Best Home Builders in Florida – Read Our Latest Buying Guide
Florida certainly has its perks, a destination for retirees and vacationers. It has also become a haven for small businesses and folks who just want to bask in the world in an affordable state. Many folks decide to buy a home in the Sunshine State while plenty are looking to build. Only the best home builders in Florida should win their business. Building a house requires much effort and a lengthy, complicated process.
Also Read: How to buy a condo in Florida?
In this comprehensive guide, we will explain what to look for to ensure you hire reliable, trustworthy home builders and developers.
Our Top Picks
In Florida, there are a lot of backgrounds on how to choose home builders. Some of the top-rated pros are mentioned below. Homebuyers must make critical considerations when comparing these companies.
Our Verdict
Thanks to our award-winning history and near-perfect customer satisfaction rating, Southern Homes takes our top spot. However, Ross Built Custom Homes is worth considering for a more custom or luxury-grade home.
How We Choose The Best Home Builders in Florida
In the growing state of Florida, choosing the best home builder isn’t a small task. Here are some criteria that came up to help us choose.
- We looked for companies in all applicable price ranges.
- We looked at the types of homes they built, warranties, energy efficiency practices, and customization options.
- We looked at their plans, customer satisfaction ratings, and the pros and cons of each of these finalists.
We give awards to those companies based on their strengths, while those that didn’t offer enough value were removed from consideration.
Before You Work With One of the Best Home Builders in Florida
There are other points to consider before hiring one of the best home builders. Purchasing an existing home can be a better route for some buyers. However, in a market where demand outpaces supplies, people who are looking for an existing home can end up in bidding wars and conceding on items that matter.
Moreover, some buyers want to understand that Florida has some of the nation’s strictest contracting licensing and insurance laws. Going with an established company ensures subcontractors or tradespeople have correct compliance documentation to meet the state’s standards.
Cost of Working with One of the Best Home Builders in Florida
In Florida, the cost of building a home ranges significantly from area to area. However, the average cost of a new home ranges between $240,000 and $350,000. Moreover, areas like Orlando, Tampa, or Miami can be considerably more expensive. Shoppers can establish a budget and then find homes that fit their budget.
The Advantage of Working with One of the Best Home Builders in Florida
Below are the advantages of working with one of the best home builders in Florida.
- In Florida, the best home builders understand all the licensing rules and regulations.
- The best home builders understand balancing energy efficiency and comfort better than typical builders.
- Sometimes, the best home builders offer improved warranties or ongoing maintenance services.
What to consider when you hire a builder?
Energy Saving Features
Many home builders offer many energy-saving features that will save you money each month on your utility bills while protecting the environment.
Energy-efficient windows: Homes can be built with enhanced insulated glass walls to keep the home warmer in winter and cooler in summer while admitting plenty of sunlight.
Solar Paneling: You can use solar paneling as a more energy-efficient way to produce hot water and electricity.
Natural Gas vs Electric: You can use natural gas or propane systems in homes rather than depending on electric gas to power appliances, water heaters, and heating systems.
Complete Customization
Some builders allow you to customize your home in many ways, including the number of rooms, floor layout, paint color, countertop and flooring options, siding type and color, cabinetry style, and plumbing features.
Work for consumer’s plans: You can bring home-building plans to the builders rather than choosing from the existing plan’s book.
Room Specifications: Consumers can specify the room numbers, size, and special features of rooms as they want.
Numbers of Floors: Homeowners can specify how large the house will be, including how many floors and rooms to include on each floor. They can also decide whether they want a basement or an attic.
Warranties
Many home builders offer warranties on the homes they build at little or no cost to you.
Repair Warranties: Warranties allow homebuyers to get free repairs in case of structural damage, whether minor or major.
Replacement Warranties: If something related to home building is disturbing and not repairable easily, homebuyers may build a replacement home at no additional cost.
System Repairs: There may be warranties on installing electrical wiring, furnaces, plumbing pipes, gas lines, and other mechanical systems.
Inspected & Approved
To certify the home is built safely and meets local or state standards, it must be inspected before moving in.
Inspection throughout the process: Some homebuilders allow homeowners to visit the construction site to view progress and inspect its completed parts. Make sure to schedule any visit ahead of time with the builder; active job sites may be dangerous.
State Inspections: Homebuilders may also provide certified inspectors, licensed by the state, to look at the home and determine its safety. The town’s building department will schedule routine inspections throughout construction to ensure the home is being built to code.
Options for Upgrade
Homebuilders can offer standard features with the ability to pay more to upgrade the home.
Energy efficiency: Energy-saving upgrades, including solar panels, trip-pane windows, and others, may cost extra that can be installed at the consumer’s request.
Adding outlets to more rooms: By adding extra outlets in bathrooms, bedrooms, home offices, and other areas, the homebuilders can upgrade the electrical system.
Extra garage and rooms: Most homebuilders are amenable to altering the existing blueprint before the start of construction; if you’d like to add another room, enlarge an existing room and build a garage. Make sure to get changes in writing with detailed cost, size, material, and information.
Model Homes
For potential buyers, most homebuilders offer model homes to visit before signing a contract to build their homes. Model homes allow consumers to see the quality, style, and features they can expect in their homes.
Different Sizes and Features: Most homebuilders offer model homes with different sizes, upgraded features, and architectural styles to facilitate buyers getting an idea of the builder’s work.
Duplicate orders: Consumers can order a replica of the model home they like to be built on their lot.
Get an idea of lot size: For some consumers, lot size is important. Model homes help users decide how big a yard and home they want to have and how big they want to live. Make sure the model home lot is the same as your home’s lot.
Types of Homebuilders & Developers
Following are the few types of homebuilders and developers:
Certified Green Builders: They are trained to build homes in certain ways, save energy and protect the environment. Certified green builders often use sustainable materials and install energy-efficient windows, solar panels, and heating and cooling systems.
Urban Designer: They focus on building homes for people who live in urban areas or thickly settled neighborhoods with small building lots. They design homes in a way that accommodates a large number of people and reduces traffic around the building site.
Remodelers: To meet homeowner’s specifications, remodelers upgrade homes. Whether it includes adding extra rooms, removing existing rooms, or making the home more energy efficient.
Local Builders: Most homebuilders are local business people who contribute to property value and community by providing well-paying jobs and buying from local suppliers. Many homebuilders also give back through local charities.
What to Consider When Choosing One of the Best Home Builders in Florida
There’s much for homeowners to know about selecting a builder, whether they’ve built before or are new to new constructions. Following are some important considerations while comparing companies.
Service Area
The service area is usually a radium circling a company’s shop in the typical sense. For instance, some builders will only build homes within 50 or 75 miles of their showroom or workshop.
However, Florida is a state full of developments and planned communities. In most cases, custom home builders will only work in communities. Some communities only allow two or three specific contractors to build. In this case, shoppers will want to dig into what’s available to find a builder who can help them.
Price Range
Many homebuilders specialize in price range. For instance, custom homebuilders may rarely build homes for less than $1 million, while homebuilders in developed communities may only build homes in the $250,000 to $350,000 range because of costs associated with the approved designed area. Shoppers must consider their budget and how much they need before finding a builder.
Architectural Style
The most exciting aspect of Florida construction is a plethora of architectural design styles influenced by the rich culture in that area. In Florida, one walk through a high-end neighborhood could be a crash course in architecture.
Even tiny home builders are creating compact, energy-efficient homes, and container home builders in Florida are making homes from recycled shipping containers. Shoppers want to consider this option, as many design and build firms specialize in particular styles.
They will have choices regarding architectural styles. However, some areas might have regulations on home styles that can be built in their neighbourhood.
Custom vs. Production Homes
Between custom and production homes, weighing the pros and cons is an important aspect of homebuilder shopping. Many contractors specialize in one or more options.
However, the best home builders are typically the design-and-build-firm, and their homes are unique. With the homebuyer, the designer works to build a design and blueprint that works for their needs, and then the builder works from these plans.
With the endless options, custom homes are usually more expensive on a square-foot basis and take longer to contrast.
Meanwhile, in production homes, homeowners usually choose a floor plan they like, make some modifications with the contractor, and contractors build the houses. Production homes are much faster to build and generally cost less.
Energy Efficient
Florida’s state tends to get a little hot. In terms of average daily high temperature, it consistently ranks as the hottest state.
However, membership, partnership, or recognition with agencies such as the U.S Green Building Council, the HERS Index, and Energy Star Residential New Construction Program certifies a firm is building energy-efficient homes, saving owners money, and relying on more sustainable energy sources.
Warranties
On new homes, homeowners need warranties. Things happen, including material defects or craftsmanship issues. The state of Florida requires its contractors to provide a 10-year structural warranty and a 1-year warranty on labor, materials, and mechanical systems. However, some contractors go above and beyond and offer longer warranties on craftsmanship.
