Finding the right builder is so insanely important. Building your home will be an ongoing relationship of trust and communication that will not only impact the look of your future home, but will have a lasting impression on your overall experience of designing your own home. This is a super fun process that you never want to take for granted - one that you always want to look back on positively. Your choice of builder can really make or break your experience, so finding the right fit and having a comfortable working dynamic will make the process so much smoother. Take as much time as you need to do your research and make an informed decision. Below are a few tips to help get the ball rolling.

Determine your time investment/how involved do you want to be?

Some companies only work on one house at a time, while others are able to work on multiple at a time. If you have any time constraints, this is something to consider. In addition to the builders timeframe, you need to determine how involved you want to be in the process and how much of your own time you want to invest in the process. First and foremost, if you know you want a builder but you want to design the house yourself, make sure your builder is open to this. You will find that some companies have a set group of floor plans that you can make certain alterations to, but they have a standard baseline that they start from. Not all companies are open to totally custom designs, whether you send them the design yourself or ask them to create something completely custom for you. If you don’t have much time to dedicate yourself, make sure you trust your builder to create something tailored to you.

When searching for potential builders, this is a good way to initially narrow down your search, because it seems to be about 50/50 on companies who only offer customizations on a set group of floorplans vs. create completely custom designs for each customer. The first thing I knew before starting this journey was that I wanted to be involved and I wanted to design it myself from scratch. This helped me narrow down potential builders significantly.

What is your style?

Whether or not you decide to go with a pre designed model, or a completely custom one, the company you choose will have an overall style and feel. If you don’t like their style, then move right along because they aren't going to change it for you. It doesn't matter how many alterations you make or how involved you are in the design phase, builders have their go to styles and if it doesn’t fit with your vibe its going to be a constant struggle. Surely companies are always evolving and growing their designs, but in my opinion, you still want to choose a builder that has some sort of overall aesthetic that speaks to you. Whatever it may be, having an overall style and vision will show you what they really excel at and what inspires them as designers and builders. By sticking with a company whose general style you enjoy, they’ll be able to really run with your ideas instead of feel limited by your differences. The easiest way to find styles you like is through instagram. Browse hashtags, browse tiny house pages, watch youtube videos…sooooo many videos.

Determine your budget

This should probably be #1 on the list - it obviously depends entirely on your situation. Naturally, hiring someone to build you a house costs a lot more than doing it yourself. If you’re hiring a builder, about 50% of the overall cost will go towards labor/the general cost of doing business for your builder. The other 50% goes towards materials. These factors bring the costs of hiring a builder up over a certain benchmark. You can’t cheat someone out of their CODB, but if you are on a tight budget, you can work with them on the other 50% to bring the costs down as low as possible. My advice is to just be realistic. Don’t expect to have a 34ft house built with all the fancy appliances for a budget price. If you want a luxury house, it will come at a cost. On the flip side, if you know what you are willing to sacrifice and compromise on, many builders can work within your allotted budget. Don’t get discouraged seeing $100K+ tiny houses - you can absolutely get an incredible house for less.

Side note: Don’t forget to factor in delivery and sales tax (ugh). Finding a builder near you can be a big way to save money, but not always! In my particular case, the delivery fee was astronomical and it stressed me out terribly. But, even with the high cost of delivery, my build was still significantly cheaper than quotes I got from builders much closer to me. It’s all very dependent on your situation, just don’t forget to factor it in.

Double side note: Don't let others make you feel bad for spending more to hire a builder. Building a house yourself is a luxury of time and resources that we don't all have. There isn't just one way to tiny house, don't forget it.

Communication

This is a big one. And it will be clear to you right off the bat whether or not you are communicating well with your builder. I knew from my initial conversations with Minimaliste that they were the ones. They welcomed my custom design with open arms and were open to the one-on-one collaboration. For me, it wouldn't have worked well otherwise. If you want your builder to take control and make a lot of the decisions for you, make sure you trust them to do so.

In addition to this, it is a good idea to reach out to previous customers who have worked with specific builders on your shortlist to get their take on the experience. They will very likely have some words of advice or suggestions on how best to work with the builder in question.

Quality of Construction

Of course, none of this means anything if they don't know what they are doing. Read up on their certifications, see how many houses they've built, how long they’ve been in business, sustainability practices, ask about their payment terms, and ask what insurance's they have as a company. Perhaps you’ve seen the term “RVIA certified” floating around - this stands for “recreational vehicle industry association,” and if your builder has this certification, it means that they are required to adhere to certain electrical, plumbing, gas, and mechanical safety standards. While it is not a requirement, having this certification can help you get insurance, can broaden your financing options, and you can feel confident knowing that your tiny house will be built to code and be safe for habitation having this certification. You will find that some tiny house builders are very specifically NOT RVIA certified because they feel that tiny houses should not be defined as RV’s. I see both sides, but I like knowing that if I am forced to leave my parking spot I can park in an RV park in a pinch.

Taking all of this into consideration, it should help you narrow things down. Once you have a shortlist of potential builders, email them, talk to them, tell them your concerns, tell them what you want, talk to others who've worked with them. It will soon become clear who’s the one for you.