How Do I Find the Best Santa Fe Custom Builder for My New Home Construction Project?

If you are in the Santa Fe House market to purchase a new home, you will need to be as picky about search for your home, including searching for the best Santa Fe builder, as you are about buying your home. Whether you are purchasing a condo, a townhouse, a log cabin, or a traditional house in a typical subdivision or building a custom-built Santa Fe style of home by a Santa Fe custom builder, you want to know that you are buying a good quality home from a reputable builder. Here are some things to consider when selecting a Santa fe builder.

Investigate Santa Fe Home Builders in the Area

After you’ve spent a little time thinking about the kind of house you want, you’ll be able to make a list of possible builders. There are a few ways to develop a list of professionals to start building up.

The most effective way to do that is by contacting your local home builders’ association and acquire a directory of builders constructing houses in your area.

Check out the real estate section of your local paper to see which builders are working in your neck of the woods, what types of homes they’re building and the prices they’re charging.

Ask for Santa Fe Home Builder Recommendations

Local real estate agents can assist you in finding the perfect lot or refer you to builders. You can also ask friends and relatives about builders they have worked with directly, or ask them for the names of acquaintances who have had good experiences recently with builders.

Go to Open Houses and Tour New Homes in Several Neighborhood

Whenever possible, take in the newly completed custom homes and open house listings on the weekends. Home shows and open houses provide good opportunities to see homes built by builders in your area. Model homes and homes shown in home shows are usually stage with furniture to give some good ideas of how you can use the space.

​When you are​ working on viewing a home, do not look at the finishes. Evaluate the construction materials, cabinetry, carpet, trim and paint. Feel free to ask questions about the quality or craft on the work. What may look like a small question can produce a big answer. Any decent builder or their agent should be able to answer this well enough.

Check if the Santa Fe Home Builder is a Reputable Business

Once you have a shortlist of potential Santa Fe custom home builders, it’s time to begin learning more about them. Keeping a respectable business is a huge part of being a professional home builder. A quality professional brings with him: best practices, written contracts, insurance, warranties, and so much more. And professional builders will walk a buyer through the construction process and the construction schedule.

Question Contracts, Pricing and Payment Terms

Before you begin working, a good builder will give you a written estimate and a comprehensive contract. The contract ought to clear what will be (and won’t be) done and the payment schedule. You have no recourse when something goes wrong if you don’t have a contract. Never hire anyone who tells you that a contract “won’t be necessary.”

Ask About the Santa Fe Home Builders’ Business Practices

Furthermore, a professional home builder will offer to show you their business license and proof of the workers compensation and liability insurance. These crucial components will keep you from being liable for on-job site injuries or damage to property, due to the work performed on your home. Better business practices mean better service to homeowners because homeowners can count on the builder doing business honestly.

Find Out How Good the Customer Service Is After the Home is Completed

Home builders want to build a new home that their customer is happy with. They believe in superior customer service and making a great experience for each of our clients regardless of the role of the team member or the interaction.

Builders will tell you how you communicate during the home building job and they will cater to your communication style as much as possible. The more you do to maintain communication the better, so set clear expectations about how often you will talk and your preferred ways to communicate. How you speak to each other early on will inform the tone throughout the building process.

Inquire About Experience of the Santa Fe Home Builder

A builder typically tells you how many years they’ve been in business. The notion of longevity is important as it indicates financial stability, an element that is paramount in giving homeowners that peace of mind that if issues crop up after the work is done, the home builder will still be around to address them. You don’t want to be stuck with no one to call once the building’s up if you need to enact a warranty. In addition, the more homes the company has under its belt, the greater expertise the builder will bring to your project.

Building a home is no small feat. A pro builder knows the codes, correct materials, the job of building from A to Z, the new tools, the small things and the big things that it takes to build well.

Find Out About the Builder’s Industry Education and Involvement

Also ask if they belong to professional organizations like your local builders’ association. Organizations like these keep their membership appraised of better equipment, tools based on construction methods, construction technology, business practices and construction standards. Involvement may be a sign of a builder’s dedication to his/her reputation and the homebuilding industry.

Always Request References from Home Builders and Call Them

Any reputable builder will be armed with names and phone numbers of happy customers ready to share rave reviews. If you can’t, take that as a red flag and move on. When you contact those former clients, inquire about all the moving parts of the job. How well did the Builder deliver on the initial plans? How did the Builder perform in terms of the most important aspects of the job:

• Overall quality of the workmanship
• How well did they build for the money?
• Was the Builder good with the budget and were any overruns justified?
• Did the builder finish the job on time?
• Don’t forget the most important question of all: Would they hire that Builder again if they had the chance to do it over?

Final Thoughts

Throughout the process of deciding which Santa Fe builder to hire to build your new Santa Fe custom home take notes with headings at the top of each set of questions for each builder you research listing the responses from the builder’s reference and responses to the questions you ask the builder. Then review the notes for each builder and use the information to make an educated decision on best Santa Fe builder to hire to build your dream Santa Fe custom home. As solid information goes when it comes to selecing the best Santa Fe custom builder is Luxury Home Concepts!