Many of you may be considering building your dream custom home. I have represented many individuals that unfortunately have had difficulty with this process. I will be providing information on a continuing blog basis concerning issues that may arise with respect to the construction of your custom home to minimize the chance that your dream home, at the risk of being trite, does not turn into a nightmare.
First, invest the time and money necessary prior to contract in the design/specification stage to have a good set of plans and detailed set of specifications going in. Also, if you are married or have a partner try to reach a consensus with each other as much as possible up front concerning the plans, specs and allowance items for the home, and then provide as much detail as possible regarding these items in the contract documents. For instance, decide up front the type of flooring, plumbing fixtures, etc. that you want. While there are many good builders, unscrupulous builders may try to take advantage of vague plans, specs and description of allowance items, since a vague set may facilitate a contention later by the builder that certain items are “changes” for which the builder may argue you owe more money than you expected.
