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Design and Build
Step 1: Find Your Lot
It all starts here… Until you have an accurate sense of what you are working with — size, shape, location of your property — only then can we help you to determine the home design that best suits your property & family. Don’t have property? We’ve got you covered! Our team can meet all of your real estate needs through our sister company Schmidt Real Estate.
Property Considerations
Whether you already own or are still looking for that perfect piece of land, here are a few considerations when analyzing how real estate impacts your future home design:
1) View: How can we orient your home to maximize the best view and natural setting of your property?
2) House direction: Which direction will your home face, and how does that affect your floor plan and design?
3) Sun exposure: What about sun exposure, and how will it impact your home, pool, and landscaping plans?
4) Site elevation: Is the property “high and dry” or will it need to be built up accordingly? Has the soil been tested, and is it compact for building a foundation?
We will answer these questions and more. Our goal is to help you design and build the best possible home by maximizing your property’s unique potential. We encourage you to give us a call to inspect a property for you before purchasing.
Step 2: Secure Financing
Create a Budget
Establish a budget based on your family’s lifestyle and stick to it. Our team will do our best to keep you on track by showing you some of the common pitfalls we see new construction home buyers face when trying to stick to a budget.
Preferred Lenders
Speak with our team of lenders to see who is right for you. We even have lenders who can offer 100% LTV for well-qualified professionals! We work with the following loan types:
Construction-to-Permanent Loans for FHA
VA Loans
Conventional 80% and 90% LTV
Don’t Need Financing?
About one-third of our clients pay in the form of cash. We follow a similar draw schedule to the banks in the form of progress payments. Ask us for more details.
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Step 3: Choose a Design
Floor Plan Development
Choose a design from our portfolio, or we will custom design a home to fit your lifestyle. With over 1,000 custom homes completed in over 40 years, we have an arsenal of house plans to fit your needs.
If we don’t have one that suits exactly what you are looking for, our design professionals will start with a blank canvas and together bring your vision to life. We will work with you to create a home from the drawing board or customize an existing plan to fit your needs.
Step 4: Home Construction
With custom homes, construction timelines range from 6-12 months but may vary greatly with each individual home. An estimated building schedule looks like this:
Permitting: 1-2 months (varies with our local municipality’s workload)
Design selections: 1 month (varies with level of detail in each individual home)
Foundation and vertical construction: 1-3 months
Trades rough-in (electric, HVAC, plumbing, etc.): 2 months
Drywall: 2 months
Interior finishings: 2 months
Move in and enjoy!
Keep in mind that production builders differ greatly from custom builders, therefore timelines cannot be compared. Custom homes require personalized design time, lengthier permit approvals, custom labor and materials, and varying construction schedules. Production builders repeat the same home designs hundreds of times which reduces design, permit, and build time.
With proper planning and focused dedication, building a custom home can be a very rewarding and highly satisfying experience. We hope you will give us the opportunity to assist you on your journey.