For custom builders, one of the many challenges in working with a home buyer is getting decisions on features and selections. Days, weeks, and sometimes months can fly by while buyers ponder the seemingly infinite number of items, finish materials, and colors available to them.
Systems and timetables that demand unreasonably early decisions send a message that your processes are designed for your convenience. Especially when the item selected is no longer available four months later, when you actually do need to order it, buyer aggravation expands even more. Further, pressuring buyers into making quick decisions can destroy good will—and often results in change orders, as buyers rethink their choices. The extra risk, work, and expense that follows can turn an appealing transaction into a nightmare for the builder.
While home features and finish choices have mushroomed in recent years, many builder systems have failed to keep pace. Procedures need to be planned to accommodate your buyers’ preview, consideration, and coordination of a great many more items. Think of the expanding menu of countertop materials, the extensive choices in cabinet details, and the greater range of energy-saving items that can go into a new home. Empathy for customers facing a nearly overwhelming array of decisions can help you modify your program to serve everyone’s needs.
Conduct some historical analysis. If one out of your last 12 buyers had difficulty meeting your timetable, it’s probably reasonable. However, if three out of four complain about the pressure, you can benefit from revising your procedures.
Begin to manage this by preparing buyers thoroughly for the decisions that are needed to plan a home. List the component categories for which your customers typically need to make decisions. Put them in the order in which you need the buyer’s answers. You will no doubt find they fall into groups. Set the deadlines for decisions for each category (you may have two, three, or more categories) at least a week in advance of when you actually must have the information. This buffer will come in handy when a customer needs just another day or two to decide—or if you are pricing a complex change request.
Naturally, the first set of choices will be structural—the details you need to know to finalize engineering and apply for the building permit. Exterior style, roofline, room size and layout, one staircase or two, number of bays in the garage? Will the home have brick veneer? Cantilevers? Gas or electric kitchen appliances? Once structural items are determined, you can begin moving forward while your buyers move on to making choices in the next category.
By categorizing design and selection decisions, you and your buyers both gain a sense of control. As wonderful as it would be for builders to have every last detail finalized before the construction process begins, buyers realize the trim paint color choice really isn’t needed before the foundation is dug. What they may not think about—and what you might want to point out—is that building a home is a process. Over time (including the time it takes to build it), tastes and priorities may evolve. Assist customers in this area with lifestyle questions that can help them analyze their needs and wants. Begin with the basics:
