A Guide to Selecting the Right New Home Builders

When you can't find a house that fits your needs, maybe it's time to approach new home builders. Building a house from the ground up is a great way to get the best home to fit your specifications and lifestyle perfectly. Before you go and make the plans for your dream house, it is just as important to pick and choose the right company. With a few helpful tips, the search becomes much easier.

First, contact your local chapter of the National Association of Home Builders. NAHB is one of the largest trade associations that assure safe, decent and affordable housing. Ask them for a listing of active builders in your area. That should be the first list of builders you should keep. Build the roster some more by inquiring at real estate agencies or consulting a buyer's agent. Get referrals from friends and family; news by word of mouth is always valuable information. Search online for home builders in your area. Check the real estate listings on the newspapers or real home design magazines for listings of new home builders.

With that on hand, we can move on to the second step in choosing a home builder. Strike out the builders in your list who construct houses that don't appeal to you and get rid of the ones that are out of your target price range.

Next is quality assessment. This will require both research and house visits. Check the credentials of the building company you're looking into. Look for a builder that has a large portfolio of residences and has at least three to five years of experience. This is the usual time it takes for a business to stabilize, but there's also no harm in checking whether or not it has a good bank record. One method of checking this is through a simple check for a permanent business address. It also helps to know if the builders have won awards or any kind of recognition.

The last step in quality assessment is visiting the homes your chosen home builders have constructed. Ask the builders on your list for addresses of their latest projects. Drop by and visit these houses on the weekends. Interview the people living there if there are any and ask them about their homes. Most of the time, they'll be happy to talk about what they like best about their living space and they will be just as eager to talk about what troubles they have. Take note of these details, good and bad, for your perusal later.

With these in hand, you can narrow down your list of new home builders to a more manageable level. This way you're one step closer to building your dream custom home.