The Insider's Guide to Custom Homes
Welcome to The Insider’s Guide to Custom Homes—your expert-led roadmap to building smarter and better. I’m Rick Bell, founder of Landmark Custom Homes, with over 40 years of experience building across South Florida. Each episode gives you practical insights into the custom homebuilding process—materials, floor plans, budgeting, timelines, and how to avoid costly mistakes. If you want to build with confidence and craftsmanship, this show is for you.
Episodes
In this episode, Rick Bell breaks down the process of creating, reviewing, and managing a construction budget for a custom home.
Listeners will learn how to build a realistic budget from preliminary allowances to finalized trade bids, and how to maintain control throughout the construction process.
Rick shares how transparency, good communication, and proactive planning can make the difference between a dream home and a budget nigh...
Before you buy that dream lot — listen to this.
In this episode, Rick shares the true story of a costly mistake he made early in his career that changed how he approaches every homesite today. You'll learn the 15 essential steps to take before purchasing land for your custom home — from wetland determinations and soil tests to title reviews, setbacks, and environmental reports.
Whether you’re building your first custom home or a...
In this episode, Rick Bell unpacks one of the most powerful tools in custom homebuilding: the construction schedule. Whether you're building your dream home or managing a team, understanding how a schedule is created—and how it can make or break your build—is essential.
You’ll learn:
What a CPM (Critical Path Method) schedule is and why it matters
How trades are sequenced to avoid costly delays
What “lead time,” “float,” and “...
In this episode, Rick Bell walks you through the essential steps of financing your custom home. Whether you're paying cash, using a construction loan, or a hybrid approach, understanding how financing works can save you time, money, and stress.
What You’ll Learn- Pros and cons of paying cash vs. financing
- What to ask when selecting a construction lender
- Key documents required for loan approval
- H...
Contracts can seem intimidating — but a well-structured agreement is one of the most powerful tools you have when building a custom home. In this episode, Rick Bell breaks down the essential components of a construction contract, what red flags to avoid, and how contracts can actually work in your favor.
✅ Learn the 4 core questions every contract should answer
✅ Understand change orders, draw schedules, and delay clauses
✅ ...
In this episode, Rick Bell takes you deep inside the construction phase of building a custom home. From the rapid early progress of foundation and framing, to the slower but critical rough mechanical stages, Rick explains what to expect, how selections impact your schedule, why flexibility matters, and how to enjoy th...
The Insider’s Guide to Custom Homes
Episode 2: Design to Budget
In this episode, Rick Bell walks you through one of the most important (and overlooked) concepts in custom home building: Designing to Budget. Discover how to balance dreams and dollars through each phase of the design process—from conceptual drawings to final construction documents. Learn how transparency and teamwork can keep your plans on track and your costs und...
In this first episode of The Insider’s Guide to Custom Homes, builder Rick Bell shares what it really means to build smarter — and how to avoid common missteps from the start.
🎯 You’ll learn:
– What makes a custom home different from production building
– Why choosing the right team early is critical
– How to approach design with your budget in mind
– The mindset successful homeowners bring to the process
With over f...
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