How exciting to be building a new home! Do your homework, due your due-diligence,\n\u201cget educated\u201d on your building options, your liabilities and warranties\nprovided in all these options. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being your own\nBuilder:<\/strong> In Georgia, homeowners\ncan build their own homes without a license. \nHowever, there are stipulations. \nMany do this thinking they will save a lot of money \u2013 not necessarily so. This process can cost you dearly if you are\nnot educated on building. In this\nscenario, homeowners assume all liability for the construction methods, the\nadherence to building, fire and life safety codes. The homeowner is required to get their own\ngeneral liability and worker\u2019s comp insurance. \nIf you are a very educated homeowner, know building methods, are willing\nto accept the full liability and do not want any home warranty once the home is\nfinished then this may be an option for you. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are considering purchasing a new or partially\nconstructed home, do your research on who built or is building the home. Were they a licensed contractor? Did they use licensed sub-contractors? Some individuals who are not licensed will\nbuild \u201cspec homes\u201d as their own home, then sell them when they are almost finished\nfor a profit. This is essentially building without a license. According to the Ga. Secretary of State\u2019s\nwebsite, there are restrictions on this method:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes,\nproperty owners may construct a building or structure which is for their own\nuse and not for use by the general public and not offered for sale or\nlease. If you sell or transfer the\nbuilding or structure, you will not be allowed to build another for a period of\ntwo years, unless you obtain a license or hire someone who is licensed to\noversee the construction.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this method, it is unlikely that this unlicensed builder\nwill provide the year home warranty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlicensed Builder:<\/strong> It is the homeowner\u2019s responsibility to\ninsure they are working with a licensed (or unlicensed) builder. Anyone can contact the Secretary of State\u2019s\noffice (SOS) and confirm a builder\u2019s professional license. If your builder is unlicensed, they will done\none of these: pay another builder to pull a permit for them (highly illegal),\nthey may have someone on their staff who is licensed pull the permit and work\non the job or they will ask the homeowner to pull the permit themselves. In most states, if a homeowner pulls a\npermit, they assume \u201cALL<\/em><\/strong>\u201d liability for making\nsure the home meets all building, state, national, fire and life safety\nbuilding codes. Additionally, you void\nthe state requirement to provide a home warranty for 12 months. And typically, it is up to the homeowner to\ntake out all required insurance policies \u2013 alleviating the builder of all\nresponsibilities. Generally, this is why\nsomeone hires a builder: for their in-depth\nknowledge and expertise in building a quality house, for their knowledge of\ncodes and construction techniques, for their stable of quality licensed sub-contractors\nand for the home warranty that builders are required to provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Qualifying Agent:<\/strong> An alternate type of license in Georgia (and\nsome other states) is called a \u201cqualifying agent.\u201d Builders who possess qualifying agent status\nare doing the work as a representative of another individual (or company.) The homeowner will have the depth of\nresources and liability coverage afforded through the licensed builder as if\nthey were contracted with that builder individually. This is common however, there are\nrestrictions. Again, per the Ga.\nSecretary of State\u2019s website\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA\nqualifying agent license is not a personal license and may not be used to\noperate as an individual and may not be used to operate for any other business\norganization.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Licensed Builder;<\/strong>\n For most situations, this is the best\nroute. It is well worth the percent the\nbuilder will charge you above the cost of your home to take care of all the\nliability, carry all the required insurance, hire qualified and licensed\nsub-contractors and provide you with a 12 month home warranty following\ncompletion of your home. There are\n\u201cFAQ\u2019s\u201d on the Georgia SOS\u2019s website for homeowners with questions relating to building\nyour home. If you feel you have issues\nwith your builder regarding unlicensed practice or other legal issues, you can\nreport them through the SOS office by filing a formal complaint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Best advice for homeowners wanting to buy or build a new\nhouse is do your research, go online to the SOS\u2019s office and research\nindividual licenses and types of license. Talk to others in your community who\nhave recently built and ask about builders you are considering. Also ask your builder to see certified copies\nof all certificates of insurance before your sign on! Be an educated consumer, don\u2019t ask these\nquestions when it is too late. Buyer\nalways beware!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How exciting to be building a new home! Do your homework, due your due-diligence, \u201cget educated\u201d on your building options, your liabilities and warranties provided in all these options. Being your own Builder: In Georgia, homeowners can build their own homes without a license. However, there are stipulations. Many do this thinking they will save […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Hatfield_OutdoorFireplace_web.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Hatfield_OutdoorFireplace_web.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Cindy Trimble","author_link":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/author\/cindy\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1311,"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions\/1311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiotrimble.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}