Everyone has a vision about a dream home. The dream may have a particular style, such as a Mediterranean or Colonial, or perhaps a certain room is the focus, such as an idealized kitchen or master suite. These visions are an important starting point in your search for a new house, helping to narrow your
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One of the most exciting and dynamic periods in the construction of a new home is the structural framing stage. It is the time when two-dimensional plans take on a three-dimensional shape. As floors, walls, and a roof rise from the ground, the owners can envision the finished home and walk through its spaces. As
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Here’s the secret you’ve been waiting for: To help ensure a successful and satisfying homebuilding experience, maintain regular and productive communication with your builder and his team. Lack of communication is, without a doubt, the single leading cause of headaches and hard feelings. Minimize stress and ease the building process by keeping the lines of
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Walk into any new home and you’ll immediately notice a big difference from many older homes: an abundance of natural light. Because of poor thermal performance, windows and glass doors in older homes were necessarily scaled down. Today’s builders, however, are able to take advantage of advanced technologies, a wider range of sizes and styles,
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A lot of people don’t understand the sheer complexity of the builder’s job and the systems required to build a house from scratch. Many analogies have been used to describe the professional builder: the conductor of an orchestra, the captain of a ship, even a general executing a military campaign. The point is that the
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As life gets busier and stress levels increase, more and more people are turning to their homes as a place of refuge and escape. As a professional builder, we’ve seen an increasing interest in the transformation of the master bedroom into an “owners’ suite”; a true, in-home retreat area. This trend has evolved from a
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Every family is unique. We strive to create a distinctive home and living experience for each of our valued clients. Our sales and design staff consider the number of people in a household, the gender and age of each family member, and even particular preferences, interests, and special needs. A critical element in fulfilling that
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Today’s home offices have changed residential design forever. They are now a mainstream feature in nearly every type, size, and price of new home. Professional, market-sensitive builders know that families need a separate space to conduct business from home. The successful integration of work and living environments is critical to meeting individual family needs. At
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Modern housing may not have reached Jetson-level performance just yet, but a growing number of new homes today are prepared for ever-increasing amounts of automation and electronics — more than any existing or remodeled home can ever hope to be. These homes, built during the last five years, are equipped with advanced wiring and cabling networks
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Once you’ve settled into your new home, it becomes increasingly your responsibility to maintain it. As a professional builder, we have a period of time in which we respond to warranty service calls and address questions from our new homeowners. Eventually the baton is passed to our owners for the regular maintenance of their home
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In an increasing number of newly built upscale homes, full bedroom suites are replacing converted dens and musty basements as the standard accommodations for out-of-town friends, bounce-back children, and visiting in-laws. In the interest of providing short- and long-term guests with a greater measure of privacy and comfort, new-home clients are requesting guest suites when
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What ever happened to customer service? Today, simple respect and responsiveness seems to be more the exception than the rule … especially after the sale. How a homebuilder manages after-sale service, also called warranty service or call-backs, is a key indicator of the company’s overall professionalism and ability to meet (and ideally exceed) a homebuyer’s
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Some homeowners are very interested in the homebuilding process, while others are more content to follow the lead of the builder and be available only when needed. Most clients fall somewhere in between. Regardless of their approach or comfort level with new home construction, clients play a vital role in its success. The ideal homeowner
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Builders hear this question a lot. The answer, as with most such questions, is “It depends.” But on what? People who haven’t built before often have an unrealistic concept of how long it can take to plan, budget, and build a home. Many variables can affect the timetable. Three that stand out are design, permitting,
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A well-defined process can make bidding more accurate and productive. Homeowners see the competitive bidding process as a way to get the most value for their money. But it doesn’t always work that way. Bids are only useful if they come from comparable companies, and if they are structured so that they can be accurately
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Custom home pricing is a complex subject. Here are some ways to think about it. Have you ever called a car dealership to ask how much cars cost per pound? You say that’s a ridiculous question? We agree. In fact, we expect the dealership’s sales staff would wonder what you had been smoking. The serious
How to keep your new home on track amid COVID-related price spikes and shortages If you’re ready to start a new custom home, you may need to deal with the ongoing fallout from the coronavirus-related economic shutdown. That means working with your builder to mitigate its impact. The problem, as we all know, started in
Transparency about what you can afford is the only way to get the most house for your money. Your new custom home is likely one of your biggest-ever investments, so you obviously need a builder you can trust. Ways to confirm trustworthiness include reading online reviews, calling references and noting the builder’s professional certifications. As
This imaginative and fun exercise will get you a space that’s just right for your needs One of the many benefits of a new custom home is that the kitchen can be perfectly tailored to support how you cook and entertain. A first step to getting that result is to think through the space in
Societal trends are making the home office a must-have for many homeowners. Careful planning is the key to getting a space where you can be truly productive. Remote work arrangements have been on the upswing for a long time. Research firm Global Workplace Analytics figured in 2019 that there were 4.3 million telecommuters in the