Northstone in the News - 5/20/2005

Houston Chronicle - "Custom Building: Selection process can be exhilarating, aggravating"

By Richard Stone
Northstone Builders

So you’ve made some exciting new decisions. You’ve chosen to build a new home, you’ve chosen a designer, and you’ve chosen a custom home builder. You’ll soon be selecting layouts of living rooms, styles of windows, sizes of water heaters, and colors of cabinets. These types of decisions are the reason you decided to pay for a custom homebuilding experience: you wanted the freedom of choice. The intimidating part of your new and exciting experience, of course, is that you will have to live with your decisions (literally).

This reality has the potential to make these decisions stressful. Questions of personal preference rarely have right and wrong answers, and regardless of how many second opinions you get, no one besides you and your family will have to live with the results. Your ability to make confident and rational decisions depends largely on how much homework you do. Not enough research, and you raise the risk of buyer’s remorse. Too much homework, and the buyer often complicates a selection over inconsequential details. The Internet, new homes in the neighborhood, your friends and neighbors who have recently built, independent interior designers, and various magazines and other literature will serve as useful resources. Most useful, however, will be your builder and his suppliers that offer him - and you – a myriad of competitively priced customized options, efficient installation, and generous warranties. The suppliers with whom your builder has spent time developing relationships should be your first line of defense. While your builder will not likely have the same personal taste as you, he or she will have the same personal goal: the successful completion of your custom home.

To complicate the process, time is often of the essence. It is best for homebuyers to have as many selections made as possible before breaking ground. Interest and taxes will accrue if plumbers have to wait for plumbing fixture selections, electricians wait for light fixture selections, etc., midway through the building process. Buyers who recognize the necessity of timely decisions are often happier with their custom experience and their final product.

With decisions to make and questions to answer, it is time to begin the research and reach conclusions. Ask your builder for help. A builder’s insight will be one of the key elements in a building experience that is frustration free, and a final product that is your every dream.