You’ve chosen to build a new home for a reason.
You’ve selected the location because it fits your family lifestyle.
You know exactly the kind of kitchen you want, and you know what kind of flooring suits you best.

However, you have specific materials in mind that you aren’t sure can be implemented by the builder, and you really don’t know how much they’ll cost you.

To offer some short term satisfaction, many home builders would offer a general, non-specific pricing structure to their potential customers.

These builder allowances can vary greatly from one builder to the next, which shifts much of the stress, frustration, and hard work on you, the home buyer.

That’s exactly why Reinbrecht avoids the “guessing” game and delivers you a straight cost offer, removing the headaches and extra time you would spend on researching pricing structures.

What Are Building Allowances, and Why Does Reinbrecht Avoid Them?

A building allowance is a defined monetary value set aside for specific features within a home build that can be purchased from a separate entity.
(For example: flooring and lighting)

Allowances are used in instances where a client has not selected the items and features they want in their home at the point of signing a contract.  

The Allowance Process

• The client selects their home finishes and features after the contract is signed.
• If the client spends less than the allowance offered, they’ll receive a credit from the home builder.
• If they spend more than the allowance, they’ll have to pay the difference.

Most of the time, the cost of the features that exceed the allowance will have to come directly out of the home owner’s pocket, because the loan amount is fixed and cannot be changed.

Unplanned costs can cause tension between the home buyer and home builder, and that’s exactly what we’d like to avoid!

Because of that, we feel that the home builder needs to understand the home buyer’s desires and should be able to implement them within their budget.

Building Allowance Example:

• A builder might designate $2,000 specifically for lighting fixtures at the time of contract signing.  
• The homeowner will then select the lighting fixtures that they want in the home after they’ve committed to building the home.  
• If the cost of that lighting is less than $2,000, the homeowner will get a credit.
• If the lighting costs more than $2,000, the homeowner will have to pay the difference.

Straight Costs: The Solution to Allowances.

At Reinbrecht, we strive to remove frustration from the buying and building experience. We work with you so that we both fully understand project specifications and budgets. We’re more than a builder. We’re a buddy.

We offer straight costs, and we inform the buyer exactly how much their new home will cost. There’s no guessing. No estimation. No pricing adjustments halfway through the building process.

Just exact costs.

How We Do This:

We take the time upfront to decide exactly which features you want in your home.
It’s our goal to not make assumptions. You’ll tell us what you want, and we’ll make it happen!

If you need specific flooring, windows, and lighting, we’ll sit down with you, discuss the cost breakdown, and offer you an exact price that won’t change at any point in the construction process, unless you as the client wants them to.

We have pricing pre-established for hundreds of features and options that you can select from, or we can provide custom pricing for unique features.

Either way, we’ll offer a firm price for your home and all its features before you ever sign a contract.

Why We Do This:

It’s not your profession to determine the exact costs of a finished home. It’s ours.
We hope to be your homebuilding and decision-making companion throughout the whole process: before the design and after construction is complete.

We’ll even keep you informed about project progression with Buildertrend, our project monitoring tool that’s available to our customers on every digital device.

When would we use an allowance?

We always want to avoid allowances. That way our clients know the price of their home and aren’t left in the dark on pricing. However, if a client is bound by time and doesn’t want to take the time to select their finishes ahead of time, we would allocate an allowance for the items that they did not select.

Other than instances like this, we prefer to always work with a fixed price.

We’re teammates in the home building process, we’ll keep you informed before, during, and after construction.

Are you in the market for a new home?

If so, consider partnering with a home builder who will meet with you directly to understand your needs, offer you a straight cost that won’t change at any time during the build, and keep you updated on all stages of the building process. Contact Reinbrecht Homes to get started.