Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Building Lingo

If you spend any time on a construction site, you're likely to hear words that sound like a foreign language. Worse yet, you may hear words that you thought you knew but which have some specialized meaning to the people around you.
Don't worry! You aren't really on another planet. Like any profession, the home building community has a language all its own. Because we believe effective communication is a critical element in meeting our clients' expectations, we make it a priority to help clients understand the building process. This includes some familiarity with the language of building. Here are several common building terms that, when understood, can help us communicate effectively.
  • Cycle time is the number of days between the first day on the job site and a home's completion. We work with our materials suppliers and subcontractors to determine a reliable cycle time so that our clients can move into their new home on time, as promised. Controlling cycle time also enables us to provide accurate estimates and helps us stay within budget.
  • "Rough-in": The "rough" stage of construction is the behind-the-wall structural and mechanical work, the parts you don't see when the building is complete. That includes work such as framing the walls, pulling the wiring through the studs, and installing pipes and heating ducts. During this point of the construction process, we can "rough-in" a system or product that provides an upgraded or extra service, such as wiring for a high-speed Internet or digital cable network. Installing a system's "backbone" during the rough-in stage of construction costs significantly less than installing it once the house is finished.
  • Staging: To help reduce costs, we stage or organize and schedule the delivery of materials as we need them, rather than receiving a huge load all at once. Staging may also refer to the way we place loads of materials on the job site to make them more accessible to various workers. Both practices help us reduce waste and theft, save time, and keep better track of costs -- all of which keeps budget and cycle time on track.
  • Lien Waivers are issued to us by each of our materials suppliers and subcontractors for the work they perform on a house. Lien Waivers (also called lien releases) prove that we have paid the agreed or negotiated costs of labor and materials in full. Lien releases also protect our clients from any liability if suppliers or subcontractors claim that additional payment is due. This type of claim can prevent the closing of the homeowners' loan, so we have a formal process to collect and verify lien releases before the close of escrow on a property.
  • Tape and texture: To create a finished wall, our drywall contractor applies tape and texture to hide nail or screw heads and conceal the joints between panels of drywall or gypsum wallboard. The contractor uses a mud-like compound to fill and cover the nail heads and secure a fibrous tape that bridges the joints between adjacent drywall panels. The mud is allowed to dry and is then sanded smooth before applying paint, wallpaper, or other finishes. A quality tape and texture job ensures that cracks or nail heads won't show through finished surfaces.
And this is just a sampling of common terminology used on a building site! We'll be back with more vocabulary in a future edition.

Friday, May 11, 2012

3 Pillar Homes 2012 BIA Parade of Homes Participant

Be sure to check out the BIA Parade of Homes website at www.biaparade.com

Also, you can LIKE them on Facebook-http://www.facebook.com/biaparade

Or Follow on Twitter @Biaparade

The 2012 Parade opens June 16th and runs until July 1st, Come See Us!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Excellence vs. Perfection

Famous football coach Bill Walsh was known for demanding perfection from his players during practices, even though he knew they would never attain it. His philosophy was if you don't strive for perfection, you don't have a chance to achieve it.

As professional builders, we follow the same philosophy; plan for perfection to attain excellence. Like Coach Walsh, we don't stand a chance of delivering an excellent new home that satisfies a client's wants and needs if we don't set and expect the highest standards possible.

In the pursuit of excellence, we coach our homebuyers about the building process so that their expectations are high but realistic. We want our homebuyers to push and challenge us to always do better, but it is also our job to define excellence ... and point out the difference between it and perfection.

Our best and most effective method for doing that is listening. Really listening. Not just to find out which floor plan a client prefers, but why and how it will satisfy their lifestyle needs. Not just about which community they want to live in, but also their concerns and questions about the quality of nearby schools, proximity to shopping and public services, and commute routes to work.

In this discovery phase, we craft a strategy for a new home that truly addresses and justifies our client's reasons for making such a significant investment and sets us on course to deliver it according to those expectations.

It is also critical to maintain a regular and open line of communication during the construction process. As during the planning stage, our first job is to listen to and then educate and inform our buyers about the subtleties of new-home construction that are specific to their concerns.

Responding to a buyer's question with "that's just the way it is" or "it's complicated" is unacceptable. Instead, we strive to deliver details, demonstrate our methods, and ensure that questions are answered to a buyer's satisfaction. That approach and level of respect for our buyers helps build a better understanding of our work process all the way through the final walk-through and close of escrow.

Finally, a key component of delivering excellence comes after the sale, once a buyer becomes a homeowner. We make sure to communicate our policies and procedures for warranty service -- once again demonstrating the difference between perfection and excellence. Ideally, we've done an excellent job of building their new home to the point where service callbacks are kept to a minimum; for those small warranty items that crop up after move-in, we work to be responsive and responsible to address them in a timely fashion.

As a homebuyer and owner, it's okay to want the "perfect" home. The best we can do, however, is to strive for perfection and achieve excellence that satisfies the lifestyle needs of our clients and protects their investment now and well into the future.