New House Builder

I have done work for many home builders in Edmonton, if you are looking for a new house builder there is a few questions you need to ask yourself before moving on.

Are you building your dream home?

Are you building on your own lot, or acreage?

If you answered yes to these two questions then you will need a custom home builder or project manager. If you answered no, then you should hire a builder that has lots for sale in the area you would like to live.

Custom homes builders can build on a lot that they own, and sometimes do, in which case the home is still a custom home. But if you own the lot and want to build a dream home you will want a custom home builder. The established builders do have a custom home division in most cases, or look through your local yellow pages.

Project Manager Vs. Builder

The difference between the two is very great. A builder will many times own lots in some or all of the subdivisions in your local area. They buy these lots before the land was subdivided and can make good profit just on this part of the process. A project manager will build you your home on your land and make a wage and / or a percentage on the project. A custom home builder will quite often do both of these depending on the type of company they are running.

Project Manager

The role of the project manager is to take care of the project. And that is it. He will make the calls to the trades and companies doing work on the site. He will schedule in the delivery of materials, he will make sure everything gets done in an orderly fashion and on time, within reason of course. Right now in Edmonton we are so short of trades people and laborers that nothing is getting done on time.

When using a project manager you will buy the lot or the land the house is going to be built on. You will also pay for all of the material, and in some cases pay for the trades and sub trades and any other labor needed. With this way of building your house you will not be paying for as much of a markup as what a builder would have been charging you. This means that after everything is said and done you will have some equity in the house. Unfortunately the houses I have done plumbing in this has not been the case. The reason being is the homeowner has something done then wants it changed. So if I rough in a bathroom and you change your minds, that is a huge extra that will come out of your equity. I have seen homeowners do this with windows, kitchens, stairs, location of bathrooms, move the furnace room. And all these have been changes after the work has been done. Now the work has to be taken out and start all over, of course it costs more then the original price. And homeowners think they are getting screwed by us. But if you change your mind expect a huge hit in the pocket book.

Builder

This is when you go into a show home and pick from 10-15 different designs being built in that area. The prices are more clear cut, but the builders profit is much higher. They own the lot your house is being built on, and they pay for everything until you take possession. You do not have much choice of changes. And any changes you make will cost you big time. These companies can not have a house being held up because you are making changes. They just have too much money in the project to wait very long.

By: Kelly P Kramer