It may seem obvious, but building a custom home is just not the same as buying one. A custom home is your home, not something the builder thought up or the previous owner chose. Every choice is yours and the experience you have should allow you to take your time and do it right.
Because there are a lot more choices to make, there should be a well thought out process that allows you to go on a voyage of discovery with your builder to make sure you get a house that fits the way you live, looks the way you want it to and reflects your sensibilities down to the last detail. Oh also it should be fun and stress free.
The best custom home creation experiences, like the one that Las Ventanas has developed should tick off all of the boxes when it comes to process, organization and execution. Nothing should go wrong and if you do it correctly the experience should be smooth and predicable. Most important you should feel like you, your builder and your project manager are in sync from the start and stay that way.
At Las Ventanas we’ve developed a multi-step process that’s designed to ensure that things go right from the start and stay that way. Here’s how we do it:
- The Design Process –we’ve designed a unique process for working with our customers to make sure we understand what they need and want. Our process usually starts with a conversation about how you live your life (more on this in a follow up email) because that will drive most of your decisions – the floor plan you choose, the fixtures and finishes you need, everything in other words that will make your new home uniquely yours. We’re usually able to identify the key elements of your new home in one or two sessions and once we do we can get to work.
- The Budgeting Process – once we’ve planned all of the features in your home we draw up a detailed budget that reflects all of the selections you’ve made and we continue to monitor the budget in our weekly review sessions so you know where the project is at all times. Because you get very high quality materials, fixtures and finishes from the start the budgeting process is pretty much free of the kind of change orders that most contracts charge as you go through the process.
- The Building Process – once we’ve agreed on the layout, fixtures and finishes we develop a construction plan with a dedicated project manager and construction superintendent. The plan lays out precisely the deliverables and timeline for your home. Your project manager makes sure the work is getting done in the right order and time. Your construction superintendent makes sure the work is done right from start to finish. Both of them stay with you through-out the whole process and schedule weekly on-site progress meetings with you so you can be certain that everything is going according to your wishes.
Taken together the elements of our approach make the experience of building your custom home stress free, predictable and yes enjoyable. In that sense we are very different from most of the builders you’ve come in contact with who offer very basic materials and make their money on the change orders. We don’t think it should work like that.
If you’d like to meet with me to find out more about how we work and the experience I want to provide, I’d be happy to walk you through our process and show you our work. Thanks very much