Foundations of Love: The Family’s Role in Building a Home
Building a home is the greatest adventure a family can take on! It’s also one of the biggest financial commitments any family will ever make.
It’s important for builders and contractors to understand the mix of excitement and anxiety that families feel as they step into this life-changing process.
Family’s Role in Building a Home
How does a family fit into the process of building a home? Here’s a look at the family’s role in building a home.
More Than a Client: Interacting With Families During a Build
When a family reaches out to a builder, contractor, architect, or designer, the truth is that they are hoping to be seen as more than just a “client.”
They are ultimately hiring you to be an architect of hopes and dreams! That’s why honesty and transparency are so important.
The last thing a family wants is to feel like they’re being taken for a ride.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly how most families feel when numbers change after the initial estimate. This can be true even when a contractor has completely honest intentions.
For construction professionals, quality construction estimating software that makes it possible to have confidence in the numbers being presented is so important for building trust with clients.
While it’s impossible to predict every aspect of how a project will unfold, being able to factor in materials and labor down to the penny creates trust and transparency.
Making Decisions Based on Personal Needs
While building experts often have one way of doing things, families sometimes need the people they hire to go off the script in order to accommodate unique needs.
In many cases, families request custom touches that can make life with young children easier.
This can look like a larger laundry room, stairs that are slightly less narrow, avoidance of walled-off spaces that reduce visibility, and more.
Making Decisions Based on the Future
When building a home, most families assume that they are building the last home they will ever live in!
That’s why they often request custom touches that allow the home to grow with them.
Builders need to remember that families looking to stay forever may not care about resale value as much as a typical client.
They may value a playroom that can be converted to a bedroom on the ground level for the retirement years even if that would potentially make the home harder to sell.
Families also need room to make cost-saving decisions based on the future.
One example would be the addition of smart technology that lowers heating and cooling bills.
Another might be picking a roof based on a desire to upgrade to solar energy at a later date.
A family needs to feel supported as they take time to calculate the cost benefits of features that are geared toward long-term savings versus cutting construction costs in the present.
Advocating for Non-Negotiable Features
It’s so easy for contractors to begin viewing items in the blueprints as negotiable suggestions.
However, families often view certain requested features as 100% non-negotiable.
In some cases, the person having a home built has dreamed of having a specific feature in a home since they were a child!
The role of the family during a build is to keep “the dream” alive by making sure these special touches stay in the plans.
This can be everything from a covered front porch to a custom double oven.
Providing Reality Checks
There’s a big difference between a showroom-quality home and a family home.
The role of the family during a build is to bring the builders and designers “back to earth” when details favor trends over real life.
The truth is that most families actually want a home that offers both showroom qualities and practical features.
Making Important Budget Decisions
Getting a construction estimate that’s as close to the final number as possible provides intense value for a family as they embark on what is often the biggest, happiest, and priciest adventure they will ever experience.
The estimate is the reference point that a family uses as they make important decisions about cutting out or adding items.
While a builder may have an opinion about what to prioritize, the family must ultimately shift around numbers based on what they’ve decided adds the most value in terms of both the market and personal preferences.
Final Thoughts on Building a Home With a Heart
Building a home as a family is an incredibly emotional experience.
For contractors in the construction and design industries, this creates a very high-stakes scenario where reactions to changes or unexpected pivots can feel intense.
One way to stay ahead of surprises that can sour the experience of building a family’s dream home is to use accurate building and remodeling estimate software for projects.
Ideally, the only surprise that a family should encounter during a project is how far above and beyond expectations the finished home goes!