We recently purchased a 2-acre lot between Weatherford and Granbury.

Wife and I are about to be empty nesters, and we have lived in 3 homes over the last 20 years but never built. Few questions...

1. Is it better to pay a House Designer/Architect to have a set of plans that we can have a few builders bid - or to select a builder who will provide custom home design services as part of their offering? On the surface, it seems owning plans and being able to negotiate with several builders would be good...but average cost to get plans is $2.50/$3.00 per square foot under roof. For us that's going to be $10-12K for plans.

Noteworthy that I believe what we are seeking is not a unique floorplan nor do we have anything difficult about the build site to contend with.

I'm a negotiator at heart - so it's difficult for me to give up the option to work with multiple builders - but I fear I could be paying for plans that I would otherwise get for no charge and maybe there isn't enough savings potential to mess with negotiating hassles.

Thoughts?

2. Is there a benefit to having a realtor represent me to meet with builders? I can't imagine the builders don't just increase every line item by 3% to pay the realtor commission. What value should I expect to receive from that? Maybe it's worth it, but I need someone to explain to me why and how.

3. Referrals to great builders that operate in Parker and Hood counties would be appreciated


Thanks very much.

I financed hundreds of custom builds over the years and don't ever remember a Realtor being involved. I'm a firm believer in the value of a good Realtor in residential transactions including production builders but don't see the value with custom.

Your money will be better spent on a home inspector than a realtor. I'm talking about an active inspection process each phase of the construction. You can't inspect electrical or plumbing if the sheet rock is up.

There is an Aggie builder (Cross) in Parker County - not sure what his exact area is, but he is a stand up guy. I recall from a prior conversation that it is fairly normal for people to use an architect.

Thanks to everyone for their replies so far. I appreciate the insights and suggestions.

Recommend Sam Anderson for a home builder. Hers a solid guy and does great great.work

He is a tsip but worth overlooking that

Thanks warrington74 - do you have a website or facebook page for him?

I went thru this about 12 years ago when we built on a 1.5 acre lot outside of College Station. We bought the lot first after a year-plus search to find the right location. Then we hired a local architect to help us design the house. I agreed to an hourly rate with him, and I'm glad we did because we kept changing our mind as the plans took shape. That arrangement allowed him to keep tweaking it to our satisfaction while also treating him fairly. You have to trust the person to do that, but he was very trustworthy. We probably spent about $10k in architect fees at the time

He was also connected to the builder community, and we interviewed and got proposals from several. We hired the one that we thought was the best fit overall. Again, I'll emphasize flexibility because as the house took shape there were a few things where we learned we wanted something a bit different, or that we just didn't think about it to begin with. He was very accommodating as long as we paid for the incremental cost plus his time to manage it. We ended up very happy with the final product.

With a custom home, I would be concerned about thinking you've got everything 100% defined on a fixed cost contract and then hiring a builder who rigidly interprets everything to the point of being inflexible. I don't believe in taking advantage of vendors. That's not a winning formula. But you need somebody who will work with you as long as you treat them right. That's my two cents.

Edit to add that we didn't use a realtor at all. We bought the lot directly from the developer and dealt directly with the architect, builder, and bank.

I'm a big fan of going the indendent architect/designer route, although it's more expensive. If they're any good and experienced, they can be very valuable as a sounding board, inspector and advocate during the construction process. Some builders don't like that - but good builders ought to understand and appreciate it.

As others have said - absolutely no need for a realtor if you already own your lot and are doing a custom build.

https://bjanderson.net/contact

Ask for Sam.
Super down to earth trustworthy guy

I would say unless you can't find a plan you like in the 10,000's of plans online, then and only then, would I hire an architect. I made the mistake of not looking hard enough and spent $10k on plans for a house we probably won't end up building. Also, a lot of builders will have plans that they'll make modifications to suit your needs.

If you are building a truly custom home, then definitely have it designed first. Then meet with builders to discuss pricing. You're going to want to see homes they're building before making a decision. It will tell you how involved they actually are. You don't want a guy who stops by every couple of days.

You could also consider Couto Homes, but you have to build one of their plans. You can make changes to their plan, but they won't bid custom plans.

I tried the on line plan route...and I was taling to a builder that was encouraging that. But we just could not find anything that wouldn't need a lot of modifications. And in hindsight, I'm really glad that we didn't go that route with that builder (we've known people that did). Ask yourself why a builder doesn't want to use custom plans... In our case, the builder didn't want to have to answer to anyone else. Architects/designers can definitely be a PITA to a builder....but there can be value in that to homeowner. Again, I'm only talking good, experienced architects/desginers that really understand the construction process.

MAS444 said:

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I tried the on line plan route...and I was taling to a builder that was encouraging that. But we just could not find anything that wouldn't need a lot of modifications. And in hindsight, I'm really glad that we didn't go that route with that builder (we've known people that did). Ask yourself why a builder doesn't want to use custom plans... In our case, the builder didn't want to have to answer to anyone else. Architects/designers can definitely be a PITA to a builder....but there can be value in that to homeowner. Again, I'm only talking good, experienced architects/desginers that really understand the construction process.

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The more likely answer is they don't want to be help accountable for someone else's stupidity.

It's your money and it's a custom home so owner is free to do whatever they like, but it's totally rational that a builder might be hesitant to run with any old custom plan.

This is the same reason a lot of builders prefer spec homes with tweaks allowed. It's much more efficient from a cost and time standpoint to build a plan that you have experience with. You learn over time what works and what doesn't.

I get your point and don't disagree. We're just talking about different types of builders I think. "Custom" can mean different things…but truly custom isn't "spec", spec+ or an internet plan. But i understand there are positives and negatives with all.

of course. not saying they're the same.

Just that there is a reason a lot of builders prefer spec over true custom. Variability is a menace to repeatability.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed a beautiful home but try living in one

When we built, we found an architect that we liked, we did as others discussed. We bought one of his previous plans and then had him make changes to the established plan for just an hourly charge. It was alot cheaper to go this route than to start from scratch on drawings