Custom residential construction offers so many choices and decisions that people often wonder exactly what one item can assure them of the highest degree of success when picking their team of professionals. Like many things, I believe that this one item is finding the relationship you feel most comfortable with. This includes the relationship between you, the architect, the builder and their overall process.
Remodeling and home building creates a unique intimacy, one that is forced together for a long duration of time. While not ignoring conventional wisdom and due diligence, at some point you must look beyond budget estimates, referrals, marketing photos and salesmanship and judge a person or a team on their communication skills, understanding and responsiveness to you.
I like to remind people to keep one thing in mind. It’ll be your builder and their employees who will greet you every morning, know your dogs habits and will essentially be living in your house for a while. If you think about it, this makes the relationship more personal everyday than the ones you have with other professionals, whether it be your insurance agent, financial advisor, tax accountant or even your doctor.
As with so many things in life, a first impression and your gut will tell you exactly who you want to lead your project. So when you interview different people, don’t loose sight of the fact that it’s a relationship that you are looking for and ask questions that will help you determine who you’ll get along with the best. Remember also, that if you understand their process and how they promote it, then the chances are that you‘ll become more comfortable as the relationship grows! If not it could be a long and painful haul.
Paul Armstrong and Team
As with so many things in life, a first impression and your gut will tell you exactly who you want to lead your project. So when you interview different people, don’t loose sight of the fact that it’s a relationship that you are looking for and ask questions that will help you determine who you’ll get along with the best. Remember also, that if you understand their process and how they promote it, then the chances are that you‘ll become more comfortable as the relationship grows! If not it could be a long and painful haul.
