Timely visits to the ICI Homes Design Center = on-time home construction
The commitment to build or buy a new custom Florida home requires — like most business transactions — a contract between buyer and builder.
If you’re been through the building process before, you know what we mean. If you’re someone who’s bought an existing home, you have a pretty good idea. But if you’ve never built a home from scratch, let’s just say it’s a bit more complicated than purchasing a move-in-ready abode.
In a good way, because building from scratch guarantees you’ll get exactly what you want. Your household gets a new home tailored to their lifestyle, with none of the, “I wish we’d bought that larger Dutch Colonial that’d just come on the market” regret.
A critical part of that tailoring is your interior design selections. Here’s why that process matters.
Going to contract, soup-to-nuts
Let’s assume you’ve chosen your new community, your lot and your floor plan. You’ve also chosen your new home’s “elevation,” or exterior appearance, plus added any customized tweaks with the aid of an ICI Homes architect (we rock customization; click here for more on that).
One other thing you’ll do pre-contract is visit the ICI Homes Design Center for a 30-45-minute design preview. A design consultant will walk you through the myriad choices available for your new home’s interior finishes and materials. Think countertops, cabinets, hardware, paint, flooring and decorative tile. You’ll make preliminary selections so that your sales person(s) has a cost estimate for those items, and can add them to your contract.
Now it’s time to sign your contract! This spells out the construction timeline and yours and ICI Homes’ responsibilities. It’s a detailed document that your salesperson(s) will be happy to decode and explain. Don’t hesitate to ask for help.
A signed contract kicks off the next step.
Timing is everything
For you, it’s a return trip to the ICI Homes Design Center. Your contract will specify that you finalize your interior design selections by a certain time, so that materials can be ordered and permits can be secured. Any delay on your part delays the start of construction on your home.
While you take care of your obligation, other stuff’s going on elsewhere. Final plans are drawn, roof trusses are engineered, craftspeople are scheduled and necessary surveys are completed.
Your second trip to the ICI Homes Design Center is a day-long appointment where your design consultant will carefully go over everything in your home’s finalized plan.
“A plan review is just a way to check everything,” says ICI Homes design consultant Janna Pettegrew. “We review the contract. What structural changes there are — just kind of review those things.”
Then, you’ll dive into the final selection process. Odds are you’ll keep some choices you made during your design preview appointment and perhaps change other choices.
Maybe you got sticker shock when you saw the price estimates for marble countertops. The design team will help you find another material that looks just as smart, and is smarter on your wallet.
Once you’ve finalized all your interior design choices, you’ve fulfilled a major part of your construction contract. Let the building begin!
scratch, let’s just say it’s a bit more complicated than purchasing a move-in-ready abode.
