Two tips for a hassle-free house building project

Because the process of building a house is so complicated, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Fortunately, however, there are actions that you can take to reduce the likelihood of problems arising. Read on to learn more.

Invest in a surveying service

Before you purchase the plot of land on which you intend to build your house, it is a good idea to hire a land surveyor to confirm and define which structures are included in the plot and to specify where the boundary lines for the land begin and end. Whilst this might seem like an unnecessary expense, it could actually save you a great deal of money and hassle in the future.

Having this information will help to remove any ambiguity regarding which parts of the plot you actually own. This will stop you from accidentally making structural changes to a piece of land which does not belong to you, which will, in turn, eliminate the chances of the owner of that land taking legal action against you.

Furthermore, a surveying service will also help to clarify whether or not any other party is legally entitled to make use of any area of your land via rights-of-way. This will ensure that you don't face any unpleasant surprises after you have already invested your time and money into building your new home.

Draw up a detailed, written contract for the project

Failing to draw up a detailed contract is a sure-fire way to make this process far more stressful and challenging than it needs to be. The consequences of using a verbal agreement with your builder could be disastrous.

The usefulness of a verbal contract is dependent on both you and your builder being able to clearly remember your discussions about the agreements you made. Given how easy it is to forget or misremember the finer details, a verbal contract will almost certainly result in major disagreements and problems throughout the course of the construction work; such issues are likely to result in delays which could set back the completion of your project by several months.

As such, it is absolutely crucial to draw up an extremely detailed and unambiguous contract, which not only provides a clear outline of the work that is to be carried out, but also includes the project's start and completion dates, waste material disposal methods, payment plans, a list of the materials that will be used, as well as the safety measures your builder will employ to prevent accidents on the construction site. Make sure that the terms of the contract are not open to interpretation; if you are struggling with this, it may be worth having a solicitor look over and revise the document before you and your builder sign it.