You will interview builders who all have handsome portfolios and firm handshakes. The portfolios tell you what they've built. They tell you almost nothing about what it was like to be the client. Here is how to find that out. It's a checklist we hand to people even when we suspect they'll use it on us.
Start with how they talk about money
Ask early: 'What do homes like mine actually cost per square foot, and how did your last three finish against their contracts?' A trustworthy builder answers with real numbers and offers the caveats without being asked. Dodging at the interview stage does not get better after signing. It gets worse.
Then ask to see a sample budget and allowance schedule from a finished project, with names removed. You're not checking the prices. You're checking whether you can read it. A budget you can't read is a budget you can't hold anyone to.
Compare bids like an estimator
If you're getting several prices, level them before you compare: identical drawings to every bidder, allowances set to the same real numbers, and exclusions listed side by side. Most cheap bids are simply incomplete bids. The money comes back later as change orders.
The cheapest bid is often the most expensive house. Not because low bidders are villains, but because a number too low to build the drawings has to be corrected mid-build, when you have no leverage and the trades have no patience.
Six questions worth asking every builder
Ask these word for word and take notes:
- Who runs my site, and how many projects do they run at once?
- You want a name, and a number smaller than three.
- How did your last five projects finish against their contracts?
- Under five percent is craft. 'It varies' is a forecast.
- How are change orders handled?
- The only good answer: priced, written and signed before the work proceeds.
- When did you last deliver bad news early, and how?
- Everyone has bad-news stories. You're listening for who told the client first.
- May I speak to a client who is mid-build, not a finished, happy one?
- Mid-build clients tell the truth. So do clients from five years ago.
- May I speak to one of your subcontractors?
- Trades know who pays on time, plans ahead and runs a decent site. They will tell you.
The green flags
A paid, defined preconstruction phase instead of a free guess. An estimator involved during design, not after it. Allowances tied to your actual selections. A weekly owner meeting on the calendar before you've signed anything. Warranty visits that are scheduled, not just offered. And a builder who has, at least once in the interview, told you something you didn't want to hear.
Then do all of it to us. Ask for our numbers, our mid-build references and our subcontractors. Choosing a builder is a two-year relationship started on a handshake and a spreadsheet. You're entitled to inspect both.