Many important decisions are made during the pre-construction phase.

This step involves deciding where you want to live and purchasing the perfect building lot. You want to think about what the neighborhood has to offer. Is it close to where you work and where you want your children to attend school?

We will check if the property is served by public utilities, what the zoning restrictions, building set-backs, and future development plans are for the area, so you will have the best idea as to whether that property is right for you.

Next, we will determine exactly what you need and want in your new home. How many bedrooms and baths do you need? Will it have an island in the kitchen, a home office, or a large family room? Will it be a split-level, have a garage and need a driveway?

After you finally settle on a suitable design, we will need to identify all of the materials and finishes that you want to go along with it. There are literally thousands of items that go into the construction of a new home and every single one of them must be specified. In order to get the things that you want the way you really want them, we will make sure that everything is put in writing and in as much detail as necessary, to create clear, complete, and accurate construction plans and specifications. Besides their importance in building your new house, these documents will be needed in order to create an accurate budget. We cannot realistically expect to know how much your house will cost to build, until we know exactly what we are trying to construct.

If you are prepared for what may happen, this can be a very exciting time during the building of your home. You will finally get to see where your house will sit, how big it will be, and what views you will have. This is the first physical work on the road to realizing your dream.

The foundation is the structure on which the rest of your house is built. Whether it is stone, concrete, steel, or wood; a basement, crawl space, pilings, or slab on grade, it needs to be strong and square and dry.

This is not a good place to try to save money. We will be sure the footings are properly sized and reinforced for the loads that will be carried. We will build the walls to be able to withstand the forces of the earth that they will need to hold back.

This is one of the most exciting steps. Nothing beats the feeling of taking your first walk around your new house after the framing crew finishes the first floor deck.

Framing will take anywhere from a week for a small house, to several months for a larger one. You will be able to watch the basic structure take shape very fast. Your home will suddenly have walls, a roof, and windows.

During this stage, things appear to slow down as the various trades enter into the building process. In reality, a lot more work is actually being done on your house during the rough-in stage, it just isn't as dramatic.

During the next several weeks or months, dozens of people will be installing the inner workings of your house including the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, lighting, security systems, central vacuum lines, television cable, entertainment systems, computer networks, exhaust fans, phone lines, fireplaces, etc.

After we are certain that everything has been roughed-in properly, it is time to finish the walls, install the doors & trim, hang the cabinets, put down the hardwood flooring, install ceramic tile, and paint the walls.

After the paint, the next things to be installed are the light fixtures, counter tops, appliances, plumbing fixtures, mirrors, shower doors, security systems, door knobs, towel bars, and toilet paper holders.

Much can be done with the home exterior while work progresses inside. Almost all of the exterior finishes need to be designed and installed to keep out the elements and protect the main structure for as long as possible.

The exterior finishes might be any combination of brick, stone, stucco, vinyl, aluminum, concrete, or wood. Take into consideration the weather conditions in the area where you are building and how much time you will be able to spend on maintaining the outside of your house.

Just when you think the project is complete, there is still a bit of work to do - the punchout work. Replacing those two broken tiles, hiding that bad drywall seam, fixing the squeaky floor in the dining room, etc.

And finally...everything is finished! Now you can finally relax and enjoy moving in to your new home!