I talk to my builder once a week sometimes more if he needs info from us or if he is giving info on things like when the windows are going to be put in etc. We really only talk when we have to. If I talked to him everyday there would be nothing new to talk about! LOL! At least in our case right now anyway:-)

My DH talks to the GC (builder) just about every morning. The GC will call DH to give us an update. Now we are doing the inside, sometimes the GC will call DH 2 or more times a day just to confirm our choices. During the framing and installing the metal roof DH did not talk to GC every day more like 2 - 3 times a week.

Good luck on your build.
our new house in la

Well, I guess I'm the strange one here - we're nearing completion & I haven't personally talked to my builder in probably 6wks! That's because I take everything through our joint realtor/ listing agent (or sometimes thru my buyer's agent). They've done an excellent job of relaying everything to him. 99% of the time I'll e-mail the listing agent (so that I have another paper trail)& she'll call me back that day or sooner if it's a pressing issue. Right about now I feel like I've worried our poor Listing Agent to death! Recently we've been speaking 2-3 times a day - she'll call to double check on whatever. She's working just as hard for us as she is the builder. Often times I now think I could have just cut out the Buyer's Agent & done just as well w/ just the Listing Agent. Our Listing Agent has done a great deal of the active work w/ helping us & the builder get this house together. And now that we're nearing a closure, our Buyer's Agent is facilitating some of the paperwork w/ the finances.

It seems like a lot of extra steps than just dealing w/ the builder directly, but both agents are doing what they're paid to do. This approach has worked-out very well for us, we have no complaints.

We live less than a mile away, so we're @ the site @ least once a day, sometimes twice a day.

We purchased a dried-in home that the original owner had run out of money to complete. We are headed out there next week to begin the electrical/plumbing/hvac in about 2 weeks.

We have found our own subs, but will have a (GC) builder "supervising" our build. He is building a house about half-mile from our new home, and said he will pop in every day or every other day when work is going on, to make sure things are going as planned. He will be allowing us to use his builder's discount at various suppliers, and will advise us how long various trades take and when to line the next ones up.

We've done a whole house remodel on our own, but never something this large of scale. Between us and our GC, I hope it goes smoothly.

So... I guess our answer is we'll probably talk to him every day or every other... whenever he shows up at the build, and maybe other times as well when we have questions or situations arise.

We too will be in our RV! ;o)

I speak to my GC at least once daily, but generally even more often. For example, it is 2:45 EST, and we have spoken live 3X...and I am meeting him at the jobsite in an hour! I say if your builder says he's fine with it...then don't worry about bugging him. I'm not sure who is paying the bills during the build in your case, but if you are the "homeowner" (ie, own the land, have the financing) then he, in essence, works for you. You hired him to perform a job...not the other way around. Would you have any potential issues if you owned a business with employees and had to call them when you had a question?

This topic comes up on occasion, and I always sort of chuckle when people say that they don't want to bother their builder by calling too often. I really don't understand that, but I think my mindset comes from the type of careers my husband and I have. We expect the same level of service from our builder, his subs, etc. as we would provide to our clients. If they can't measure up to that level, then they are welcome to find another job because I don't want them on mine.

It has varied throughout the process of building. Before we broke ground and were still in the design stage, we would talk about once a week, and meet once a month to discuss permit progress, or whatever else we needed to discuss. Now we talk at least once a day. Today I have spoken to him 4 times, because I had to finalize our lighting order and I needed to double check my notes. He calls me just as much as I call him. It is a good situation.

Amy

I call him whenever I have a question or thinks he needs to be aware of something. He has about 4 other housed going right now. He makes sure the subs do quality work but runs around like a chicken with his head cut off. He is very fair so far and doesn't seem like he is out to gouge us. So I guess it is a trade off. I just wish there was better communication rather than waiting till the last minute and jumping through your butt to make decisions.

CB

Whew! Glad to hear we are 'normal'! LOL!
I am amazed at the amount of questions that we come up with on a daily basis.

CB, we used our builder in our previous house to add a large covered front porch and back patio, so we know him fairly well (and consider him more than an acquaintance). He told me once that builders sometimes ask for decisions at the last minute so the homeowner can't change their mind 50 times (even when they could've given a heads up weeks ahead). I do have to admit that I can understand where he's coming from, since I am one of those that change their mind 50 times if given enough time :-).

jennymama: Another mystery solved! I thought they waited till the last minute because they are disorganized, or don't feel the decisions are important enough to warrant much time for consideration. Or, because they're just plain inconsiderate. Now, your explanation makes sense. And it's true for us. The more time, the more we're likely to change our minds.

We don't have our design finalized yet, but our builder is working with us and the architect to bring the costs down to our budget. We rarely meet with him, but are in contact by email or phone about once a week now to exchange information as needed.

I can see it would also depend on how systematic a builder is. I think ours will be more of a systems/plan ahead one. He said he'll give us forms for each room and we're to fill in everything for that room (flooring, trim, paint, appliances, light fixtures, anything special, etc). Then, that's what we get (unless an item is no longer available or over budget). I can live with that. And I'll be reluctant to start calling and changing things I've put on the forms. That'll be good because it really doesn't matter all that much (most things); what matters is getting it built without ulcers (as totallyblessed said) and before hades freezes over or I croak.

pinktoes, LOL! He also said if given enough time (years), the original floorplan will probably change so much you won't even recognize it.

This is why I *neeed* to get past the framing stage, so I can't keep changing the small things on our floorplan, LOL!

totallyblessed - glad to hear I have a fellow indecisive homebuilder out there (dh doesn't quite get it)!

I talk to my builder every day....usually many, many times. I also sleep in the same bed with him. He's my husband, lol. ; )

LOL Mamabird!

We typically talk to him at least once a day. Not always though. And I'll e-mail his secretary too often once a day to bounce ideas off of from time to time, or ask a question. He will be building 2 other houses on our street so he'll likely be around somewhere most of the time anyway.

We just finished a few months ago. We talked to our builder at the beginning, and then about 5 times throughout the process. Our selections were submitted to his secretary who organized material ordering, and we communicated with her about once every couple of weeks when we had done some choosing. However, we have done this a couple of times before, so it is easier/requires less communication once both parties have experience.

OP,

We are at the same stage as you are. Foundation/Basement is complete. Framing should start anyway now. We have already negotiated all the extras/upgrades prior to signing the contract, however belive it or not, we have not spoken to the builder once yet. We havn't even met the guy. Actually, we are meeting him for the first time tomorrow in the realtor's office to see samples of the siding and roofing. Even then he wasn't even going to be there, he already dropped off the samples. But we insisted he be present since we have a few questions for him.

Is this really out of the norm? Sounds like it from some of the posts. BTW, this is my first post on GW.

jennymama,

After the first call DH made to GC that wasn't returned he got tough in order to set a precedent. Until we moved in (8/8) DH required a phone call daily. Every work morning without fail at 7am GC would call just to touch base on what the days activities would be.

Maybe I need to talk to our builder more often. It might make things move faster! Really though, DH is going to be calling the builder. We are stalled again and we are not sure why. Everything is just sitting. The roof was put on a week ago, no rock samples yet no idea of what is to happen next. I think we might be a little to laid back! What is the saying...the squeaky wheel gets the oil!

Well, no big surprise, he cancelled on us last night. I'm starting to think we'll never see/hear from this guy. I guess we'll meet him at the closing table.

rich52,

I wouldn't put up with that. As your build progresses you'll need to work closely with your GC and not even good communication is going to way-lay all problems. Set your precedent now.

rich52,

You may need to track him down, at your home site OR another site he is working on. We have done this with our contractor (although he doesn't mind).