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Home Construction Change Orders - Avoid at All
Costs
How to Avoid Costly Home Construction Change
Orders
By: Mark J. Donovan
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Home construction change orders occur
when home buyers or homeowners decide to make last minute changes, or after the
fact changes, to their home construction plans. Home construction change orders
can add significant cost overruns to a new home construction project as well as
set the project back by days, weeks and possibly even months. At all costs home
construction changes should be avoided as they bring only pain and heartache to
all parties; the general contractor, the subcontractors, and most importantly
you. |
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The best way to avoid making home
construction change orders is to have a complete set of house plans and
specifications that you have thoroughly read, understand and agree with in
100% entirety. This means you understand and agree with every aspect of the
plan, including where each light fixture and outlet are going, the color of
interior and exterior paints, the selection of appliances and bathroom
plumbing fixtures, etc.
It is important to fully
appreciate the magnitude of a new home construction project and the costs
associated with a home construction change order, whether it is for the
building of a new home, a home addition, or simply a bathroom remodeling
project. |
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There are many decisions that have to
be made in anyone of these projects and all of them should be made prior to the
actual start of construction. If you hold off and make these decisions until the
last minute, or after the work have already occurred, you will end up with large
cost overruns, schedule delays and very upset contractors.
A typical scenario of a home
construction change order is the changing of an electrical outlet location. The
home buyer happens to be walking through the home construction project after the
drywall is up and in the process of the walkthrough notices and outlet location
that they don’t like.
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So they talk to the general
contractor and request that it be relocated and they say they are willing to pay
for this “simple” home construction change order. What the home buyer doesn’t
realize is that the general contractor now has to bring the electrical
subcontractor back in to move the outlet, and the drywall subcontractor to patch
up the hole from the old outlet location. Thus the cost of making this “simple”
electrical outlet location involves the general contractor and two
subcontractors. Suffice it to say, the cost of this “simple” home construction
change order is not cheap.
So again, the key to avoiding costly
home construction change orders is to fully understand every aspect, feature,
and building material specified in the house plans and specifications. One way
to help you do this is by visiting your local home supply store, and selecting
and documenting the specific building material items you want to use in your
home construction project. This includes items such as doors and windows,
siding, masonry, paint colors, appliances, lighting fixtures, bathroom fixtures,
cabinets, and even shrubs if your home construction project requires
landscaping. Every finished building material you care about in your home
construction project should be decided upon before home construction begins.
To conclude, general contractors and
subcontractors hate home construction change orders, and you will too when you
see their associated costs. For the most part the costs are real, but you do set
yourself up for price gouging. However, it is important to understand that the
contractors’ have busy schedules and home construction change orders are
disruptive to them. They have their own business schedules to maintain, and when
they spend an extra unplanned day or week on your project they end up having to
hold off other customers, and run the risk of losing them. So avoid home
construction change orders at all costs. You’ll save yourself time, money and a
lot of aggravation on every ones part.
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