The Building Process

Building a new home should be fun and exciting. Granted it can be a little rough at times but with thorough planning and a little help from Mother Nature you will look back upon it as a great experience. To help guide you along, we have put together a detailed program that evens out the bumps and allows you to be creative and focused every step of the way. There is an old saying in our business. A good builder will save you money; a bad builder will cost you!

The first step in building your home is choosing where to build it.  Each location has its pros and cons that will probably be reflected in the price. Look at everything including neighborhood, schools. Paved roads in and out of you location and price of other homes in the area to name a few. A site that is out in the wide open with plenty of unobstructed area is by far the easiest to build on. It will also most likely be the least expensive. If you can find a site that has a slope from the front to the rear, this lot can be sculpted and formed into a view out lower level or possibly a walk out which will give you a lot of quality living area in the lower level. Keep an open mind as you look at a building site. Paying a higher price for a better piece of property may be a wiser choice than buying one at a cheaper price. Remember there are reasons for everything. A bad lot no matter how cheap it is is still a bad lot!

Once you have decided on a lot, our first site meeting will primarily be about locating your house on the site. What are the features of this site that we want to design around? Will there be neighbors to the sides or rear? Is there enough room for a circular drive? Are there some really large trees that we can work into our final design? We will address these questions and explore all of our options when we start zeroing in on the location and design of your new home.

We use a variety of tools to design your home. Probably our best tool is for you to gather pictures from magazines, plan books and places that you have visited. Do you have any physical or health related concerns that have to be designed n the home? Style is probably the most important feature that drives a homes design. But we can’t stop there. We will also look at incorporating cost saving energy features into our design. Remember we are looking to create a design with style and comfort incorporating some of the latest technology all with in your budget.

It usually takes three or four design meetings to complete the final set of drawings and specifications. Once the plans have been completed we will discuss financing arrangements and prepare a building agreement that will specify the contract price and a time frame for completion.

After the signing the building agreement we will start off by making your exterior selections. We want to coordinate the entire color scheme before we order our windows. In your specifications, certain allowances are provided for future selections that you will make during construction. You will be given plenty of time for making your selections. However in order to keep the process moving along you will need to be focused and decisive.

Once construction starts, we will meet on a regular basis. The more we can get together the more we can continually refine the final design and answer any questions you will have.  Sometimes things on a two-dimensional plan look a little different in a three dimensional space. When the home is framed (the skeleton of your home) and the roof is shingled, the mechanical components will be laid out. At this time we will walk through the house and lay out the electrical, telephone, TV, alarm system and home theater requirements if any. This is a great time to see and understand how your house is built from the inside out. During the construction process we are adding layer upon layer of finishes. It’s real exciting to see the whole project come together. As we get closer to the end, we will layout the drive and walks and look at the grading plan.

After about six months of construction your home will be nearing completion and we will schedule a meeting to discuss all of the major components of your home, provide you with all of your warranty information and prepare a punch list of any items that need adjustment or correction. At our final walk through you will see that our constant communication through out construction will keep the number of items that need attention to a minimum.

Building and designing a new home from the ground up is thrilling and rewarding. It is something that we love sharing with our customers every time we build a new home. It is like no other experience.

We hope you consider us when thinking of building a custom home. J.E.Brown Building is a unique company of dedicated professionals building truly unique homes.