Signs of a Bad Home Builder, and Why You Should Walk Your Build

Most people try to judge a builder before the contract is signed, from a website, a few photos and a sales conversation. Those help. The most reliable test comes after the work starts, when you can see how the house is actually being built.

My advice to anyone building a house is simple. Do continual walkthroughs, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Walk Your Build, and Keep Walking It

Visit the site regularly while the house goes up, at every stage. The framing, the plumbing and wiring rough-ins, the insulation and the windows are all visible for a short window before they are covered. Once the drywall goes on, you will not see them again.

You do not need to be a builder to notice when something is off. If it looks wrong, feels wrong or smells wrong, it’s probably wrong. Ask about it. A good answer will usually make sense the first time you hear it.

A Good Builder Invites You In

A good builder will encourage anyone to walk through their homes to see the quality. That goes for the house being built for you and for the other homes they have under construction.

Builders who are proud of their work want you to see it before it is covered up. If a builder makes it hard to visit the site, or the answers to your questions are vague, treat that as information about how the rest of the job will go.

Signs of a Bad Home Builder

Here are the warning signs I would watch for as a homeowner.

No Communication

You should not have to chase your builder for answers. If calls and messages go unreturned early in the job, when everyone is on their best behavior, that rarely improves later.

Poor Materials

The quality of what goes into the house, from the lumber to the windows to the fixtures, decides how well it holds up. Materials that look cheap during a walkthrough are worth asking about, especially in the parts of the house that are about to be covered.

A House That Goes Up Too Fast

Speed sounds like a good thing, and a well-run job does keep moving. If the home goes up too fast, though, you can’t see what’s going on in there. Steps get rushed and there is little time for anyone to catch a mistake before the next trade covers it.

A Different Crew Every Time

Ask who will be doing the work. A builder who changes trades all the time has to shop the rate and the quality on every job, and you don’t get the same quality or the same dedication. We use the same people. We use the same plumber and the same guy who does our cabinets, and because of that we’ve built trust and we get great quality.

Questions to Ask on a Walkthrough

You do not need a checklist to get value from a site visit, but a few plain questions go a long way:

• What has been done since my last visit, and what comes next?
• Is anything behind schedule, and why?
• What is going to be covered up next, and can I see it first?
• Who is the crew on site today, and have they worked with you before?

For the questions to ask before you sign anything, see our guide to questions to ask your custom home builder before signing. Our article on what’s behind the drywall in a new home covers what you are looking at during those visits.

Building With Fin Home

We build custom homes across Dallas-Fort Worth. You can see our finished builds in the project portfolio, or contact us to talk about your plans.