump Sum Contract

Lump sum contracts are used when there is an agreed-upon price for a project. The terms will clearly state what the price includes and what constitutes an upgrade. If changes are made to the expectations, then a change order or new contract will need to be drawn up.

2) Unit Price Contract

These types of contracts are generally used for smaller projects, like painting and repairs. These types of jobs have fairly static prices and time frames, so a unit price is simpler to figure out.

3) Cost-Plus Contract

A cost-plus contract is used when the homeowner pays directly for the materials and then is billed separately for the labor and other costs. These additional costs can be billed as a percentage of the project or at a fixed rate. They also sometimes have a maximum price clearly stated.

4) Time and Materials Contract

Time and materials contracts work similarly to the way that auto mechanics are paid: their bills list parts and hourly labor separately. When builders use time and materials contracts, the homeowner pays a specified rate for the build plus all the material costs. These types of contracts list all direct, indirect, and overhead costs. These are not common because it is hard to estimate the entire project cost.

Working With a Builder You Trust

The most important thing is to work with a builder that you trust and who is good at communicating. If you have questions about the contract, make sure you ask. The best home builders will be able to explain every detail in the contract and will make sure that you are comfortable before signing it.

At Riverbend Homes, we are a second-generation, family-owned business, and we are passionate about our clients. Communication and client satisfaction are incredibly important to everyone on our team. We pride ourselves in being reliable and dedicated home builders in Texas Hill Country.

Why Should You Choose a Custom Home Builder?

Building your own home in Texas Hill Country can seem to be a truly daunting task. How much about your other homes have you really questioned? Do you know what kind of materials you're required to use or which ones will work best in your climate? How much of your property should you devote to your housing versus your yard? And what about landscaping: what options do you have? It can seem frustratingly impossible to make all of these decisions, all while constantly wondering if you are making the right choices. A custom home builder can be a huge help, acting as your one-stop-shop for all your questions.

Experience and Knowledge of the Area

When you are looking to build your own custom home, you obviously want it to last. Custom home builders in Texas Hill Country will be able to help you with that. They'll know the best woods for framing in the environment. They'll know how to properly insulate your basement and roofing to help keep your home cool in the summer but warm in the colder seasons. They'll also have knowledge of the type of architecture in the neighborhood you are building in so they can advise you on how to either stand out or fit right in. Using a custom home builder in Texas Hill Country will also ensure that your home and property will be up to date on all local construction and zoning codes to help you avoid any expensive accidents!

Access to Their Network of Contractors

One of the best parts of working with any custom builder is that they are likely to have a network of trusted companies that they work with to complete their projects. If you are looking for an innovative landscape design, they'll reach out to their landscaping folks. If you are imagining a wood feature wall in your living room but can't quite picture it yet, they'll reach out to their interior designers and woodworker trades to help bring your image to life in the perfect way. A custom home builder in Texas Hill Country will have already scoured the local markets and vetted their contractor teams to make sure they do quality work at fair prices so that you don't have to worry.

Interior designers and architects are two incredible resources that a custom home builder in Texas Hill Country can set you up with to create options for floor plans, design concepts, and a hundred other details you might not have considered before!

Make Your Home Truly Yours

If you're hiring a custom home builder in Texas Hill Country to build your home, you'll have access to so many more options than hiring any regular home builder. You don't have to build some cookie-cutter home that someone else already has. You can make every room your own, something that works for you and your family and that you can live your best lives in. Whether you're looking to simplify your lifestyle in your new home or create a truly unique modern design, the key word here is “custom”, and that's what custom home builders in Texas Hill Country are here to deliver.

Three Mistakes to Avoid While Designing Your House with Custom Home Builders

When it finally comes time to build your dream home, there are a LOT of things to consider, but it's so much more fun to just jump right in and start adding everything you've ever even thought about into your home’s design. But it's definitely worth investing some time into making sure you're avoiding the most common mistakes in home design. People have been there before, so let's learn from the experiences of a custom home builder in Spicewood, TX and skip the future headaches!

Skipping Measurements & Details

Many people start daydreaming about their perfect home when they're young, and it's tough to separate those dreams from our real plans, but they rarely take into account locations and lot sizes. For the purposes of this example, let's say we are working with a custom home builder in Spicewood, TX. Your planning should begin once you know the space you are working with!

• Going too big may leave you with very little yard left on your plot, limiting family activities or future additions. Spicewood has a variety of options for your custom home builder and designer to work with, but your home's plan should start with your lot in mind!

• Taking the time to plan out the dimensions on important rooms and spaces pays off big later! Nobody wants to cook in a kitchen that is all angles and tough to navigate. You won't want to spend time in your dream rooms if they can't fit all of that perfect furniture that you've been envisioning. And no kid will want to play in a playroom that's just four boring walls!

• Windows for natural light make for a brighter, happier home! Neglecting windows may make you feel closed-in in your own home! But also keep in mind which direction those windows face. Spicewood has a typically warm climate, so be careful of too many large south and west facing windows for heat control, or of bedroom windows facing east if you don't like waking up to a sunrise in the window!

Neglecting Storage

Your perfect home often comes with a vision of a perfectly uncluttered life! But life is messy sometimes, and that creates clutter. Make sure you have somewhere to put yours! For continuity, let's imagine we are designing our home with a custom home builder in Spicewood, TX:

• Spicewood is a great location for folks who enjoy the outdoors, with many camping and boating opportunities. You probably don't want to leave your camp gear and your kayak oars just laying around in the garage, so enlist your custom home builder to create spaces to hold everything you need for your planned activities!

• Homes need maintenance, and that includes cleaning. Where are you keeping your broom that's both out of the way and in easy reach when you need to sweep up a mess? Where do you keep excess toilet paper, paper towels, household cleaners?

• While master bedrooms are often meticulously designed, we tend not to spend as much time on kids rooms. Take advantage of your custom home builder in Spicewood, TX to create a space uniquely for them and their interests. Create unique storage options to accommodate their favorite activities or to put away their books after studying will be invaluable.

The “Flow”

This last point is a bit harder to define, but “flow” is a design concept that refers to how things move through your home. This includes people, pets, light, and even sight lines. We're going to keep working with the scenario of your custom home builder in Spicewood, TX here, too:

• Picture your typical day, your morning routine: how do you bring in the groceries from the store? How do you get ready for bed, or relax and unwind after a hard day? If you're building a home for you, optimize all of those experiences for yourself! Imagine how you want your day to go and set yourself up for that success.

• As a homeowner of a growing community like Spicewood, you'll probably have guests over at some point. Envision how they'll see your home and how they'll move through it from one room to the next. If you're entertaining, you may want the kitchen near the main living space and the bedrooms/bathrooms to be slightly further away.

• Many of us love to organize and have everything in its own place, but avoid over-compartmentalizing rooms and areas. Open-concept homes aren't for everyone, but a certain amount of open visibility through rooms and hallways and windows can help avoid feelings of being trapped that a box-like room might cause. People don't like feeling “contained”.

At the end of the day, it is your dream home, and you can design things however you like! But putting some trust with a custom home builder in Spicewood, TX and making some compromises based on their experience and knowledge of the community is much more likely to lead to a happy project—and to happy memories of your Spicewood (or elsewhere!) home in the future! Contact Riverbend Homes for more information.

What Are The Benefits of Using A Home Builder Instead of Being Your Own General Contractor?

You may consider yourself a handyman or even excel in renovations or the maintenance of your home, but are you qualified to build your own home? Maybe you think that you are saving money when you do the work yourself or act as your own general contractor, but regardless of the books or the YouTube channels you watch, hiring home builders in Spicewood has more advantages than doing it yourself.

Advantage #1

The first advantage for hiring a home builder in Spicewood, TX is the buying power that a general contractor has. Often, a contractor will build relationships with their suppliers, and they can get discounts due to the volume that they purchase compared to buying a single sink or the building materials for one home. The relationships between contractor and suppliers will save money, and you may even get better quality without the added expense.

Saving time and money

Most things today are measured in time as well as money. How much did it cost, and also how much time did it take? Time is something that all clients wish they had more of, and when building a home, time is something that can be mismanaged when doing it yourself. A home builder in Spicewood, TX has a history of building homes and knows the time that it takes to complete each task, as well as how long it will take to complete the entire job. A general contractor can dedicate all of his time to the project, whereas, if you are acting as your own general contractor, you have to divide your time between work, family, friends, and any other activities in your life. If your thought is that you will take the time needed to build your home, remember that, if the project takes longer, it could mean loss of your income or interference with other aspects of, or relationships in, your life.

Establishing good rapport with subcontractors

A home builder in Spicewood, TX will have good relationships not just with the suppliers, but also with sub-contractors. You can look through Craigslist and hope that you find a subcontractor with the skills that you require and can afford, but a general contractor will have all these people ready to go, from the electrician to the drywaller. Normally, high-quality sub-contractors work for general contractors and not for the general public. By hiring a home builder, you get access to these workers to ensure that your new home meets and exceeds the state and city standards. Timing when to bring subcontractors into the project is crucial to ensure that you are getting the most of your time and money. You do not want to be paying the drywallers to stand around waiting while the plumber and electricians are still working.

A home builder in Spicewood, TX has the experience and the relationships with suppliers and subcontractors to ensure that your new dream home is built on time and on budget. For more information on a home builder in Spicewood, TX, click here.