How homeowners benefit from an established builder’s systems and relationships Over the past decade, many new contractors have emerged as homebuilders. This has given homeowners more options, tempting some to choose a contractor based strictly on price. Bad idea. It’s nearly impossible to compare apples to apples when collecting competitive bids, especially for a complex custom home.

As a professional builder, our company takes pride in creating high-quality homes. So we’d like our homebuyers to understand the difference between a well-built home and something less. What do we mean by “quality”? It’s not a mystery—construction quality is easy to see when you know what to look for. We’ve found that the best

Your professional builder knows the best techniques and materials to keep mold at bay We’ve all seen stories about black mold in houses, and no one wants to experience that. But even a new custom home can develop a mold problem if the builder doesn’t use the right construction practices and products. Mold is a

Lots of homeowners are interested in this popular flooring—here’s what you need to know. Although the word “vinyl” raises some people’s eyebrows, luxury vinyl tile (LVT) is actually a high-quality engineered flooring material. In recent years, LVT has become wildly popular, even among well-heeled homeowners. It’s easy to see why: with looks similar to hardwood

Although professional builders do everything in their power to keep home construction on schedule, they face more challenges than ever. Most have to do with back-ordered products—ongoing fallout from the pandemic. The supply chain affects every builder in the country, but as an illustration let’s consider a highly respected design/build company in Orlando that needed

The first step to getting real value from these sites is to understand their strengths and weaknesses Many of our custom home clients love photo-sharing sites like Pinterest, and those sites can be a big help when searching for design and product ideas. However, they can also lead to frustration and disappointment. The result you

A growing topic of discussion among builders in recent years has been resilience. Homes designed and built for resilience will weather all but the most extreme environmental conditions and will remain livable during power outages. They offer homeowners true shelter and peace of mind. The most obvious natural events are those that make the news—

The answer will have an impact on the selections you make and the final home cost. Potential clients often ask for our homes’ average cost per square foot. The question is understandable. Price per square foot is a metric the real estate industry uses to gauge the competitiveness of resale homes, and homebuyers have internalized

How professional builders create a healthy indoor environment. If you have concerns about how healthy your new home will be, you’re not alone. In a 2021 survey of 551 American homeowners commissioned by York (a manufacturer of home heating and cooling systems) 62% of respondents said their home’s indoor air quality needed improvement. And in

Whether it’s a $7 million custom home or a $70,000 kitchen remodel, no one wants to pay more than they have to. So it’s no surprise that the first question many people have for their architect, interior designer, or custom home builder is about cost. That’s not a good starting point for getting the best

When choosing someone to build your new custom home, there’s a truth that you ignore at your peril: your ultimate satisfaction has as much to do with your day-to-day experience of the project as with the final result. This is very different than buying a tract home, where you have only minimal interaction with the

Interior designers can help create safe, comfortable spaces that are perfectly tailored to your needs. Homeowners sometimes ask what, exactly, interior designers bring to the table. It’s a valid question. You’ve lived in homes all your life and know what you like, so choosing products, colors and layouts shouldn’t be complicated, right? The answer is

Installed costs vary greatly from product to product, but your builder can help manage them. Cost control is top-of-mind for anyone building a custom home these days. That includes keeping final product costs as close to the estimate as possible. With this in mind, some homeowners browse at design centers and box stores, then come

Change orders have always led to budget increases and schedule delays, and it’s not getting any better. With inflation showing up in the news and at the grocery store, some homeowners are asking what they can do to keep construction costs from escalating. Part of the answer is to choose the features and products you