New construction schedule of tasks

[Jon Graham]

I've been doing fix and flips for several years. I've been in the construction industry for almost 20 years. Construction sales for the last 6.

I'm generally very knowledgeable about construction and techniques. I'm moderately knowledgeable about the finance side (my partner handles the finances for our business) I'm considering building a new home for my personal residence, but I've never done it before and I don't have experience coordinating a new home into a successful project. For my company we have tossed around the idea of getting into new construction for a while and a home for myself would be good training.

Is there a schedule of tasks that anyone uses as a template? From when to go for financing to when a survey is done. What is the first step, blueprints or lot? I have a lot of trade contacts, but the beginning steps that you wouldn't normally go trough with a flip are unknown to me.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm located in NW Indiana.

[Ed O.]

The guide mentioned above is pretty good. 

For me, here's the process out of the gate, which it sounds like is as foreign to you as it was to me. I have done years and years of rehabs before building.

Select lot, review covenants to make sure the house you want to put there is ok with them. Consider that the lot will dictate many feautes about your home, basement, walkout basement, crawl, driveway slope, etc. Consider setbacks (from the property line), etc as they will control how wide and deep the house may be and how it will sit on the lot. Garage and driveway always goes on the high side of the lot. 

Meet with and get a bank lined up, they'll eventually need a budget and order a preconstruction appraisal. 

Once you have the lot under contract, it would be good to meet with a home designer. In some areas, it must be an architect. In some areas, it can be a draftsman, which do mostly the same thing for a fraction of the price. You'll want to meet with that person and be able to show them a copy of the plat for the lot and the neighborhood covenants. When meeting with them, they'll want to know a sq footage number, bed/baths, garages, details and features you want in the plan, etc. They'll send you a rough draft of a plan, and you can tell them what you want changed on it until you arrive at a finished product. 

You'll want to line up an excavator, surveyor, foundation company and framer before you close, so you can proceed quickly if you wish to after you close the loan. Many trades work well with the trades before and after them, so if you find one sub that sounds legit that you want to work with, they can likely refer you to like minded subs that will do like quality work - who **most importantly will work well and play nice with other subs**. 

You'll also want to line upcharge/billing accounts with a few concrete companies and lumber companies and most vendors you expect to buy from. Easiest before you need the materials, etc. 

Then you close. 

1.  Call excavator & foundation company, tell him you're almost ready and to hold some time for you. Get a commitment. 

2. Call the surveyor - get a site plan and tell him you're ready. He will go out and stake the lot for the digger. 

3. Pull a new construction permit - this process is regionally specific and varies. 

4. digger should call in a locate and do their job. 

5. surveyor may return to stake the foundation for the foundation crew

6. foundation goes in. 

7. order curb cut

8. waterproof the foundation if desired.

9. run underground utilities

10. backfill the foundation consistent with the manner for your area, backfill utility trenches, pop the curb (while the heavy equipment is there). 

from here, you can start framing. 

The best tip I can offer, is to always keep your subs informed. Update them weekly - so they know the status of your job and commit to showing up close to when you're ready. Anyone more than a week behind - almost always goes many weeks behind, so look to bring in someone else when subs stall - which happens a lot. 

I may have missed a detail here or there, but this is a pretty solid version of how it's done in my area. 

Good luck