By now, from our prior post (read it here), you know what your first contact will be like and you’ve contacted us. If you have not contacted us yet, stop reading and do it now. We’ll wait.
You know your first contact with us is smooth and easy, but what about the beginning stages of our process? The key word here is PROCESS. Just about every project will start out with a similar process. Now before you start thinking this sounds too rigid and “I really just want to get a price for _____”, we can assure you that if you’re considering investing a significant sum of money into a home project or a new home altogether, you WANT to work with a company who has a process.
the remodeling and home building industry is plagued with contractors who generally mean well, but really do not pay attention to the small details and aspects of their businesses that allow them to keep happy customers and stay in business. Unfortunately, the reputation of this industry is that it is fraught with unreliable contractors who take your money and don’t finish the work. In reality, this is often not a case of a bad person or ill-intent. It’s really a case of an inefficient business without processes in place to ensure that projects are planned, thought through, estimated properly, and completed as intended.
Again, you WANT a process. So here’s how it goes when you contact us. As another reminder, here is HOW you contact us:
- Website: jtcustombuilders.com (see “Request an Estimate”)
- Phone call: 240-651-4200
- Email: info@jtcustombuilders.com
- Facebook: JT Custom Builders (facebook.com/jtcustombuilders)
- Mail: 108 W Ridgeville Blvd, Suite 201B, Mount Airy, MD 21771
If you are contacting us about building a new home, an addition/large remodel, or a garage, we will generally try to obtain as much information as possible, review it, and present you with an investment range that we would expect for your project. This is based on our experience with these projects, where you’re planning to build, and the state of the industry (costs, material availability, etc.).
For other remodeling projects such as kitchens and basements, we generally will discuss details in our initial conversations and work to solidify the project scope with you.
For ALL projects, we will discuss your budget with you. This is sometimes an uncomfortable conversation, and we understand that and do not take it lightly. After all, you’re trusting the builder you hire with a significant investment. However, knowing your budget is extremely important. If you don’t know what your budget is, or really just want to get an idea of how much something will cost, we will generally give you a quick response to help you determine what cost range you should be expecting (note this is not going to contain significant detail – it’s simply based on what you’re telling us and our experience with similar projects).
For the vast majority of our projects, and certainly for the larger ones, we will then discuss our Pre-Construction Services Agreement. This is a step that not all builders employ, and we have found that this is a big reason for the “tangent” above. Simply put, our Pre-Construction Services Agreement is a two-way agreement that essentially gives you a chance to “test-drive” us for your project. You’re going to be making an expensive investment, so doing so with a company you’ve already worked with to plan your project sounds more logical than writing a large check to a builder you’ve never worked with. Our Pre-Construction Services are time-bound and outline the exact Services you will receive. These could include design, selections, detailed scope of work, and more. Essentially, we will prepare for you a packet of information that you can give to ANY builder and they would be able to use to start building right away (of course, we hope that you would hire us to continue the project and complete it for you!). At the conclusion of the Pre-Construction Services, we will have prepared all of the information outlined and will present you with a final Contract so we can get your project underway!
Our goal through every step of the process is to make things clear for you so you know what to expect next. Speaking of what to expect next: stay tuned as we will dive into our Investment Range and Process Roadmap next time.
If there are topics you’d like to learn more about, don’t hesitate to let us know!
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