Buy or build a home? Advice needed!

[MATTIAC]

As a builder ( general contractor) it is tough to deal with folks who have no insight as to what things will look like when completed, or dont understand simple details that you try to ask or include. To build a detail as per print, then the client comes in and doesnt like it, you have to take it down and re build it, so there for paying 3 times to get one thing, so maybe it might be worth buying an existing home and then working out the kinks as far as what you like and dont like and bring those ideas to a builder down the road.

Go check out new sub divisions, see who the builders are and what they have to offer. if it a well known established builder you might be ok, many of the big builders will get the best prices and trades due to the volume they have. even talking to a few realtors who list houses in those subdivisions will have a general idea of what the quality is like, and always hire a home inspector for new and old homes.


Might be worth calling me sometime luke and i can go in depth of dos and donts and what not. I havnt built a lot of homes, but i have built a few and learned a few things.

 

[mick]

Build your own, you get what you want and not someone elses junk. Building new is cheaper than renovating. Do not cut corners to save money, get what you want the first time even if it costs more, it will save you money in the long run.

 

[SKDeuce]

We just did something similar last year. Had a house built on 4 acres by a home builder south of Saskatoon. Do lots of research on what you want in the new house. We probably looked at 90% of the showhomes in the area and made a list of wants and needs from what we saw. Also, research builders. Ask what contractors they use. See if you can go and look at other houses they built or that are in progress. Our builder allowed us to access the house anytime we wanted during construction (gave us a key) which was huge for us since we both work in the industry and have seen some pretty shoddy work.

Even after all that trouble, our house was still 2.5 months late being done. Wasn't completely the builders fault, the truss and floor supplier was a month and a half late sending them out which screwed everyones schedules up. Something to think about when building, I have an uncle that has been a framer for 40 years and he said the only 2 houses he has seen done on time was his and his buddy's!

 

[chadwik74]

If you have a iPad/iPhone, get the Houzz app. It's great for new ides etc. we are just going threw the building process now, waiting for our drawings then getting a price. If all goes well we should be starting June 1

 

[Beels]

If you build new you get to pay the GST....if you buy used, you don't. It's a nice chunk of change....

If you stay under 450K (IIRC) including lot, there's a GST rebate program from the feds where you get it back.

We're under a week away from moving in to our new house. We looked at 3 or 4 houses on the market last January and decided if we were going to spend 400 grand on a 10 to 15 year old house and have to spend 30 to 40k on it right away to get it how we want it, building new was a better option. We're in a smaller town so the housing market is more limited than the cities.