The home building process can vary depending on the type of home builder you’ve chosen.

For semi-custom and production home builders, they usually have you select everything needed for your home at the very beginning of the project (usually in your design meeting), before breaking ground on your lot. This helps streamline the building process and ensures the builder has everything they need to build your home, including a set budget.

If you are working with a fully custom home builder, they typically have you order your materials as you go along.

Understanding the order of building materials needed can help both parties know when each material will be needed and used throughout the process.

When Is Each Building Material Needed in the Home Building Process?

Here is the order of materials needed throughout home construction:

• Foundation

• Plumbing Rough-In & Electrical Conduit

• Concrete Slab

• Framing, Deck & Cornice

• Windows & Doors

• Roofing

• More Electrical Rough-In & Plumbing Top-Out

• Furnace, Ducts & Condenser Line-Set for HVAC

• Fireplace

• Siding

• Insulation

• Drywall and Trim Work

• Cabinetry

• Paint for Walls, Trim, Doors & Exterior

• Finishes like Countertops, Tile & Fixtures

• Flooring

• Landscaping

The Home Building Process

STEP 1: FOUNDATION

After site development is complete, your builder will begin work on building your home. The first step in constructing your new home is building the foundation.

This will require plumbing and electrical initial installation work before the concrete is laid. Luckily, it doesn’t require many decisions. Your plumber and electrician will work to make sure everything is installed properly.

Check out this video on how plumbing installation works before concrete is laid for new homes.

Concrete will be laid next, so it will be one of the first materials ordered for your home.

STEP 2: FRAMING

After the concrete has set, it will be time to frame the house. Lumber will need to be ordered from the start to ensure it arrives in time. It will be needed once the concrete slab is finished.

Learn more about the framing process and what type of lumber is used for each part of the house:

STEP 3: EXTERIOR FINISHES

Following lumber is the siding and roofing. This is where your decisions on the type of roof and siding you want come into play.

Did you choose brick, stone or hardie board clad materials? What about steel or stucco?

Are you going with traditional shingles for your roof or going with a more modern look using metal roofing?

STEP 4: INTERIOR & FINAL EXTERIOR FINISHES

After the exterior of the home is complete, and the walls have been put up, your electrician, plumber and HVAC technician will be back to continue work on the install. They will want to make sure all of the electrical and plumbing lines are in the right location and properly sized. For instance, they will be checking the water shutoff, water heater, electrical panel, special plugs/switches and light fixtures. We walk through all of this with the owner before wiring to make sure all of these specifics are noted and marketing accordingly.

Once this part of the project is done, your builder will be able to finish out the insulation and put up the drywall and trim.

Next are some more needed decisions:

• Which paint colors have you chosen for your home?

• Which countertops, cabinets and fixtures do you want?

• What about flooring?

• Landscaping?

It’s the latter half of the project where these materials will be put to use.

What Are the Current Delays on Building Materials in 2021? Which Materials Need to Be Ordered First?

Windows, brick and garage doors have had the longest delay in coming in, which is why many builders usually order these materials first! These items can take a few months to arrive but are very important to home building projects.

Additionally, as you think about the homebuilding timeline listed above, you’ll notice that it’s the plumbing, electrical, concrete foundations and lumber that are needed at the start of your homebuilding project. Your builder will be able to rely on their specialists (plumbers and electricians) on ordering timelines for those items but will usually be quick to order concrete and lumber to ensure it arrives in time, as well.

What to Expect When Working with Hedgefield Homes?

The first thing we do for our clients, in this current market, is order windows, brick and garage doors so we know we’ll get them in on time.

After this is taken care of, we can work on putting together our framing material package and foundation package for our clients and continue to build out the needed purchase order from there.

Our clients meet with a design coordinator at the very beginning of the homebuilding process (during the pre-construction phase) to make their selections and design choices for their home.

This helps us build out the rest of our purchase order for their home project.

Once the purchase order is detailed out, we have a detailed review process with our clients to make sure everything is what they expect it to be.

After approval, we release the purchase orders to our trade partners and vendors. This process occurs during pre-construction, which can take 3 months or longer but is built into our overall homebuilding timeline.

Learn More About What It Looks Like to Build a Custom Home in North Texas