What is a FREE Plan and Land Consultation

Before you build your custom home, you will of course need to buy some property.  Most of the time, we pick our property by where it is located and if it has the “look” we are seeking.  

After you have picked your perfect property, you need to consider the following questions before deciding to purchase the land.  This is where our FREE pre-construction consultation comes in.  Here are just a few questions that we will go over when we do your site analysis.  If you don’t know the answer to at least these questions, you should definitely have us or another qualified home builder do this evaluation for you.  

What started off being your happiest decision, could end up being your worst night mare.  I will tell you a few of the night mares I’ve had to see people go thru, because they didn’t meet us before they started their project, but lets save that for later.

1. Will your home  fit on you land.  It’s not an issue if you have a large piece of property, but it is if you are buying a city lot.  I have had at least 4 people over the last 6 years, buy the land and find out the house they want won’t fit on it.  You don’t really think about it, until it is too late.
2. How is the soil conditions?  Will you need an engineered foundation.  Not always, but you should check in to it, to make sure no one in the area has had any foundation issues. Contractors that work in an area are usually knowledgeable about the soil conditions in their territory,  but there are some contractors that don’t bring up potential problems, because then they can charge you more when they come up.
3. How far away are your utilities (water, sewer, gas, electric and phone) and will their be any issues with any of them when you install them?
4. Consider electric; Is there a transformer servicing your lot.  Even if there is one installed already, a yard line fee is typically accessed to run the electric from the transformer to the house.   This cost needs to be calculated. Who does this, do you know?  Some contractors give you a price per square foot, but don’t include permits and yard line fees.  This has to be put into the equation, when getting a total price on building your home.
5. Is there a waiting list to get permits?  With this economy, probably not, but that is still something to put on your list.
6. Does the land come with a water or sewer tap and how much are they and are they available? They can sometimes be a lot of money and you don’t want any surprises. Most contractors don’t include sewer and water tap fees, since they are different in every area.
7. Do you have sewer or septic?  If you have to put in a septic, does the ground you purchased have a perk test and is it able to have a septic that will fit in your budget?  Septic's start at about $5,000 and go up form there depending on the perk test.  Above ground septic's are very expensive if your ground happens to have a high water table.
8. How is the grade of your property, “front to back” and “side to side”. You would be surprised at how many people say their lot looks level and their is 3’ of slope from one side to another. Their foundation ends up having to be modified or they have get a dozer and a backhoe to grade and remove the excess dirt and have it shipped off their lot.  That brings to mind, where would you put the dirt?  Dirt isn’t always easy to give away.

These are just a few of the questions you can have answered if you give us an oportunity to speak to us before you purchase your property.

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