Volume Builders

   A Volume  builder is one that often builds hundreds or thousands of homes per year either on a regional scale or nationwide. Depending on your area these may be referred to as Mega builders, Production builders, Big Builders or Planned Community builders. A typical scenario is a volume builder will buy a parcel of land, develop that land (put in roads, services, amenities and so on), divide that land into saleable lots and build homes on those lots. The size of the home sites and the price points will vary depending on location and the demographics of that area. 

   Typically a variety of floor plans will be offered from the builder along with a list of home sites that are available. The buyer may have a choice of several floor plans per lot however sometimes the lot and floor plan come as a package (for example: if you buy lot #1 you can only build floor plan A built. If you buy lot #2 you can build floor plan B or floor plan C). Often the reason for the restriction of floor plan choices has to do with the over all land and development plan of the community. By setting limits on which floor plan can be built on which lot the developer avoids the issue of having several of the same plan on the same street or next to each other. A community such as this is completely planned out before the first shovel ever goes into the ground – from the road locations, to the floor plans per lot, to the amenities and sometimes right do to the style of mailboxes they will allow.

   This style of home building will generally be a package deal. You’ll buy your lot and have your home built by the same organization. That home and land will be located in a planned community that most likely will have a POA or HOA. Very often you will deal with their lawyers, their contracts, their suppliers and so on. It’s their game and you’re along for the ride. The construction may be stick built or modular, or a combination depending on the company.

Possible Pros and Cons of working with a Volume builder…

   PROS:  - This route is probably the “easiest” one to take when it comes to building a new home. Everything is basically multiple choice from the general floor plan down to the paint color and the faucet handle style. Choose the lot, then the available floor plan, decide on whatever major options there are with that floor plan (for example a screened in porch in place of a concrete patio), then decide on the minor options within that floor plan like paint color, trim packages, carpet, cabinets, and so on.

 - Your involvement may be limited compared to other types of builders which could be a benefit to you as far as time involved. Your company representative or superintendent will keep you informed as to the progress of the construction and meet with you at predetermined times during each phase. 

   CONS: - You’ll most likely be dealing with a large regional or national company with name recognition, offices, support staff and so on. A common complaint is the feeling of being “just a number in the system.” As opposed to dealing with just one or two people in a smaller company you may have several  people involved in the building of your home (accounting, secretary, company rep, superintendent, supplier rep, etc.). 

 - Limited choice on several factors. If there are choices on carpet for example there may be only two options. 

 - Often the original price of a home will include only the very bare minimum when it comes to trim out. For example vinyl floors, Formica counter tops, very basic carpet and so on. While very often this is simply the business model of the company this can lead to the feeling that “everything” is an upgrade. Understand this going into the process and you won’t feel as though you’re getting charged and charged for each and every change or upgrade to a floor plan.

    When dealing with a builder of this type you can generally approach the process in one of two ways. The first is to search for a planned community that you like and would like to live in and approach the builder. The second is to do some research on which volume builders are in your target area. Once you know the names of these builders check them out in Consumer Reports, the Better Business Bureau, online and so on. This type of builder tends to be very large and nationwide. Finding information, customer satisfaction reports ad well as pricing and floor plans is pretty easy to do online.