With so many residential architects in our beloved city, this is a very important question. A good first step is: ask people you trust for recommendations. Feel free to ask us for a few recommendations if you’d like. Throughout the past 30 years, we have worked with Houston’s most gifted residential architects and we continually research up-and-comers to identify new high-quality talent.

Be sure to research several architects and interview the top 2 or 3 who seem to match your personal design aesthetic. Visit our Architectural Design Phase Consultation page for more information about the design phase process.

If you’d like a little more help on this topic, view our blog post, Trying to Choose an Architect? 10 Questions to Ask.

As you can imagine, this is a very complicated question to answer. We have had the privilege of building homes of all sizes and countless styles throughout our three decades in business, so our homes have ranged from $500,000 to over $10 million. There are countless factors that influence the cost of a home, many of which we detail in our blog post “How much does it cost to build a custom home?”

The best first step is to meet with a builder like us to discuss this in depth. Come prepared to share your vision by bringing:

your desired budget
information on your lot
the general size you’d like your home to be
a list of rooms/spaces/features you’d like your home to have
architectural styles you like
any inspiration photos that give the builder an idea of your design aesthetic and desired level of finishes
If your builder is experienced, they should be able to let you know if the home you envision is possible to build within your desired budget.

If you already have completed plans and specifications for your home, you can find out the cost of your future home by having us build a comprehensive and accurate budget for you. Our in-house estimators study the plans and specs, then gather and thoroughly vet dozens of bids from our wide network of high-value subcontractors in order to produce the most accurate budget possible. We shoot for no holes in our budget so that it truly reflects the future cost of your home. No gotchas or costly surprises. Among our core values is Putting Our Homeowners First, and just one way we do that is by using your resources as if they were our own.

This is a difficult question to answer, given the wide ranges of differences in the custom homes we build. To illustrate, we’ve built 5,000 SF custom homes in as little as 8 months and 30,000 SF estates in as long as 2 ½ years.

The factors that most influence construction durations are:

home size
complexity of architectural design
your builder’s organizational ability and sub management skills
the quality and reliability of your builder’s sub base
homeowner decisiveness when making selections
weather delays during construction
availability of construction materials
current conditions of the subcontractor labor market
While some of these factors may seem out of your builder’s control, they should never be an excuse for significantly exceeding your initial construction schedule. We make it a priority to mitigate potential construction delays with strong organization, planning, and communication throughout construction.

The most important decision you will make happens at the very beginning of your journey when you select your builder and architect. Choosing the right builder and architect for you will have the greatest impact on how successful your project ultimately is. The right architect will take your vision and inspiration and design a home that is perfect for you and your family. The right builder will take that vision and make it a reality, all the while creating a smooth and enjoyable experience for you. Don’t underestimate the power of this first decision. If you need help with building your dream team, visit our blog posts: Trying to Choose an Architect? 10 Questions to Ask and How to Choose the Right Custom Builder for You.

Before construction on your home begins, you will begin making dozens of design decisions for your home. Some will feel important to you, others will feel less so. It’s an exciting process, but can feel overwhelming. Without support, “decision fatigue” can set in. Our project managers act as facilitators for the selections process, working very closely with you and your interior designer to ensure all selections are made on time to keep construction on schedule. We create a customized comprehensive selection schedule that is continually updated and monitored by us to make this process is as painless as possible for you.

Well, to begin you’ve got to know that in the state of Texas anyone can be a builder. There are no licenses or certifications required by law here like there are in most other states. Because of this very low barrier to entry, there are hundreds of homebuilders in and around Houston. Take this into consideration when choosing a builder. Do as much homework as you can to assess how experienced and capable your builder candidates are. Interview them. Request to visit a home or jobsite with them. Speak to their past homeowners. Learn their processes to confirm they are organized and effective. Make sure they are a good fit for you and your family.

If you’d like a little more help on this topic, visit our blog post, How to Choose the Right Custom Builder for You.

The main phases of custom home construction are:

• Site work & Foundation
• Building the home’s shell (framing, roof, exterior doors and windows)
• Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC
• Insulation
• Drywall
• Interior Finishes and Trim
• Exterior Work
• Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC Trim-Out
• Flooring
• Final Inspection & Move-In!

Homeowner communication is extremely important to us in order to create a homebuilding experience that is as transparent and enjoyable as possible for our homeowners.

When you build with us, you are able to login to our client portal at any time to see your home’s updated schedule, budget, outstanding selections and approvals, and construction photos of your home. We know that your home is your family’s biggest investment, so we make sure you are never in the dark about its progress.

This is such an important question! Over 30 years we have built our reputation on never cutting corners and making sure our homes are of the highest quality. It takes a lot of passion, commitment and focused intention to achieve this.

Before construction, we work closely with a building science specialist who guides your design and specifications to ensure a high-performance home with strong energy efficiency and healthy indoor air quality.

During construction, our quality assurance controls are tight. Our team is made up of experienced construction managers with extensive backgrounds in high-end custom residential construction who are on the jobsites daily to ensure our subcontractors are using high quality materials and methods to build your home. In fact, all of our subcontractors have been thoroughly vetted for quality, value, and reliability before they ever become part of our sub network. In addition, our construction managers and project managers add value to our homeowners by staying up-to-date on the ever-evolving building science best practices.

Following completion, we stand behind our work. Our warranty process is easy and our team remains responsive to your needs long after you move-in. One of our previous homeowners said it best:

“We have now been in the house for nine years and like any house, problems arise from time to time that need repair. Chris has never hesitated to make one of his superintendents available to assist in diagnosing the problem and recommending the best contractor for the job. That long-term commitment may be what we appreciate the most.”