How to Find the Perfect Home Builder in Columbus, Ohio (In 5 Simple Steps)

We get it. Finding the perfect home builder to build your dream home can be an overwhelming experience, especially for first time homeowners. We’re here to help you navigate the salespeak and get down to the studs and nails that separate the great home building companies from the fly-by-night imposters. Not every home builder is built the same.

1

Start with Measuring Character

Measure home builders potential by getting familiar with the character of the business.

Get a bad feeling from how your potential home builder performs under the heat of these questions? It’s time to break the date and move on. But if your home builder stands the initial test, it’s time to move past the courtship period and start reading between the lines. Find yourself unsatisfied by the character of your potential home builder?

Move on – odds are your gut is accurate.  

Reputation

In home construction, satisfied customers are harder to come by than fancy awards and framed papers.

How to gauge the reputation of your home builder:

  • Ask your potential home builder for a list of previous customers. A reputable home builder will happily provide you with the contact information for a few of their previous customers. Contacting homeowners is a great way to gather more information about the building process and integrity of the company.
  • Call your local chamber of commerce and ask for any business reviews on your potential builders. Chambers are great sources of information for discovering the reputation of a specific business.
  • Use the Internet to your advantage. Try doing a basic search on Angie’s list for your potential builder, or googling reviews for their name. If you find anything of concern, bring up your research to your potential home builder.

Credibility

It’s not just about what a home builder claims, it’s how consistently they live up to the expectations.

How to discover how credible your home builder is:

  • Ask your potential home builder to share how they hire and treat their subcontractors. Subcontractors are on the job daily, and bear the brunt of the home builder’s image and values. You’ll want to know that your home builder has a trusted process in place to hire reputable and dependable subcontractors.
  • Carefully review warranty documents to assess the integrity of the company. Specify what the home builder is liable for and what the process is for submitting claims. A credible home builder will prefer to offer first-party warranties, rather than relying on third-party companies to manage claims for their former customers. Review the warranty with your lawyer to help decode the legal language.

Integrity

Find a company that refuses to cut corners, and you’ll find a company that cares about your future home.

How to determine the integrity of your home builder:

  • How are you treated throughout the sales process? Does the individual selling you treat you with kindness and respect? Are they open to your questions, or annoyed by them? Does the home builder company take time to discuss your concerns, or do they quickly point you to a sales item?
  • Do they have a high turnover within their office staff? Do they have longstanding relationships with the subcontractors they employ for home building projects? We recommend finding a home builder that has a healthy work culture and happy employees – it’s a sign that the company treats people well from the ground up.

Foundation

Don’t fly through the basic bullet points of the sales presentation.

What to ask to find out how strong your home builder’s foundation
really is:

  • How many years have you been in business? How many homes have you built throughout those years?
  • How do you control quality throughout every stage of the home building process? What’s your process for inspections at key points throughout the home construction process?
  • Who will manage the site everyday? How often will someone communicate with me throughout the building of my home?

Get a bad feeling from how your potential home builder performs under the heat of these questions?

It’s time to break the date and move on. But if your home builder stands the initial test, it’s time to move past the courtship period and start reading between the lines.

2

Interpret the Sales Pitch

How to interpret the sales-speak and spot the hidden red flags.

While you’re on the market, potential home builders will woo and schmooze you with lots of claims and great sounding offers. Focus your attention during these home sales pitches to find potential red flags that you’ll want to investigate further.

Be suspicious of the following claims:

“We’ll give you more square footage for less than our competitors.”

This claim sounds like a great deal, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s generally a sign of compromised craftsmanship. The home building company might be offering you a larger home with a smaller price tag, but odds are they’ll sacrifice quality at every stage of the building process.

“We’ll give you an allowance to shop for the fixtures you want.”

Allowances sound great, but they typically result in headaches for homeowners who aren’t prepared to shop efficiently for home fixtures, such as lighting elements and plumbing fixtures. It’s much more convenient for the homeowner when a builder offers to include fixtures in their proposals and building plans.

“We’ve got the best standard features on the market.”

Don’t fall for generic claims of great features. Ask for a detailed list of standard features from your home builder – what’s standard for one company may not be considered a standard feature from a competing company. Acquiring a detailed list ensures that your potential home builder is providing standard features that are of real value to your home.

“We don’t give out contact information for our former customers.”

If you hear this from your potential home builder, run. A company who is hesitant to connect you with former customers probably doesn’t have many satisfied customers in their records. Don’t settle for a home building company that can’t provide you with third-party recommendations of their work.

Move beyond the sales peak by asking for specific information to substantiate every claim.

You’ll want a home builder who communicates openly and honestly about their offers, building processes,
and former projects.

3

Don’t rush the follow up.

Your potential home builder should provide you with a list of previous customers that you can contact to evaluate their work.

Ask targeted questions designed to get you the responses you are looking for.

Refuse to settle for questions that could be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”

We recommend asking the following questions to the references provided by your home builder:

  • What made you choose this particular builder?
  • How did the builder demonstrate integrity and character throughout the building process?
  • How well did the builder communicate with your before and during construction?
  • What surprises did you encounter during the construction process?
  • Was your home completed on schedule? If not, what delayed the project?
  • What most impressed you about the builder you choose?
  • If you could offer one piece of advice about the process, what would that advice be?

Don’t settle for the sales pitch from former clients of your potential home builder.

Ask targeted questions to multiple references and get the complete picture of your home builder and the home building process!

4

Weigh the Competition

During every appointment with potential home builders, you should be keeping notes about your experiences. This compilation of notes will be helpful as you weigh the pros and cons of each building company as you look to make your final decision.

 Here’s how Regent Homes stacks up against the rest:

We are dedicated to your project, from start to finish.

With Regent Homes, you’ll be given the attention you deserve. Your questions matter to us, and we take pride in the honest and open communication we provide to our customers at every stage of the construction process.

We carefully hire subcontractors who are passionate about your home.

Regent Homes refuses to take short cuts in the construction of your home. One way that we deliver above quality homes is through our commitment to thoughtfully hiring dependable and experienced subcontractors. We ensure that we’ve properly vetted our subcontractors before they are tasked with bringing your dream home to life.

We are obsessed with giving you the best home possible.

We think of every detail, large and small, that goes into creating your future home. The construction of your home will be personally monitored by the founder of our business to ensure our highest standards of quality in every phase of construction.

We take the headache out of home building.

We think that building a new home should be an exciting and stress-free experience. Regent Homes goes above and beyond the call of duty to treat each of our clients with respect, honesty, and undivided attention.

Regent Homes is not your typical custom home builder.

We operate differently at every stage of the home building process to deliver the custom home of your dreams without the nightmare experience.

5

Let us Build it.

How to get started with Regent Homes to build the home you’ve always wanted.

Regent Homes isn’t your standard, cookie-cutter custom home builder in Columbus Ohio. We care about delivering quality homes and exceptional experiences that enrich the lives of our customers. We know that saying that and proving it are two different things. Contact us today, and see how we measure up.

Schedule an Appointment Today!