Home Building Questions the Process

Home Building Questions

Home Building Questions is here because there have been a lot of changes in the home building industry over the last 30 or so years. Most notably, is the desire of many perspective home owners to have control over their home building process? While there may be many reasons why you might be entertaining that thought it is safe to say everyone’s motives are unique. We will provide you with all the information necessary to decide how much of the home building process you want to take control of in your particular case.

The Home Building Questions site is being created in a format that will take you through every possible step associated with building a new home or creating a remodeling or addition project on your existing home. We understand that everyone will be looking for a different level of information here. Keeping this in mind this site will contain four groupings of information for you our reader.

4 Types of Information Found at Home Building Questions

1. We will create a series of step by step articles covering every progressive step and possible decision involved in the home building process. These steps are outlined below.
2. Secondly we will be including weekly feature articles covering topics like product reviews, construction trend features, and installation tips. So you are encouraged to subscribe to our RSS feed or Subscribe by Email updates to receive the latest information available.
3. You will also find a socially linked commenting section at the end of each article where we encourage your participation in order to share ideas and experiences to help everyone find the best answers to their home building questions.
4. Last and hopefully best we have included a forum covering every possible topic associated with the process including reader plan review options. We are encouraging both novice home builders as well as seasoned construction veterans to join this forum as a place to share questions and ideas.

Visit our forum

The thought of controlling or overseeing the construction of your new home can be a daunting task. For that reason we have outlined below a long but general list of the topics that are being developed into this web site. This is being done as somewhat of a step by step series of training lessons for anyone wanting to understand the entire building process. This format will help you work through the decision making process as well as helping you create a plan to control both the building process and the building costs. Before venturing further here is a quick link if you would like to ask me a question regarding your project Contact Form You can also click on the pull-down menus at the top of every page for a quick link by topic.

Your Role as The Builder

The information will begin by covering the following topics:

1. What are the builders’ roles in the process?
2. What are the builders’ responsibilities?
3. How can you save money in this process?
4. Is being the Builder and building your own home right for you?
5. How to control quality if you have your home built?
6. What will you need to know?
7. What will your commitments be to the project?
8. What are your building options?

The Paperwork Processes

From here you will want to have an understanding of what we refer to as the paperwork issues:

1. Initial financial planning
2. The Lot selection process
3. Basic elements of a home
4. The plan design process
5. Cost estimating and bid soliciting
6. The contracting process including permits
7. Construction scheduling
8. Purchasing processes
9. Cost controls
10. Project supervision

The Building Process

Now it is time to cover the nuts and bolts of the construction process. This will be covered in the following sequence:

1. Staking out the construction site
2. Establishing temporary utilities
3. Site preparation, clearing, grading, and basement or foundation excavation if required
4. Next you will need footings, foundations, waterproofing& foundation drainage
5. Followed by sewer and water taps
6. You site is now ready for backfill, slab plumbing, then slab or basement floor
7. Septic tanks & drain fields if required
8. Framing of floor systems, walls and roof
9. Roofing and weather barriers
10. Windows, and exterior doors
11. Exterior finishes, including soffits, trim, garage doors, and exterior locks
12. Interior  block-out  framing
13. Miscellaneous framing like fireplaces, chimneys, stair systems, and bulkheads
14. Rough HVAC, Rough Plumbing, Rough Electrical, Electric and Gas meter installs
15. Gutter and downspouts, exterior painting
16. Insulation and vapor barriers
17. Temporary heat, drywall and paint
18. Cabinetry, interior doors and trim, counter tops, vinyl and ceramic tile
19. Hardwood floors, installation, sanding and finishing
20. Appliances and special equipment
21. Finishing of the electrical, plumbing, HVAC and final heat/cooling system
22. Shower doors & mirrors
23. Carpet, hardware and screens
24. Drywall touchup repair, clean up, final paint, final wood floor finish
25. Exterior retaining walls, walks, drives-, and patios
26. Deck systems, finish grading and landscaping
27. Final punch list and inspections
28. Loan closing
29. Occupancy

Let’s Begin the Process

As you can see this is a very extensive process, however there is a simple sequence to follow. It has been this writers experience from helping people just like you for over 30 years that with proper guidance and the ability to ask questions and find answers to your home building questions, anyone can take control over building their dream home.