When Should I Supply Selections?
Your permits are taken care of, you found a great local contractor in Huntington, and you’re ready to get the ball rolling on your new house build. Your contractor will have access to the majority of “standard” building materials to start construction, however, “owner supplied selections”, like appliances and plumbing fixtures, are things you’ll need to supply.
How soon do you need them? As soon as possible! Supply chain issues are still a potential issue for any project. You’ll want to make sure that necessary items are available when it’s time for installation. It might take a long time for a custom item to make its way across the country to Manhasset. Once a project is underway, framing happens a lot more quickly than you might anticipate, as long as there are no unexpected delays. Once the walls are open, it’s time to start laying out plumbing and wiring for electricity. Your contractor and their subcontractors will want to finish before sheetrock goes up so certain items, like plumbing fixtures, should be available to install in order to not hold things up.
You might ask, “Is it sufficient to have the specifications and measurements of my fixtures to give to the contractor if the items themselves can’t be physically present?” While specifications are needed, there's a real risk of ordered items being either discontinued or out of stock for so long that it becomes necessary to substitute in order to keep progress moving forward. Consider also that even mass-produced items like plumbing roughs can sometimes have small differences in dimensions. If your contractor needs to work within very tight tolerances, these indiscrepancies can cause problems. All this runs this risk of plumbing/wiring needing to be adjusted after drywall has been installed, adding time and expense. It is very likely that your contractor will put certain parts of the project on hold to avoid this scenario.
As with so many aspects of home building, advance preparation and backup plans go a long way to making sure that you can move into your dream home in Laurel Hollow sooner, rather than later.