There are a lot of builders who throw numbers out for free.  But there are more and more who charge for estimates.  Isn’t free better?  Why pay if you don’t have to?

Well, free isn’t always better.  A lot of builders who throw out free estimates don’t spend much time on them at all.  How can they when they’re not getting paid for it?  They don’t spend very much time finding out what you want, and then they throw numbers together based on past projects.  This is why so many people say to plan on going way over budget when you build a house.

At Jorgenson Builders we have a different philosophy.  We believe in taking the time to put together an accurate budget.  We start the process by having an initial meeting with our customers.  We ask detailed questions to find out what they’re really looking for.  Then we take the time to get multiple bids, and accurate numbers from our subs.  Because we do this, our customers get a budget that they can count on.  This process does take a lot of time though.  A typical residential custom home estimate can take upwards of 100 hours to compile a quality estimate. That’s why we don’t do it for free.  Our customers sign a non-binding letter of intent.  This helps us know we’re not wasting our time with someone who’s going to get bids from ten different builders.  We also ask for a small deposit.

The next time a builder tells you they’ll give you a budget for free, you might want to consider how good the budget really is.  At Jorgenson Builders we take the time to give you accurate numbers based on what you really want in your house.