Custom Home Building’s Golden Rule – The Rule of NOW

By Bob Hinz

So much of what we do in custom home construction is about timing. And in the Denver home building business, time is gold. I’ve seen our owner-builder clients agonize about when to call for this inspection or that delivery, or I’ve seen clients fret about calling a subcontractor to schedule work, or ask a question about a start date, or about an invoice.

What I’ve learned about this business is the best time to do anything – is NOW!

I once watched an architect sketch out five different options for a front porch design. We (the owner, me and the architect) all knew that our proximity to the front property setback was “questionable” and we’d have to do some fancy design work to get around what we thought were the city’s zoning rules.

The architect fiddled with a sketch pad – and we discussed the pros and cons of that design. Then, he fiddled again, and we discussed, and he fiddled and we discussed…you get the idea. The clock’s ticking!

I got fed up. I called the city. I asked for a zoning expert and did my best “I’m a dumb builder” routine.  The guy gave me exactly what we needed. Just 45 seconds on the phone. Problem solved!

What happened? How did we go down that rat hole?

We forgot the rule of NOW.

For goodness sake – with a cell phone in hand there is no earthly reason for not getting the information we need right now, or scheduling a meeting right now, or scheduling the start date for the plumber right now, or checking on the status of our building permit right now.

The thing is, time is such a precious resource in everyone’s life, and in new home construction, mere minutes can make the difference between a concrete wall poured correctly, or one that’s poured with two beam pockets wrong, because the rule of NOW slipped out the window.

LATER is never any good. Later is always too late. Later might have cost you $3000, or hours of frustration or an argument with an inspector, or a missed delivery window, or a wall framed wrong because you needed to tell the framer about a change on a refrigerator.

LATER always costs money. And with a custom home building project, Later can cost a LOT of money!

I’m not saying that now will always prevent mishaps, misunderstandings, mistakes or lost money. But it’s a much safer bet than later.

It’s a concept and a behavior we try to teach our owner-builder clients early on and we do our best to model it every day.

By the way, we help people build amazing custom homes. If you need help or want an estimate, you can call us later. Or, you can call us, well, you know, right now! 303-756-8870.