Thinking about building a home this summer, or doing that renovation you’ve always wanted to do?  Well, make sure you plan ahead.  People come to us all of the time wanting to start building in a month.  We definitely want you to start building as soon as possible, but unless you’ve already got plans then it will definitely take more than a month to get started.

Once you decide to have us build your home, we get you in touch with the architect we think will be the best fit for your project.  We all work with the architect to get the most accurate set of plans possible.  Having accurate plans saves a lot of time during the build phase of your project.  Getting engineered plans can take as long as 4-6 weeks.  Once we have your plans, we work hard to get you an estimate for your project.  This takes 1-2 weeks.  Once we get you an estimate and you approve it, we get everything submitted to the city for a permit.  The city can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks for approval.  As soon as we get the permit from the city, we get started on your project.  Add all of this time up and you can see that from the initial meeting with us to when we break ground on your job can be anywhere from 2-3 months.  It seems like not matter how much we try to speed up this process, it takes at least 2 months.  So if you want to get started on a project in the next few months, get going now.  Call us so we can get you started and then your project will happen when you want it to.

On a side note:  A lot of people ask us if they can do the plans on their own and come to us when they’re done to get a bid.  While this is something you can definitely do, we don’t recommend it.  As part of the plan process we talk with you about what you want and what your budget is.  We work hard to get you plans that meet  both your desires and your budget.  Many times this involves us working with the architect to make changes on the plans that will help save you money.  We frequently have people come to us with plans they’ve had drawn up on their own.  They tell us their budget and then we look at their plans and they’re almost always too big for their budget.  Having us help with your plans can end up saving you a lot of money and time.

We look forward to getting you started on your project!