An important silver lining in the current housing market is the lower rates for labor and materials that gives homeowners real construction bargaining power. Depending on the location, my clients are able to realize significant savings when building a new home. If you’re not quite ready to begin construction, now is the time to begin researching your future family home—find an architect or a set of house plan portfolios and start to pin down what this next home will be. You’ll be surprised at how long this process can take, so start early with a good set of plans that can guide you and your builder when you’re ready to lay the foundation. Spend a little time planning now, and you’ll be prepared to move forward when the time is right.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Bargaining power is right, but be careful with cheap labor. Even the most talented and skilled artisans are limited by the resources you give them to work with. At Woodland Artisan Cabinetry, we consider it a favor to the client to charge enough to do the job right. We don’t price based on what we think our cabinets are worth or what the market will bear. Instead, we charge, quite literally, by how many hours we’ll have into a project. In that sense, our pricing hasn’t been affected by the economy at all.
After all, it doesn’t take any less time to produce a great product in a depressed economy.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I enjoyed seeing the actual photo’s of homes in the Southeast and will view the other areas shortly. I have followed your work for sometime, going to your site frequently. I sent off for plans several years ago, hoping to build our dream home. Every plan was viewed and one was decided on. However, my husband had a stroke in 2001 and our home dreams stopped. I often go to my file on your lovely homes and dream of what might have been. I continue to enjoy your work and speak to others frequently of your lovely designs.