How to Choose a Builder in Utah
Working with Bluerock — Part One
You’ve saved all the pins to your Pinterest board, you have daydreamed about the way you want everything to look, you have picked out colors of paint at the hardware store and even went furniture shopping at your local home decor spot. You picked out your lot and now you are ready to start building your dream home.
But how do you pick your home builder?
Choosing a builder can be a daunting task, we know! The building process is an exciting journey, and choosing your builder is an important decision. By the end of your journey you’ll have your dream home, but do you have a team of professionals to help you get there while respecting your budget, wants, and needs?
The Bluerock Team wants to ensure you have a great building experience. There is so much to learn about the process, and we want to help you make a more informed decision when choosing your builder. In this new series, we are going to cover how to choose a builder, and what to expect during the building process from an experienced builder.
When You Hire a Builder
As a buyer, you can categorize your purchases into 3 different groups.
Products: Items that you use or wear. These would be things like shoes, food, toiletries, cars, cell phones, and clothes.
Services: Things that are provided to you. These would be things like oil changes, window washing, dry cleaning, and doctor appointments.
Experiences: Things you do. These would be things like going on a trip, seeing a movie, going to a football game, or getting a massage.
Sometimes our purchases can blend and involve more than one category. So, for example, getting a haircut – you are getting an experience that feels great and is enjoyable, a service provided by your stylist, as well as products that are being used on your hair.
When you hire a builder, you are blending all three purchases into one. You are buying a comprehensive collection of products that will be assembled and installed by an extensive network of skilled service providers, and the entire process will be an experience from start to finish. You want to be sure you are in good hands!
“In this series, you will learn how to choose a builder, and what to expect during the building process.”
What do you get from a builder?
Today, let’s start with how to choose the right builder and what things to look for in that process.
Understanding what you are going to get when you choose a builder can help simplify the decision-making process. While the process itself has a lot of moving pieces, the process can be simplified by identifying three deliverables that every homeowner receives from their builder. These are:
The end product: Your dream home!
The services rendered: The quality of the laborers and subcontractors performing the work on your build
The experience: The experience your builder delivers from pre-construction, during construction, and after completion.
When it comes to choosing a quality builder you need to look for a few key things. But today we are just going to focus on the experience piece. We at Bluerock do all we can to provide a positive customer experience. Many of our clients have such a remarkable experience with us, they become repeat customers! We love working with you, and are delighted when we have the chance to serve you or your friends and family more than once!
“We at Bluerock do all we can to provide a positive customer experience.”
ROCK – Our Four Pillars
We provide a stellar experience for our customers by focusing on four main pillars. As we follow this formula, we ensure a predictable experience for every customer that chooses to build with us. These four pillars make up the ROCK of Bluerock: Relationships, Organization, Communication, and Kindness. Let’s break them down.
1. Relationships
All good client-builder relationships feature a few key elements:
Formalized in writing
Clearly defined expectations and responsibilities
Boundaries are established and respected
Goals and objectives are in alignment with one another
We will explain our innovative way to establish a healthy client-builder relationship later in this series. By going through this process, we can solve problems and avoid project challenges before they even happen.
2. Organization
Your builder needs to be organized from start to finish. That organization should begin in the planning stage when the design and pre-construction process begins. In the pre-construction process, you will set your design within your budget parameters. There is nothing worse than deciding on something then finding out it is outside the budget that was set.
We also help with design management. We can help create the design for you, work with an interior designer to get the look just right or even work with plans you have. Lastly, your builder should have a thorough and organized process for cost estimating and cost optimization. We want to ensure you are getting the best for your dollar.
You can expect to spend a lot of time with your builder making product and material selections and defining the complete scope of the project. Your builder should have a detailed schedule put together prior to starting construction. When all of these elements of organization are in place, your project is set up for success!
“Your builder needs to be organized from start to finish.”
3. Communication
Communication-rich processes means you are involved in every step of the process. You are informed; you are a part of the conversation. We are an open book and are there to answer any questions or concerns you may have. This looks like regular meetings, daily emails or text check-ins, open-book budgets, and the use of the CoConstruct platform so you can see the daily logs and photos of what has been done THAT day.
4. Kindness
Your builder should have a culture of kindness and respect. Building projects are complex and have a lot of moving parts. Challenges and surprises are a part of the process. Every problem and challenge can be resolved eventually, but with kindness and respect mixed in, solutions come more quickly and things can move forward. Our Bluerock team makes kindness, respect, and professionalism a high priority not only in our relationships with our clients, but also with the entire project team which includes municipal officials and inspectors, design & engineering professionals, subcontractors & laborers, suppliers & vendors, and client household members & neighbors.
“Our Bluerock team makes kindness, respect, and professionalism a high priority”
The Bluerock Guarantee
In conclusion, having our four ROCK pillars in place to guarantee a predictable experience allows us to foster trust and keep our relationships strong. When you can trust your builder to treat you right and do things the right way, it gives you peace of mind that you made the right choice.
Located in northern Utah and interested in starting the conversation with us on your new renovation project or build? Click here to contact us.
