When Custom Building, Set the Right Expectations are Key

I tell people all the time that one of the toughest things in the custom home building world is setting the proper expectations.  I think it's one of the single largest factors that give builder's a black eye.  You would think, starting with a detailed set of plans that you have a real good idea of finish out and how it will look once completed but when plans go from 2D to 3D, people that have a hard time visualizing things.

Before we ever go to plan stage, we like to ask the question of final back end budget.  The reason is we need to know how to arrange the pieces of the puzzle to where the client can get what they want for their dollars.  Trust me, half of the time we are delivering realistic news that our clients don't want to hear.  Things like "those appliances won't fit in the budget, or there is too much square footage, etc."  It always pains me to deliver messages like that, but I would rather do that and risk losing the deal then have a home owner who doesn't know the industry like I do get disappointed 6 months down the road.  The worst thing I think that can happen, is you tell the customer what they want to hear at all times and then once the build process begins and they have terrible experiences on selections the whole process through.  What excites me the most is at the end having a happy customer who is close to budget or below at the end of the project.  I am happy to say that the last 5 recent projects have all been that way and it is a very good feeling.  Make sure when building to do your best to completely understand what your budget gets you when finishing out your dream home.