Building a custom home on Cape Cod can be a daunting process, however, one of the biggest hurdles is managing the budget. Value engineering is a term often used to describe the process of re-working a design to meet budget constraints. This is a great process, but it is very hard to do late in the design process, when costs have gone out of control. Costs are controlled one dollar at a time, through a combination of design, construction techniques, and selection of finishes and fixtures. It is almost impossible to shave $100,000 off of a $300,000 project. A better approach is to set a budget of $200,000 and drive the project to that goal at each stage of the design and selection process.
Since REEF is a design/build company, we assist in developing the budget expectation, and take ownership of the budget throughout the construction process. Managing expectation is the key to a sucessful project, a good finished product, and satisfied customers.
Here is a great article with some tips for value engineering your home project from housingzone.com: Value Engineering a Custom Home
If you want to know what your budget might look like for your next project, click below to download our construction cost guide:
The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University has revently published its Leading Indicator for Remodeling Activity assessment, and things are really looking up. After two years at historic lows, the outlook is promising for remodelers, and custom home builders, with an expected increase of 5.9% by the end of the year. As discussed in previous posts, we here at REEF, Cape Cod's Home Builder, have seen increased demand for remodeling and renovation services over the last several months. So what does this mean for the consumer? A few things:
