Home Building Process
Building your dream home is affordable and convenient with Blue Ridge Homes of Southwest Virginia, Inc. The key to it also being a rewarding experience begins with choosing and building the right home for your family and your budget. Do you want a single story or a two story home…gable roof or a hip roof…vinyl siding or brick or both…? These and many more decisions are yours to make. Our job is first to identify and explain these choices, and then to show you how they affect the final price of the home you have chosen.
The following brief outline should familiarize you with the key elements of our process.
- You are already in the middle of the first step…familiarizing yourself with our home plans. At your request, we will provide pricing and an Exhibit “B” on plans of interest to you. The Exhibit “B” will detail standard features in the home you have selected and the price of the home is with those features. The Exhibit “B” is very detailed and we have worked hard to be certain that it includes all the options necessary to provide you with a very well equipped home. But no two families have the exact same needs and tastes, so we realize that this is just the starting point. Now it’s question and answer time…by working closely with one of our Sales Counselors, we will learn more about what features are most important for you and your family, and changes can be made accordingly. If significant changes are made, we will explain their impact on your final pricing. The changes you make have the potential to either raise or lower the price of the home.
- As an on-your-lot builder, we build on your land, not ours. So the next step involves meeting at your property to discuss such issues as access, property lines and building set backs, availability of electricity, slope of the proposed building area, and well/septic, if in a rural area. Being familiar with your building site will help us as we work with you in deciding what minimum site preparation, if any, will need to be included in your budget planning. You have probably already considered some of these factors as you focused in on certain plans. This helps us catch up with you.
- Once site conditions have been factored in, it is now time to decide on a home plan and finalize any floor plan changes. Approval by our professional engineer may be necessary if the floor plan change is significant enough. We can now determine a final price of your plan.
- Once a home plan is chosen and its details finalized, it is time to sign the Building Contract. This Contract is necessary to formalize our obligations to build the home you have chosen with the options that you have picked out. It is also necessary for you to have this Contract to secure the building loan that you will need to build your home. Of course, at this point, the Contract is contingent on your loan approval, and can be voided prior to construction if your situation changes.
- Once your financing has been approved, we can begin the permitting process. Your building plans will first be obtained from our engineer. Then we will begin obtaining all County required permits, such as the Zoning Permit, Health Permit, and Building Permit. Once the Building Permit is in hand, and the lot ready for building, we will meet again to review all details of your home plan and to lay out the exact location of your foundation.
- Construction begins by digging the footers for your home's foundation. The crawl space or basement foundation is then constructed. Once complete and inspected, we will meet together on site with the framing contractor to review your plans again in detail to cover any last minute adjustments.
- Actual framing now begins. You can follow the progress each day as the floor system, walls, roof, windows, doors, siding, porches, and decks all come together as the framework of your home is completed. Once under roof (dried-in) we will do a walk-thru together to be sure all framing is per plan, or if any changes were made, that they have been properly addressed.
- After the finish frame walk-thru, we will proceed with plumbing, HVAC, and electrical rough-ins. Once complete, the home must pass a County rough-in inspection of all work performed to this point. The insulation is then installed and inspected by the County. Once again you will be asked to meet at the home and review progress before we close up the walls with wallboard.
- After the above meeting, the drywall is installed, followed closely by interior trim work, cabinets/countertops, plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, and the H/A .unit. The septic/well or water/sewer are hooked up at this time also and the walls and trim work are primed. We will then schedule another walk-thru to review all finished work.
- Finally, your final painting is completed and then your flooring is completed. Any County required seeding and straw is completed. Water samples are submitted to the County for the Health Department's final Operations Permit. During this time a final walk-thru is scheduled for any punch out type work needed to make the home building process complete.
- The County Building Inspector performs the final inspection and once passed, a Certificate of Occupancy is issued. Your Bank will usually also have a final inspection, most likely by an appraiser. After final acceptance by you and closing by your Lender, the keys are yours.
We at Blue Ridge Homes take pride in the workmanship and quality of our homes, but most importantly, we take pride in the relationships we build with our customers. That is one of the reasons why this Building Process requires so many face to face meetings. We know that open and continuous communication is the only way we will be successful in obtaining our Company goal of 100% Customer Satisfaction. This goal also can only be accomplished by your commitment and sacrifice as a buyer to attend these meetings and to help make them as constructive and enjoyable as possible. Together we will make your decision of choosing Blue Ridge Homes of Southwest Virginia, Inc. as your Home Builder....the right decision.
