Waste in your home plans happens over time with something referred to as "Plan Creep." No - this isn't some weirdo lurking in the corners chanting unintelligible words while waving a set of plans at you (though that IS kind of an interesting thought).
Instead, Plan Creep is when things creep into your plans as you build them for your clients. And those things add unnecessary costs to your builds - making for less profits. And I guess THAT is kind of creepy...
Anyway, it can often be found when a Home Builder builds the same plans over-and-over in different locations; however, you can often find elements of plan creeps if you end up drawing a new plan for each Buyer that comes along.
Sources of Plan Creep
Let's go into the primary sources of Plan Creep:
- Code Officials/Plan Reviewers/Inspectors
If your building area is anything like it is in Central Pennsylvania, you deal with different Code Officials in different building areas.
Although there is supposed to be ONE Building Code to unify everything - Code Officials read (and enforce) that Code in different ways.
And let's face it - Home Builders are busy folks who need to get things done. They don't want to take the time to argue with each Code Official (figuring every wasted day is a wasted dollar).
To save those wasted days, Home Builders often concede and add the item of contention into their blueprints to appease that Code Official. "It might add a little cost to my build, but I can dig NOW," thinks the Home Builder.
True. But multiply that by different municipalities and number of homes built (because those details often get drawn in the blueprints for future builds), and those little details add up over time.
- Suppliers and Trades Adding "Fluff"
Homebuilders (especially Custom Builders) often don't have a larger staff to estimate the sticks-and-bricks of the house. Instead, they send their blueprints to Suppliers and Trades and ask for a bid (OR for a takeoff).
Those Suppliers and Trades are businesspeople, too. Sometimes, they add in additional products, specifications, and/or quantities that aren't necessarily needed.
"Who cares? I base my pricing to my Homebuyers based on the quotes I receive back, so everything is covered."
I've heard Home Builders say this often, and there is some truth to that; however, in a time when housing affordability is so crucial, every dollar you end up adding to the house just might put it out of reach for your Homebuyers.
And - it's really up to the Home Builder to decide what goes into a house (based on their discussions with a Homebuyer). Every extra piece/specification/cost slipped in by Suppliers and Trades should be reviewed. If not, it'll become a "standard" that becomes more costly for future builds.
- Personal Thoughts - aka Your Ego
Yeah. I said it! Your ego can often get in the way and cause waste in your own plans.
Ask a roomful of Home Builders to put their hand up if they are the best Home Builder in the room, and you'll get a roomful of hands up. Every Custom Home Builder believes they are the best.
And that belief often causes them to put in "only the best" materials. Or they overbuild a house, simply because they want to be known as the "best" by their Homeowners.
A good example (admittedly from my family's own homebuilding company) is windows. We insisted on putting in Andersen 200 Series, double-hung windows with grilles-between-the-glass, because we didn't want to put in those "junky single-hung, vinyl windows" that other Home Builders were using.
But those other Home Builders were selling as many homes as us. It wasn't the windows, folks. It turns out that many people never even opened their upper sash (if they opened windows at all), and the "value" of the wood windows was not apparent to Home Buyers.
So, all it really did was added extra costs to our builds to make us feel like the "Best Builder."
- "That's How We've Always Done It!"
Please. Cringe. Now. I'm sure you've heard some of those famous sayings about doing things the same way - and - how that gets you the first ticket to Nowhere.
This kind of goes along with the ego I talked about above, but it's really more of a "time" thing. Home Builders are busy, and it's too easy to fall into the same-old routine that worked for them before.
It's really easy for me to say "Take the time to really look at and keep plan waste down" when you have holes to dig and people to satisfy (and bills to pay, and inspectors to argue with, and Realtors to appease, and......oh you get the point).
The truth of the matter is that it's really hard to actually take the time to do it. But - those who DO take the time to review the plans and specs periodically will keep the extras from eating a hole in their pocket.
Whew! As usual, I start off with what I think will be a short email that ends up being a little longer than expected.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on additional ways Plan Creep happens. If you have some, please Reply to this email and let me know!
An Interesting Read
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What Is One Thing You Should Have On Your Website?
If you had to choose ONE thing that is more important than other things for your website, do you know what it is?
This story written by Homebuilding Website Pro, Greg Bray, tells you!
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