Understanding New House Building Stages for Construction of a New House

Understanding New House Building Stages for Construction of a New House

1 Choose Your New House Building Site
When prospecting for a building site to build your new house choose the site with the assistance of a general contractor, real estate agent, architect, or engineer.

2 Have Your Designer Design Your House Plans
The architectural team will draw up your home plans to meet state and local regulations.

3 Review the House Plans
The architect reviews the home building plans and schedules with the clients.

4 Obtain Permits
The architect or home builder applies for the necessary building permits

5 Land Clearing
The excavator uses heavy equipment to clear the land of trees, shrubbery, and brush and a driveway access is created to your home building site.

6 House Layout
A general contractor or engineer layouts out the home location.

7 Installation of Septic, Well and other Utilities Begins
Utility installation often begins now although your project coordinator may leave these items toward the end of the home construction.

8 Excavation
Excavators and heavy equipment begin the excavation preparing the land for the footings.

9 House Footings
The general contractor or the mason contractor pours the footings. In heavy populated areas your footing contractor may be a subcontractor for the foundation wall contractor.

9 Foundation Walls
Two common foundation wall types are block foundation and poured concrete foundation walls. Your concrete floor is commonly poured after the forms are stripped for the foundation walls.

10 Back-fill
The excavator back-fills after the foundation walls are poured. Some contractors prefer to have the floor joists set prior to this back-fill to tie the walls together.

11 House Floor Framing
Carpenters or a framing crew frame the floor joists and apply decking material to the floor joists.

12 Wall Framing
Carpenters or framers build exterior walls. Interior walls are often constructed at this stage although the interior partition walls may also be built after the roof is framed.

13 Roof Framing
The carpenter now frames the roof complete with sheathing. The walls may also be sheathed at this point if they were not sheathed during the wall framing stage. Decorative rakes and fascia boards may be added at this stage if adding a little extra style to your home is desired.

14 Framing Inspection
Your building inspector inspects all phrases of construction at this point. Be sure to review the inspection schedule with your local building inspector as there may be many additional inspections required prior to this.

15 Roofing
When the home is ready for the roofing, the general contractor or the roofing contractor apply the shingles. Asphalt, fiberglass, cedar, and slate shingles are options with metal shingles and metal panels becoming increasingly popular.

16 Window and Exterior Door Installation
Carpenters now install your windows and exterior doors. If you choose to go with an exterior (rigid) insulation to increase the R-value of your home this will be installed after the window and exterior door installation.

17 Siding Installation
The builder or siding contractor now applies the siding for your new home. Popular options include vinyl, aluminum, and cedar siding. When incorporating vinyl and cedar siding adding a decorative shake style siding for the gables is becoming increasingly popular.

18 HVAC Work
HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) is now installed. In some areas the HVAC contractor may be the same as the plumbing contractor.

19 Plumbing Installation
At this point in the construction process the plumber installs the rough plumbing.

20 Electrical
The electrical contractor now installs the rough electrical work including the breaker panel, wiring and boxes.

21 Insulation
The insulation contractor or the general contractor insulates the walls. The ceiling is also insulated in vaulted areas if there is no attic access to this area. The ceiling is more commonly insulated after the drywall stage with blown in insulation.

22 Drywall Installation
A drywall contractor which may be your general contractor now installs your drywall. Drywall is also commonly referred to as Sheetrock or gypsum wall board.

23 Drywall Finishing
The drywallers tape the joints with drywall compound after the drywall is installed. They then apply up to 2 additional coats of drywall compound over the tape and corner beads.

24 Painting
Wall painting may be accomplished at this stage, or be completed after the finish trim installation.

25 Cabinet and Finish Trim Installation
The finish carpenter now installs the cabinets and trim boards including the baseboard and window casing. Decorative crown moldings remain popular in kitchen and dining rooms.

26 Flooring Installation
There are many popular flooring styles to choose from. Having a variety of finished floor styles is very common with the flooring styles including laminate, vinyl, hardwood, and tile flooring.

27 Finish Plumbing
The finish plumbing includes setting the sink, bath fixtures, showers, tubs, and toilets.

28 Finish Electrical
The electrician completes the finish electrical work at this time including installing the outlets, switches, and light fixtures.

29 Finish HVAC
The cover plates are now installed over the registers and air returns for the HVAC system. If a fireplace is desired in your home your HVAC contractor often installs fireplaces with the quote for the HVAC work.

30 Final Concrete Work
The driveway and final concrete work include the sidewalks, optional concrete front porch, garage floor, and pads for hot tubs.

31 Deck
Deck construction now takes place by the general contractor. Hot tubs are often incorporated into deck designs. Be sure to discuss the potential placement of a hot tub onto your deck with your contractor as the immense weight requires additional framing stipulations.

32 Landscaping
The landscapers plant shrubs and trees with the grass or sod for your new lawn to add a finishing touch.