Why is Custom Home Building Hard To Do?

blog / November 18, 2018

Custom Home Building is Hard! The goal of custom home building is to create a product that fits your family needs, wants and desires all into the same package as your family’s budget. It sounds simple enough, right?
Today I want to discuss with you the top frustrations of would be custom home building clients.

What is the price tag?

Majority of individuals make their decisions with the price right in front of them. If you want to drive a Tesla you know what the price it. If you want to drive a Honda Accord, you know what the price is. However, in my business I’m not able to create a price tag for you. Custom home building and custom remodeling projects are just that, custom. There’s no SKU number but I can look up, there’s no Kelley Blue Book that allows me to price your custom project. That lack of comfort in knowing exactly what you’re going to pay for something becomes very frustrating for clients looking to build or remodel.

Custom Home Building

Lack of vertical integration.

One of the reasons the companies are able to provide fixed pricing for your box of cereal or the engine oil to use in your car on the way to work, is that they control everything from the development of the product to the way it’s packaged the way it shipped to the very moment and pick it up on the store shelf and take it home. That is what I like to call vertical integration. I know very few companies that are vertically integrated in residential construction. This lack of control causes confusion and delay, pricing discrepancies, and as much as we try, quality control issues.  You have to understand as a consumer of custom home building a custom remodeling that each individual subcontractor you were using has their own company has their own bills to pay. So even though your project maybe the most important thing that you ever do, they are trying to put together multiple projects in order to pay their own bills.
Bathroom renovation

Decisions decisions decisions!

The decision making process is very fun, until it is not. Custom home building and renovating is all about putting your own flair to the finishing touches. The larger the project the more decisions need to be made. The color of door handles, the color of hinges, hardware for your cabinets, shelves, the trim, how high the trim goes, the trip profile, base and shoe, etc. On the surface everyone wants to submit a picture and be done with it.  Decision making becomes extremely overwhelming. Just take a look at the room you’re sitting or standing in now. Look at all the things that had to be decided in order to put the entire room together. Those decisions start to add up and although fun this becomes frustrating and can wear clients down.

Speaking of Budget, What About Light Fixtures? Find Out Here!

I say all these things about how frustrating custom building can be.  Yet, here I sit as the owner of the custom remodeling and home building company in Naperville, IL. This is what I do every single day and I enjoy it. One of the most rewarding part about my job to see everything come together, anticipating the difficult times and being a part of the team that guides our clients through the tough waters.  In the end when things are done and our clients are filled with joy, that is what we strive for, and that is what keeps us looking for more projects.
If you want to discuss a project you and your family are thinking about taking on, I would love to chat with you. Call me on my cell 847-602-7641 have a great day.