Construct This: A Contractor's Blog

Construct This: A Contractor's Blog

How To Establish A Budget Before Hiring A Builder

by Joyce Rivera

When planning for a build, it's important to establish a budget. Even if you have significant amounts of money to spend, builders and contractors prefer to have some guidance regarding where a project is going. The budget serves that role, and here are 5 ways you can establish it before getting started.

Confirm the Available Financing

You should speak with a loan officer from your preferred bank or credit union. They can tell you how much financing you'll have available. You don't need to use every penny of it, but you'll benefit from knowing how much financial overhead your project will have. It's a good idea to set back between 10% and 20% of the overall projected budget to guard against unexpected issues. You also can take advantage of opportunities, such as prices on the materials market making an upgrade appealing.

Survey the Property

Even if the location appears to be fully ready for builders to come in, ask a licensed professional to survey the area. They can pull information about the property from the county register, too. You want to know that there won't be any unexpected bumps along the way, and a detailed survey is an excellent hedge against that possibility.

Contact the Utility Companies

It's also a good idea to confirm that everything you'll need in terms of utilities is available. If they're not, then you're going to need to budget for connections. Especially at locations that are far from other connected properties, this can get expensive fast. Sort the utilities out first so you don't end up in a budget crunch later because you need a company to run pipes or lines into the site.

Square Away the Designs

Someone has to design the new structure, and you need to have the major elements of the new build squared away early. A design dictates a slew of other things, especially the engineering requirements for a job. The engineering needs of a project can include modifications to the soil, materials choices, and equipment requirements. In some cases, you may even need to hire specialized contractors if the engineering demands are unusual.

Your Checklist

Everyone making a budget should develop a checklist. You should break these into columns based on what's essential and what would be nice to have. As you move toward finalizing your budget, you can subtract or add less important items based on how far you are from going over.

Contact a local builder to get more advice or to start your project.


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About Me

Construct This: A Contractor's Blog

When you want something built, who do you turn to? Okay, maybe you answered that question with a particular person's name, and that's an acceptable answer. But the answer we were really looking for was "construction contractors." This profession is full of people who can build this and that, and who can customize the things they build to meet your unique needs. Working with a construction team is like working with a bunch of people who just want to make you happy. We love that aspect of the industry, and it's something we plan on focusing on more as we write this blog.