So during builder interviews, something became clear to us.
A handful of the builders we interviewed all know each other. And were talking to each other about us.
Yikes... Not what we expected.
Not that we were talking badly about other builders, nor even told builders "you're the only one we've talked to."
I will say, some builders did assume we were only reaching out to them. Which was weird to me...because from all the research I've done, you always want to gain the perspective of various contractors for the job.
Anyway I'll give examples:
One builder we know is a family friend. We initially didn't reach out to him as our lender recommended keep the builder/trades close in location to the job to keep the costs down.
As we were interviewing another builder, he mentioned our family friend's name. He then gave us a look like we were idiots not to interview him haha.
Later on, we expanded our radius wider to just talk to more builders, and upon discussing the project with the family friend, he asked "Hey, isn't so-and-so building your house?"
Talk about awkward. Plus we didn't sign anything or lead the individual to believe he was for certain going to be hired. So it was just an awkward discussion haha.
Then fast forward to two other builders we've contacted. We heard both of their names through different channels, and turns out they WORK together at the township.
THEN (there's more...) another builder walks into that township office and sees our plans printed out on the desk, and realizes we've reached out to those other builders.
Overall, there's no hard feelings amongst any of the builders. But *TIP: I bring this up to remind YOU that it's a small world out there - smaller than you think. So make sure you are clear to builders you are interviewing more people in addition to them and just maintain respect toward all the builders.
Good luck!
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