Home Building Process

We’re coming towards the end of our home building process with Jordahl Custom Homes and are excited to close on our home next month. Now that we’ve been through the building process several times, I’m going to walk you through what that process looks like with Jordahl.

I want to preface this conversation by stating that yes, we’ve felt hiccups and delays, but we’re building in a crazy time with supply shortages. We’re getting into our home four months later than expected and have expressed our anxieties and worries. Our builder has been so great to work with, and once we expressed our concerns, they provided a detailed oversight of the project, ensuring that our home would be finished sooner rather than later.

Starting the process

Initially, our realtor set up an appointment with the Jordahl team to walk through several of their homes that were in the process of being built. To give you a timeline, this took place at the beginning of April 2021. As soon as we walked through their Augusta rambler, I knew that was the home for us. This home, in particular, had been modified, which means that the homeowners had changed the original floor plan during the design process. Jordahl has a similar floor plan to the Augusta rambler, called the Aspen rambler. It has an additional square footage on the main floor, includes a 3rd stall garage, and has an unfinished basement, unlike the Augusta.

After meeting with several builders to see our other building options, we ultimately decided to sign a contract with Jordahl towards the end of May 2021. Read more about that decision here.

First Design Meeting

I’ve already written a blog on our first design meeting; however, he’s a quick recap. In June, we met with our designer, Molly, and discussed our floor plan in detail. We made changes, added windows, discussed our hopes and dreams, etc. We also picked out our exterior siding colors, garage door, stone, and shingles. Nate and I wrote down a wish list for our new home to prepare for our first design meeting. The checklist was helpful to ensure we covered every aspect and we didn’t forget anything. We didn’t make any final decisions in this meeting as it was more to discuss our layout and upgrades we wanted to include.

Second Design Meeting

Our second design meeting took place at the beginning of August. At this meeting, we sat down with our designer, Molly, and discussed the floor plan changes that the drafter had made per our request. We also discussed pricing that Molly had received for our upgrade items. At this time, Nate and I finalized selections based on our budget and selected the flooring for our home. You can view our flooring selection below. We selected a waterproof LVP (luxury vinyl plank) and will keep you updated on how well it holds up in our home.

Tile Selection

Jordahl has tile options that you can choose from in their Design Studio, but because I wanted a particular tile, we stopped by our local Carpet World where we selected our primary bathroom tile.

Third Design Meeting

During this time, we selected all of our kitchen and bathroom designs. I’m talking cabinet layout, cabinet colors, cabinet and door styles, countertops, etc. Our previous design meetings were fun and exciting, but I was looking forward to our third design meeting the most. Check out our kitchen plans here.

Electrical Walk-Through

We just completed our electrical walk-through a few weeks ago. It was the first time we walked through our home, so it was exciting. Read more about our electrical walk-through.

After building three homes and working in the industry, I have some experience under my belt. I’d love to answer any questions you may have about building a house, especially in the Fargo area. Drop your questions below, always happy to help.