Signing the Deal...Contractor Chosen!

As expected, the contractors' bids took longer than a week and when they arrived, they were as varied as the men themselves.

Contractor A sat down with us and reviewed his numbers, which he had written on a yellow legal pad. We talked about houses he had built in the past and he reiterated that he was ready to get started on our home.

Contractor B submitted his bid via email. Seeing the bid typed up helped because he included specifics, such as allowances for doors and window brands. We weren't able to meet with him in person because our schedules conflicted.

Contractor C submitted his bid last (also via email) and it was the most detailed.

Before we met with Contractor C, we decided we would would not spend time going back and forth with the various contractors to get them to match each others' prices. After dealing with the negotiations of selling our old house, we wanted to leave that part of the process out of this experience. We're ready to build our home.

From our first round of meetings, I felt like Contractor C was the type of contractor we needed because he seemed to understand the look of the house we're building. Of all the contractors, he had the most ideas for materials to use and features to include. I told Ashley as long as we felt comfortable with him during our second meeting, I was fine to have him as our contractor.

Choosing a contractor is a little like choosing a date. We're going to spend a lot of time with this person and we need to have someone with whom we can communicate easily. We need to feel confident in his work and also like him as a person because this is going to be a relationship that lasts for several months.

Our meeting with Contractor C was laid back. After reviewing the bid, we took him out to our land to see the lot. As we watched our oldest son play in a mudhole, Ashley and I looked at each other. We were ready to make the decision. We've always said we wanted our boys to grow up having land to play on. The longer we waited to decide which contractor to use, the longer it would be before our sons could enjoy the woods and dirt.

It took another week to get the final details of the contract ironed out...but as of yesterday, we have signed the contract to have Perry Bumgarner (Contractor C) build our house.

Our next step is to finalize the construction loan with AGSouth. Perry estimated that it would take approximately 5 1/2 months to build the house once he has the green light to begin. Exciting!