You want to build a home in the Canterbury area, but how do you know which company you should trust? Who will fulfil your needs at the best price? Let’s look at the eight steps to finding the right builder for you.
Step One: Define Your Needs
Only you and your family know what you want. Do you want two bedrooms or four? Do you want the master bedroom downstairs or upstairs? What is your style? What is your price range? You can find many online checklists of important features to incorporate into your new home. Once you have defined your needs, you can move on to step two.
Step Two: What Is Their Experience?
Now you need to pull up several possible builders in Canterbury. You should have their websites open or printed information nearby so you can compare them in the next few steps. In this step, look at how long they have been in business. How many homes have they completed? What was the company’s training like? While new companies may not cause any problems, going with a company that has experience building homes will be the safest option.
Step Three: Look at Reviews
Clients who have been extremely satisfied or extremely upset with the product will usually report their experience. Take some time to read through the experiences and see what other people are saying. If they are rated badly multiple times, there is usually a reason for this.
Step Four: Verify Licensing
Make sure your builder is correctly licensed and insured where necessary. You do not want to contract the builder then find there is a problem with their licensing and everything you put into building the home so far is wasted.
Step Five: Previous Designs
Look at examples of their previous designs. If you have the opportunity, walk through homes they have built. If you like the style, then they will probably be able to complete your home to your specifications. However, if you walk into a home they have built and you do not like it, you might not like any future homes they will build, either. Make sure you find a company that produces homes like the one you want.
Step Six: Warranty
Does the builder provide a warranty? For how long? Compare each company and if possible, research their missions and values so you can understand more about them.
Step Seven: Resale Value
Look at homes the company built five or ten years ago. Have the prices only gone downhill? Or are the homes still worth a fairly reasonable amount? Imagine yourself five years from now trying to sell your home. You do not want to lose any money from the investment you are planning on making.
Step Eight: Involvement
Is the building company involved in local builder’s societies? Find out why or why not.
If you go through these eight steps, you should be able to narrow the search for a building company down to one possibility that best fits your needs.
