The following are the typical steps of the construction process start through completion start through completion..
- The vision & dream
- Financial
- Plans
- Proposal
- Apply for Permit
- Contract
- Schedule
- Final selections
- Completion
We will dive in a bit deeper on the first 3 leading into planning for your project....
(The following is an excerpt from Mountain Haven’s 3 page article ‘Building Pro-cedures’)
1. The vision and dream
It is very useful to start a scrap book of what you like. Pictures of home interiors and exteriors is probably the best way to convey your ideas.
2. Financial
In order to determine the size of your project and the extent of finishes, it is essential to know the amount you can invest. If you’re financing your project through a loan it is now time to get Pre-qualified in order to know how much is available for your building project.
3. Plans
Prior to getting a house plan, I recommend that Owners find a Gen-eral Contractor or Builder (these are the same) before they go into the plan de-sign process. Often the Builder, may never be included in the process until the plans are done. This is not the best method. I know from experience that when the Designer or Architect and Builder are involved together in the plan stage, many positive suggestions and ideas happen and the result is always a better designed home.
It is important that the plan for your project fits in your budget. It has been my experience, that more often than not, a Designer or Architect designs a home that is over the budget. I have heard it described as ‘taking you down the gar-den path’ where the amount you planned to invest seems to the Architect or Designer of no real consequence. When this happens, the home has to be com-pletely redesigned and the whole process of estimating starts over again. Or, the Owners put themselves in financial peril. Or worse yet, the Owners, in an act of desperation seek out any Builder that will build the home for the money they have. This will ultimately result in a bad situation (disaster) usually leading to lawsuits and years of expensive corrections as a result of the inexperienced work, poor quality, and unfinished or excluded components of the home; as the Builder ( not me) short cuts everything possible in order to make some kind of profit for himself.