How to Visit Your New Home’s Construction Site

Visiting the construction site of your new home is incredibly satisfying for homeowners, as they can watch their builders move through the construction.

Homeowners naturally want to check in on the progress of their dream home and make sure that everything is perfect, but new homeowners need to remember that a construction site is a work zone with rules to protect workers and homeowners alike.

If you are building your dream home, follow these tips for visiting the construction site to ensure you can check in on your house without causing any delays or safety problems. 

1. Follow the Rules

To ensure safety and avoid delays, construction sites have rules that everyone needs to follow. Before you visit the construction site of your new home, check in with your builder about any rules or guidelines they may have about homeowner visits to the site.

“It’s a liability if the client is on site without someone from our team,” says Amy Alexander, Sales and Marketing director for Indiana homebuilder Sublime Homes. “The construction site is not a place to play. In order to be safe, (homebuyers) should reach out to a member of our team to set up an appointment to go on site with either our builder or design director.”

Once you get to your home site, make sure you follow any directions given to you by your builder.

2. Make an Appointment

Surprise visits to the construction site are never a good idea. Even if you want to make a random quality inspection, showing up unannounced to your home site will cause safety concerns and delays. Make an appointment with your builder before you visit your construction site and make sure that your builder knows to expect you.

Alexander says that you can walk or drive by the site without setting foot on site, but it’s still a good idea to make an appointment with your homebuilder. Making an appointment before you visit your construction site allows the construction team to allocate time for your tour, instead of scrambling to halt work to show you around. Alexander says builders have many projects happening on any given day, but they want to devote time to showing you around. So, appointments are ideal to ensuring that they can focus on you and your home throughout the appointment.

3. Be Polite to the Foreman

The foreman of any construction project is very busy. Your foreman is responsible for making sure everyone stays safe on the construction site, that your home is built to the highest quality and that the project is completed on time. When you visit the construction site of your new home, respect the fact that your foreman is in charge and knows more about building new homes than you do. 

Don’t argue or debate with your foreman on the construction site. However; if you have any questions or concerns about the building process, feel free to ask.

4. Take Pictures & Document Everything

This is your dream home, so feel free to take pictures and document the construction process. Documentation helps you keep track of the building process. You should also write down any questions you have or anything you want explained later.

If you want to keep daily or frequent track of your home’s construction, ask your builder if they provide any other ways to “visit” the home site. Sublime Homes, for example, uses a cloud-based construction management system to provide clients real-time 24-7 access to their project.

Called Builder Trend, “the program allows us to use a calendar to mark up the construction schedule with our trades,” says Alexander. “For our clients, they can approve change orders, view documents, see daily photo updates, read warranty information and view their selections.”

5. Stay Safe

Construction areas are busy job sites that have risks that can easily be avoided. Above all, stay safe when you visit the construction site of your new home. Make sure that you wear appropriate clothing, such as closed toe shoes, properly fitting hard hats, safety vest and eye goggles. Stay alert and follow your building team’s instructions so you can have an exciting visit to your new home.

“Don’t wear clothing that you’d be concerned about getting dirty,” Alexander says. “Make sure you wear sturdy shoes. Overall, just be aware of your surroundings and don’t touch or step where you’re not supposed to.”

As a homeowner, you can visit the construction site of your new home. Following these tips can help ensure you see the progress made on your home without getting in your builder’s way.