Building a New Home in Union County NC

If you are thinking about building a new home in Union County NC, you may want to follow this series about first time home buyers who decided to build their first home rather than purchase a resale home. I first wrote about Dean and Michelle in April after they visited Charlotte to find a house and decided that a new home would fit their needs better than any of the existing home we saw during their house hunting trip.

Dean and Michelle contracted for their new home in Union County NC in April and by the end of May, the builder was ready to begin construction. Plans had been drawn for the house, permits for construction had been obtained, and the corners where the house would be built had been staked. The next step in the construction process was to meet with the builder for a pre-construction orientation. I attended this meeting on behalf of the buyers as they were not able to be present.

What happens at the pre-construction meeting when you are building a new home in Union County NC? This is what our May meeting covered in a conference call with the buyers.

• Justin, the builder, used this meeting to discuss the building process and verify that his paperwork reflected the selections that Dean and Michelle had chosen for their new home.
• Justin identified the five meetings that the home buyers would have with him: pre-construction, pre-drywall, pre-settlement orientation, the pre-closing walk, and a courtesy follow-up after closing.
• Justin reviewed the selections and the location of options, such as cable and telephone outlets, with the buyers. A couple of errors were identified during this process.
• The components of the Builders Warranty were reviewed with the buyers.
• Justin laid out the construction scheduling and the various phases of construction.

Construction scheduling for building a new home in Union County NC generally follows the same phasing regardless of the builder. Here are the phases for Dean and Michelle's new home:

• Lot prep, grading, foundation
• Frame, frame check, roofing, windows and doors
• Rough mechanicals: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, low-voltage
• Inspection process
• Pre-drywall orientation
• Exterior finishes
• Interior finishes
• Final mechanicals
• Floor coverings
• Cleaning
• Builder quality inspection process

The last part of the pre-construction meeting involved a visit to the lot where the builder showed me the corners of the lot and we looked at the outline of the forms where the slab foundation would be poured the following week. Framing of the house would start about a week after the foundation was poured.

Read more in this series about building a new home in Union County NC.

How These First Time Home Buyers Almost Lost Their Dream Home

Copyright 2009. Carol Fox. Allen Tate Real Estate. *Building a New Home in Union County NC*