Downsized Homebuilders Entering Remodeling Market
In an uncertain economy and with interest rates near historic lows, many home owners are remodeling. With fewer homes being built, many homebuilders are now taking on remodeling jobs they wouldn’t have considered.
“Many people are trying to do things just to survive the down times,” notes one builder. Custom home builders are still building custom homes, but not as many. Remodeling projects are buffering the bottom line. A few years ago, builders weren’t remodeling.
When it was easy to flip a home to add a bedroom, now remodels from $3,000, $5,000 all the way up to $125,000 are becoming common.
Word of mouth is leading homeowners to call homebuilders for remodeling.
This may be a good time to get a good deal on a remodeling project from a hungry homebuilder.
Consumer tip for getting the most out of your contractor: Study the plans and cut longitudinal and transverse sections out of the design to arrive at the most pared down version of your plan. Since so much of the cost of construction is calculated by the total area (square foot) of materials involved, negotiate your best cost for construction on the smallest total area. You may elect to complete the drawings based on the smallest acceptable area or develop a second set with your ideal total footprint. When bids are returned on the smaller set of drawings (with specifications — recommended) sit down with the builder with the most reasonable bid and inquire, for example: “If we add x feet here and y feet in the following areas, how will this affect the total cost?” Typically, the extra built area will not add a proportional cost to the total bid. The result is more remodeling for your money.