Stressed? This Is Where a Builder Liaison Can Help With the Build Process
I have built several custom homes across a few decades. Each home was different, and each time my needs and lifestyle were different. The home I built when I had three young boys in grade school is very different from the custom home I just built with my husband as empty nesters here in Bluffton.
During every build, I wished we had someone who could have served as an advocate with our builder. Often, we did not know what was considered normal in the process and what was worth questioning with our builder. We did not want to be “those people” who went to the builder over everything.
Many custom builders have selections coordinators nowadays to help with the interior choices such as cabinetry, lighting, tile, and flooring. More often than not, that person is more of an escort who takes you to the various appointments and not someone who is drilling down deeper into your overall vision for the home that would include furnishings and decor. When we were building, I felt like we really lacked someone on board with more design experience to bring our vision to life. In fairness to our builder, we came on board right before our selections coordinator moved on to another job. Our second selections coordinator then left to have a baby. Our third selections coordinator was good, but she started towards the end of our project after most of the decisions were made.
Working as an interior designer, I tend to meet many clients who are in the final stretch of building when they start considering furniture. Often choices have been made on the build that are not in line with their vision for furniture or the flow of the home. If you have a builder liaison working with you from the start of your project, you can avoid many of these missteps.
One Small Example, Hundreds More You Never See Coming
I can look at a house plan and picture the best furniture placement, and whether that will work with where doors, windows and fixtures are planned. One of the most common design fails I am seeing is with guest bedrooms. Builders are not asking clients what size bed they plan to put in the room. Most commonly, the windows are placed to flank a queen size bed. If your plan was to put a king bed in the room, then the bed frame is going to extend across the windows by several inches. Also common in bedroom missteps is when a bathroom or closet door is placed on the wall with the bed. In these cases, a light or ceiling fan will be centered to the room or to the bed. Both are going to look awkward. This almost happened in our build, and upon spotting the issue, I asked my builder to move the access to the closet to the other wall so that the bed and the fixture would be centered in the space.
The above is just one issue, and there are hundreds more that nobody is thinking of during your build. The builder is focused on the quality of the structure. The selections coordinator is focused on the finishes. You still need someone focused on how you live in your space and what furnishings you are bringing or planning on buying for your home.
I recently had clients come in to pick out all their furniture for their Callawassie home towards the end of their build. They ran into the issue with the king bed jutting across the windows in the bedroom. These clients also had planned to have a buffet in the dining room, only to learn that there was no way a buffet would fit in the space based on the width of the room. Often it comes down to the inches. Having just 6 to 12 inches one way or the other would make all the difference with furniture placement.
Seeing Your Home Before It Is Built
I have access to state-of-the-art room planning software where I can work off your architectural plans and build out your home with walls, windows and doors. I can drop in furniture to scale and show you how your space will look early in the game, when you can still make structural changes if needed.
Whether you are living locally or out of state when building your home, I can help ensure that we are discussing and catching more of these issues along the way that will affect how you live in the home. If you are out of state, I can serve as an extra set of eyes on your project, visiting the site or handling meetings with the builder or selections coordinator and vendors.
I love our completed custom build here in Bluffton, and would love to assist you as you embark on your building journey. While building is always going to be stressful with so much invested, I will take most of that off your shoulders so that you can enjoy the build process and watch your dream home come to life.