The Top 3 Most Expensive Mistakes A Builder Can Make When Choosing A Custom Home Designer
When choosing a custom home designer, it’s tempting for a builder to consider price, and price alone, as the main factor for deciding which designer should create homes for their clients. Ironically, being too concerned about choosing the lowest price can lead to costly mistakes in the end.
There are three major mistakes that builders make when choosing a custom designer – we’ll talk about them one by one and tell you how Elite Design Group’s experience and deep understanding of floor plan design can give you peace of mind and help you produce great results for each one of your clients.
Mistake 1: Prioritizing price, rather than experience.
While we have stock plans for sale, Elite Design Group’s main business lies in designing custom homes. As you can see from our portfolio , our designers’ creative instincts run the gamut from traditional styles to more modern architecture, and everything in between. We pride ourselves in bringing our design experience to bear when we meet with clients, whether they have a specific look in mind or we supply them with ideas based on their preferences and personalities.
EDG is accustomed to taking their clients from the design process all the way through to construction. If a client has a plot, we’ll visit the property and make sure the home design complements the natural features of the land. We’ve found that our attention to detail ensures that the clients get what they want in a floor plan from the get-go, and keeps later changes to a minimum. From experience, we know that even a small modification on one page will carry on to the entire home plan.
Our experienced designers are accustomed to working with builders. In fact, since we offer custom home building and work closely with our favorite contractors, our home designs are contractor-friendly. After our thorough design process, we’re better able to provide detailed information about materials, dimensions, and specific instructions to the builder. We’ve found that if the plans are not detailed enough, contractors must make their own judgments, which might be contrary to the client’s wishes.
“The care we put into the design process prevents a cascade of expensive errors when the home actually goes up. Rest assured that working with an experienced home designer will save time and money in the end.”
Mistake 2: Not making communication a priority.
Elite Design Group prides itself on having an open line of communication between our clients, our builders, and ourselves. From the start, we make every effort to listen to our client’s wishes and budgetary needs, and design a custom floor plan that fits their current and future lifestyles. During the building process, we’re open to changes, and all modifications to floor plans that a builder provides are made in-house. Since we don’t have to send plans to a separate, outside designer, communication is streamlined and error-free.
We’re always available to answer questions from clients and builders at any point of the process. Our small team generates a friendly, accessible vibe that clients love. But that doesn’t mean we’re inefficient: while we take our time during the design process, it allows us to finish projects at an accelerated pace.
Since our client communication is top-notch, we delve into details not only to ensure that clients get what they want, but also to make sure that our pricing is as accurate as possible. It’s unpleasant to encounter financial surprises during a build, whether it’s more expensive materials or major changes and time lost.
Mistake 3. Not performing due diligence on a designer’s reputation.
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for home designers to take advantage of potential homeowners and builders to make a quick buck.
One of the biggest components in a custom designed home is trust. The client must trust that the designer has achieved their vision for a perfect home, and they must trust that the builder will use quality materials and methods to create that home. Even if you’re impressed by a designer’s portfolio, it’s well worth your time to examine their relationships with other builders and to see how the homes they’ve designed have stood the test of time.
Elite Design Group is known and trusted by clients and builders alike . Our clients love their custom designs, which are within their budgets and increase in value over time. Since our establishment in 2004, we’ve built long-term relationships with dozens of local builders, all of whom are impressed by our methods and efficiency. (When we work with builders, we even offer builder pricing for our home designs.)
“We choose only great craftspeople and contractors for our own building and renovation projects.”
We at EDG are intimately familiar with the current residential regulations that all home designers and builders must adhere to, and our choices of materials, contractors, and design elements reflect our commitment to quality and to our clientele. Trust is ultimately the best assurance that the home design and building process will be enjoyable and successful for everyone involved. Only quality inputs will achieve a quality result!
