You may or may not be wondering how we chose Stylecraft Builders (www.stylecraftbuilders.com) to build our house. If you were reading the last entry carefully, you would know that the owner of Stylecraft (Randy French) is a friend of Joe's. Of course, that weighed heavily in our decision, but there were several other factors that we considered.
First, we knew we would not be building a true custom home from one of the more expensive builders in town. We can't afford a luxury home in an exclusive community with all the bells and whistles, but we still wanted a nice home. We didn't want a home that looked cheap or would need the carpet, flooring, and appliances replaced in a couple of years because they were not good quality.
Stylecraft's mission statement says it all:
"Merely follow the Golden Rule. Build each home as if you are building
it for yourself – treat each customer with the respect they deserve and
make the building process a positive experience with can-do attitude
and integrity."
We were really impressed with the features that come standard with our home: granite countertops, tile and laminate flooring, cedar fence, sprinkler system, etc. Before we signed our contract, we went to the model homes and also went to a home that was nearing completion. I am pretty sure it was when we saw that home, that Joe and I both knew that we were going to build a home and that Stylecraft was going to build it for us. We walked into a dusty home under construction that still managed to be a beautiful home that felt homey and luxurious all at the same time. And it wasn't even finished yet!
Another thing that sold us on Stylecraft was the reaction we got from our realtor friends when we told them that we were building with Stylecraft. Each person congratulated us and told us that not only will we get a nice home, but also a nice home building experience.
Finally, and most important to us, was the knowledge that the people who work for Stylecraft are good people. Randy French has a reputation for helping others in the community and being a man of his word. The company actually built an Extreme Makeover house several years ago taking up tons of time and resources to make it all happen. While we know our house won't be built in 7 days, we are positive that they will build us the house we want with the quality we expect!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Welcome to Our Home!
That title may be a little deceiving. You see, we don't have a home yet. But YET is the important word in that sentence. We are building a home. How exciting and scary all at the same time. To be honest, I haven't said those words to very many people. We are building a home. How in the world are we building a home?
Our story is actually more common than we sometimes think. We have not always made the best decisions and have had some difficult life circumstances. We have been renting for several years while getting our finances in order and taking care of old debts. This year we started really thinking about what we want to do when our lease is up this summer. Joe talked to a friend who is an investor and he said the time to buy was now. We went and looked at a couple of foreclosures thinking we could get more for our money that way. We were pretty shocked by what we saw and quickly realized that:
- We do not have lots of cash in savings for updates, changes, and required repairs.
- We are not handy in any way shape or form.
This blog is our attempt to not only document our experiences for ourselves, our friends, and our families; but also to help other people who might be thinking about building find out what it is like from the buyers' side of things, give helpful tips from our experiences, and provide information that could make home building easier for others.
We hope you enjoy the blog and we can't wait to get started with our home!
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