How to Prevent Common New Home Construction Problems

When you’re in the process of having a new home built, there is so much to take into consideration. The design of the home. The materials that you want to use. The time frame that you would prefer the house to be completed in– the list goes on and on. And being that we’re pretty sure that you don’t want there to be any “hiccups” or serious issues, we thought that it would be a good idea to provide you with a list of some common new home construction problems that many people tend to experience, along with tips on how you can avoid them below:

Hiring a bad contractor. When it comes to construction projects, there’s probably nothing more annoying than being at the mercy of a bad contractor. There are some things that you can do to avoid having this experience. Choose someone based on referral, make sure that you interview them face to face, request the numbers of some of their formal clients and don’t work with anyone who will not sign a contract.

Not getting a contract. Speaking of contracts, if there’s ever a time when you really and truly need one, it’s while you’re having a house built. That’s because it legally binds the contractor to what the both of you agreed upon. And so, don’t feel uneasy about requesting that one be written, approved of and signed before any work gets started. A reputable contractor is going to know that it will help to protect you both by doing so.

Failing to get all of the required permits. There’s no way around the fact that something that a new house is going to need are plenty of permits. And while getting them can be a bit taxing (and sometimes pretty expensive too), the reality is that they are a requirement. In fact, if you decide to “skip out” on some of them and a housing inspector catches on, not only will you be required to pay some fees, but they could demand that you take your construction down too. Therefore, it’s definitely worth the time to stop by your local county clerk’s office to get a list of what your home should have beforehand.

Being unclear about the subcontractors. Although initially, you will be hiring a general contractor to work on your new house, due to the size of the job, there’s a pretty good chance that they will hire subcontractors too. Well, say that they hire a crane company like Global Crane Sales who ends up leaving a lot of trash on the construction site or the workers are rude to you? That’s not going to be something that makes you very happy. That’s why you’re well within your rights to ask about who the subcontractors are and to get a list of referrals for them as well.

Not clearly communicating. There’s probably going to come a time during the construction process when something is not going to go quite the way that you expected. When this happens, set up a meeting with the contractor to voice any concerns and also to ask any questions that you may have. And to make sure that everyone is on the same page, email both of you a copy of what came out of the meeting. That should prevent those particular issues from resurfacing so that you can feel more confident about the construction process until it’s completed.