Common Pitfalls To Avoid When Dealing With Custom Home Builders In Northern Virginia

1. Article: Avarchitectsbuild.com COMMON PITFALLS TO AVOID WHEN DEALING WITH CUSTOM HOME BUILDERS IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA Investing your time, money and efforts into customized construction of your property is a humungous undertaking and commitment. The help, support and advice of expert construction professionals will definitely be necessary at this juncture. But there are many times when unscrupulous service providers will try to give you a run for your money. The best Northern Virginia custom home builders have put together this guide to help you identify and avoid some common pitfalls when dealing with architects and other professionals during the construction phase. Make sure you keep these in mind to avoid getting ripped off or making a mistake while getting your home or office building designed and constructed. #Rushing into the construction phase People say - “It is cheaper to fix your problems on paper than in the field” and this couldn’t be more true when it comes to the construction industry. At any point of time, DO NOT let your builder in Northern VA push you into the construction phase earlier than necessary. Make sure you go through, understand and discuss their design and construction plans thoroughly. By evaluating each and every aspect of the design, you will be able to save on a ton of money that would otherwise be lost on mistakes. Don’t fall into the usual trap of -“The sooner you begin construction, the faster the project will finish”! #Allow finger pointing There are many home builders in Northern VA who will gladly point fingers at others in an attempt to transfer blame for their mistake. Construction is a team effort and the architect/builder will act as the brains behind the entire enterprise. Do not allow them to shift blame onto other service providers like your contractor. Ensuring proper execution of the project is ultimately their responsibility. One good way to avoid such issues will be to have your contractor and architect meet each other in person. Use this meeting to convey your vision and goals for the project along with any constraints and limitations that you are facing. Use your people skills and try and bring both professionals on to your team, working for the ultimate goal - successful completion of your construction project. #Allow re-design in the name of “Value Engineering” Value-engineering, in its academic definition, means engineering a design to have maximum value (where value is the ratio of benefits to costs). In its more common usage, people say value-engineering to mean re-designing to reduce scope because the project is over budget. Architects typically design something and then check to see how much it will cost. This leads to surprises. The worst is when you get your heart set on all the beautiful features you've picked out together, only to find out you're way over your budget and you have to let things go that you've been day dreaming about. To avoid such scenarios, require your architect to practice something called "Target Value Design." This is when you first define your target, or budget. For more information on custom home builders in Northern Virginia, visit: Avarchitectsbuild.com. ABOUT THE AUTHOR John James Grayson is an expert architect who also loves writing many interesting articles and blogs, helping people in making the right choices for their home construction projects. He recommends AVArchitectsBuild.com as the best name to trust if you are looking for Northern Virginia custom home builders.