Is Fall a good time to build a home???

I have heard many of my clients express concerns about building too late in the fall or winter.  I have built a few hundred new homes in the Rochester and Surrounding communities and meet with my clients at the one year point of when we closed on their new home.  I do this to not only meet up with my past customers, but also to gauge how the home we built reacted over the past year.  One of the surprising things I have found is that the homes we build through the winter actually show much less movement than the ones we build in the spring.  There are a couple factors attributed to this I believe.  First, all the raw materials going into the home are at a point where they are the driest point of the entire year.  The humidity is virtually gone in the fall and winter months.  Secondly, I feel with the lowered humidity the home doesn't actually take on moisture while we are building.  When wood takes on moisture, it swells.  If this wood doesn't dry out prior to the vapor barrier going on or the sheetrock, it is much more likely to cause nail pops and sheet rock cracking over the next year.  Building in the fall and winter can have its challenges as well.  Heating costs may be higher, but due to the fact we are able to build these homes in a 2 to 4 month window we don't see that as much of a factor in our homes.  The bottom line is that potential clients should not have concerns about building in the winter months if the builder they choose is capable of handling the conditions that come with it.  You might be surprised how well the home will function for you if you do!