As a professional builder, Magleby Construction understands how critical it is to establish and maintain a budget — one that works from ground breaking to final walk-through. No one likes cost overruns or unpleasant surprises.

When a project’s budget goes over, it’s unlikely that a builder profits from it. More often than not, it’s a cost that the company shares with the home buyer. Going over budget not only erodes profit, but reputation, too.

Here are some methods Magleby uses to make sure we stay on budget:

• Value engineering. We’re very good at optimizing construction costs while maintaining or improving housing performance and durability. To do this, we need to be on the project team from the outset, working with you and your design professional to identify and use the right materials and refine construction costs of your new home before breaking ground.
• Negotiated subcontracts. We attract the most talented and highest quality trade partners at the best possible price. These are people we work with on a regular basis. Rather than focus on lowest price and risk dropping quality standards, we take the plans and specifications to our best subs and negotiate a set cost for their work. After negotiations, those numbers are added to the budget and the contractors are held to their original estimates.
• Price guarantees. Similar to negotiating with trade partners, Magleby may seek to get guaranteed pricing from materials suppliers as early and for as long as possible. Placing a pre-determined ceiling on prices is critical when material costs such as lumber or copper are volatile and likely to rise even before construction begins.
• Attention to detail. Costs are more easily kept in check when every penny is tied to either a specific stage of the process (such as rough framing or roofing) or materials or products (such as a dishwasher or garage door). In this way, we are able to track specific costs to a detailed scope of work and materials list.
• Tracking costs. We don’t wait until the end of the job to find out if we are on budget. We set key milestones during construction to make sure costs match the amount of work that’s been completed. Tracking costs during the project allows discrepancies to be caught early and frequently before they impact the overall budget.
• Tracking changes. Although change orders are a part of virtually every home we build, they are the cause of most cost overruns and time delays during a new-home project. This is not an area to leave to chance. We have formal policies and procedures in place to manage change requests. These procedures make any changes to the scope of work as efficient as possible, minimizing cost overruns and time delays.

These strategies go a long way toward ensuring cost control on a new-home or remodeling project, protecting everyone from an unpleasant experience and helping ensure a high level of quality and customer satisfaction.

If there’s one thing you can do to ensure a satisfying building experience, it’s to maintain regular and productive communication with your builder. At Magleby Construction we’ve developed and continually improve our communication processes to ensure a pleasant experience for our clients.

Trying to select the right builder for your new home? This is an ideal time to explore your builder’s communication style. Early communications reflect how your builder will communicate with you during construction and after closing. Effective communicators will encourage input and provide satisfactory and prompt answers to questions.

Here are some communication tips based on years of communicating with clients:

• Discuss progress. Make sure you understand how you and your builder will discuss the project and its progress. Many builders encourage periodic walk-throughs of the house at critical stages of construction. These ‘guided tours’ can take place during structural framing, electrical and plumbing rough-in or after drywall.
• Plan formal times to talk. At Magleby Construction we select an acceptable day each week for a scheduled work site meeting. There we discuss and document questions and answers that develop during the construction process. This meeting facilitates a more timely constructon process.
• Allow for less formal communications. Find out about opportunities to conduct informal meetings or use other communication channels (such as phone calls or e-mails). Ask how quickly you can expect a response from your builder when you have a concern.
• Use a detailed construction timeline. This can guide you as you formulate questions about the construction of your home and gain a better understanding of the building process. The construction schedule will also establish deadlines for key selection decisions you must make, such as paint colors, lighting and plumbing fixtures and flooring materials.
• Understand how changes work. The Additional Work Authorization is the procedure established builders for making changes after construction begins. Few projects are completed without some changes along the way. Familiarize yourself with this process before construction begins. In addition, learn the details of your builder’s warranty and service program.

Savvy and successful builders have a plan in place for communicating effectively with their homebuyers before, during and after construction. Be  sure to take appropriate opportunities to express your needs and address your situation, preferences and comfort level. Once you’ve settled on a communication plan with your builder, stick with it! It’s the key to a safe and sane building process.

Magleby Construction commits to high-quality standards, remaining on schedule, staying within budget and servicing our work and the components we use to build each new home. To achieve these goals, we must be very particular about the materials and products we recommend to clients.

In order for us to give reliable assurances and properly service the products and features of a new home, we oversee and coordinate every aspect of the construction process. When that oversight is surrendered to another, we sacrifice our power to perform for you.

Occasionally, a homebuyer suggests something that’s not within our recommended standard, upgraded or optional products. Some of the suggested products and materials may not meet the expectations we and our homebuyers have for lasting performance and cost efficiency. As with most things in life, a lower price doesn’t necessarily mean a lower overall cost.

Off-the-shelf or mail-order items, even brand name items, carry some risk for both builder and homebuyer. The builder must guarantee installation and durability without truly knowing how the item will perform in your home. It may also be more difficult to install than the line of recommended recommend, raising costs. Some builders provide their clients with allowances to purchase certain products (usually finishes, like light fixtures) on their own. Even in those cases, we’re going to point our clients to the showroom of a reliable supplier; one with whom we work regularly, with a track-record of providing only high-quality materials.

Making product selections early in the construction process, often before a home is started, allows us to ensure that the products will get to the job site on time and within budget. Coordinating vendors and trade contractors involves a certain amount of lead time. This is the time it takes to receive a product from a supplier and schedule an installer. With timely selections from our clients we are able to keep a project on schedule and avoid paying a premium for rush deliveries.

While Magleby Construction offers plenty of choices, those choices are determined based on extensive market analysis and years of experience in offering the most valuable commodity of all — your peace of mind.

It’s been said that for most people, a new home is the largest, single investment they’ll make. We all spend a large amount of time inside (and hopefully enjoying) our homes. Should such an investment be based on price alone?

Many define value as the lowest price. But that often discounts the value of providing a high level of quality and service.

Magleby Construction believes value includes a positive building experience for the owner and a sense of confidence and pride about a home’s quality. Value should also consist of a high level of personal service and a commitment to maintaining a relationship built on trust long after the move-in date.

Some builders play the low-price game. They build a stripped-down house on the cheap to achieve a cut-rate price. The goal: make a sale and move on. They typically don’t have the staff or systems in place to respond to issues once title is transferred.

In contrast, here’s how Magleby defines and delivers a higher level of value:

• Communication. We listen and respond to our clients’ ambitions and dreams for their new home. We help define and discover their wants and needs, while working within their budget. We educate them about the complexities of the building process, set realistic expectations and keep them informed about what happens as their new home takes shape. We’re prompt and respectful when we meet to discuss a project. We follow through on promises made and keep our clients informed about a job’s progress.
• An Efficient Job Site. Our crews and job site managers follow an agreed-upon schedule and detailed list of specifications that we develop with each client. Materials for a new home are ordered and delivered as needed and on time. We manage and coordinate our trade partners and suppliers toward the common goal of meeting our company’s standards and our clients’ expectations.
• Follow Through. When a new home is finished and we turn over the keys to our clients’, we don’t disappear. We know that it is critical to our clients’ ultimate satisfaction that we continue effective communication while providing thorough and prompt service. When issues crop up — and they always do — we have policies and procedures in place to respond in a timely fashion. We work the problem; we don’t pass the buck. We belong to this community. This is where we’ve chosen to raise our family, and we intend to be here for years to come.

We believe our definition of value instills confidence and ensures satisfaction. We respect that our clients’ entrust us to deliver a product that is created before their eyes. It’s a responsibility we take seriously, and it’s the cornerstone of what we call value.