Good Cheap or Fast
If you’re like me when shopping for a big item – such as a car, TV, or house – you want the best combination of quality, delivery time, and price. Too bad it’s impossible to maximize all three at the same time, especially when building a home. A builder can build your home with good quality and service. He can also build it fast. And he can even build it cheap. But he can only do 2 of the 3. You’ll have to choose which two are most important to you. Here’s why!
Fast and Cheap
If you want your builder to build your home fast and cheap, his quality and service won’t be as good. First, he can’t deliver good quality without receiving enough money to pay for the better materials. Second, he can’t deliver good quality or service without enough money to pay himself as well as his employees and subcontractors for the “extra” time required to properly plan his work and complete his tasks with better craftsmanship.
Fast and Good
Your builder can also build your home fast and with good quality and service. But he won’t build it as inexpensively as he could, since he’ll need to apply more resources to the project – all at the same time. Unfortunately this is not the most efficient way to build a home. Also, it might require overtime pay for his employees. In addition, your builder will need to convince his other customers to accept delays on their projects, which might cost him some financial concessions. Worse, if he makes his other customers unhappy, it might cost him his reputation.
Good and Cheap
Your builder can also build your home cheap (“affordable”) and with good quality and service. But it’s going to take him longer because the only way he can keep his price down is to give priority to his other customers who are not getting your steep discount. So he’ll squeeze you in as time allows.
You Choose: Good Cheap or Fast
Which two are most important to you? If you talk to people who’ve built a home in the past, they’ll say you get what you pay for. They’ll also mention that if you get it wrong, you’ll regret it for many years to come. After all, you’re more likely to forget how fast and cheap your home was built than how well it was built.
By the way, if you Google “Good Cheap or Fast”, you’ll find many articles about how this point applies across a wide range of industries. You can make tradeoffs between good cheap and fast to give you some of each. But t you can’t have it all.
For more information about deciding between building a home Good Cheap or Fast see Selecting a Modular Home Dealer, Selecting a General Contractor, and Building a Modular Home on Schedule in my book The Modular Home.
