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Best Home Builders in NC

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Best Home BuildersIf a new custom home is on your agenda, you probably want to work with one of the best home builders in NC. And why not? This is a home you will want to potentially remain in your family for generations, so it should be built to the highest of standards. But how do you decide what makes a great home builder? Looking only at the new home construction leaders in terms of total houses built may miss the point, so this article will highlight some other keys.

To work with a proven North Carolina home builder with a track record of producing beautiful luxury homes, contact Don Mills right away.

The Problem with Volume

It’s easy to understand the temptation of looking only at the number of houses constructed when trying to determine the best home builders in NC. After all, if buyers keep purchasing houses from a certain builder, that means they are one of the best – right? Not so fast. There are a number of factors involved with determining how many homes a builder can create, but none of those factors have anything to do with being the “best”.

Rather, it’s all – as always – about money. If a builder has significant financial backing to take on large development projects, that builder is going to rack up a high volume of completed homes, regardless of the quality of those homes when they are finished. If you choose your builder based solely on how many houses they have built around the area, you may be in for a big disappointment when you see the quality of the work they offer.

More Important Considerations

So, if you can’t look to volume to tell you what builder is the best for your project, where should you turn? Try these various considerations instead –

Past client satisfaction. Ask a builder to connect you with owners of some of the previous homes they have built so you can get a feel for how the process went and whether the builder met expectations. Doing good work in the past is a strong indicator that a builder will repeat those results in the future.

A proven process. When building a custom home, you want to work with a builder that knows how to go from a bare piece of ground to a beautiful, luxury home that will stand the best of time. If a builder doesn’t have the right experience, or doesn’t have the right team in place, they may struggle to help you bring your ideas together into a design that suits your needs and fits in your budget.

Reputation for luxury. It’s one thing to build a home that will pass inspection and live up to basic expectations – it’s another thing entirely to build a luxury home that will impress any buyer. That’s what you get from the best home builders in NC, and it’s easy to spot the builders that belong in this conversation when you view some of the other properties they have created around the area.

Don’t simplify your search for a home builder down to the basic metric of who has built the most houses. That might be an easy way to go, but it could lead you in the wrong direction. Dig a little deeper to determine which area builder has the experience and commitment to luxury needed to get the job done.

Glossary: Home Building Terms

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Building a new home is a big exciting project. This will likely be one of the largest purchases of your life, and it can take many many months – if not more than a year – for everything to come together. With that in mind, it’s important to understand everything that is going on around the project, including the various terms you might hear used by contractors, agents, and others. This article will offer a basic glossary of some common industry terms to help you avoid confusion while building a house.

 

To work with one of the best Greensboro home builders on this exciting project, contact Don Mills today to get started. With Don Mills, you’ll get an experienced custom home builder capable of creating a house that will live up to even the highest of expectations.

 

Structural Elements

To help you make sense of this list of terms, we are going to divide this post up into sections. First, let’s look at some terms that are commonly used when talking about the structural components of a house.

 

  • When a significant load needs to be carried, often across a large space, a beam will be used that is bigger than the other surrounding framing elements.
  • Bearing wall. Some walls in a house serve to support the structure, while others are only to divide spaces. Those that hold up part of the home are considered bearing walls.
  • Any bearing wall needs to be properly supported to ensure the stability of the structure. With that in mind, a footing is placed under those sections to increase stability and avoid unwanted shifting or settling.
  • This is a framing component that serves to create a ceiling or floor.
  • When a post is used to run from floor to ceiling, whether for structural or aesthetic purposes, it is typically called a pillar.
  • The rafters in your home are an integral part of the roof structure, and they can either be covered up by a ceiling or left open for a dramatic look.

 

Visual Elements

While the terms below might not relate to elements that are necessary to keep the home standing, they are still important while working to achieve a specific, consistent look.

 

  • This one confuses some homebuyers, but it’s actually quite simple – the elevation of a home is the look of the vertical service, such as a view from street level. This is talked about often during the design phase.
  • If you are building a multi-level home, it might be useful to use a landing within a stairway to break up the climb and change directions.
  • Pocket door. Convenient for saving space, pocket doors work by having the door slide into the wall when open. This eliminates the need to keep space for the door to come out into the room.
  • The upright part of a cabinet is called a “stile”, while the horizontal members are called “rails”.
  • Transom window. This type of window is found above a door, and it can be a great way to let in some additional natural light. Some transom windows can be opened, while others are fixed.