Follow these steps into your new home!

We have established a procedure which will move us through the steps necessary to finalize your new home purchase. You will be responsible for accomplishing some of these items, primarily the ones that relate to your home site (lot) and your financing. We can provide you assistance along the way and recommend contractors and professionals who can do as much or as little of the work as you wish. So, let's get on with building your dream home.

1. Select a Home Site: This step begins your dream home process. Most folks use the services of a qualified professional real estate agent to guide them in home site acquisition, and we recommend that you do so. Before starting to design your home, it is generally necessary to know the constraints the home site will impose on final house design. You should have the lot under a firm contract to purchase, but need not have settled on the purchase. We would like to see a current survey, topographic information if it is available, the current zoning and how utilities (sewer, water, electric, gas and telephone) will serve the home.

2. Preliminary House Design: Our staff will work with you to do a computer crafted floor plan of your dream home and help you select the major components which you want to have included. We can start from one of our Virginia Collection home plans, a NationWide Custom home plan or plans and thoughts which you have accumulated while waiting for your dream home. When this joint planning process is concluded, and you have accepted the preliminary design, we will request a $1,500 non refundable design fee, and the preliminary design will become your property. At this time, we will provide you a house foundation plan which will be required by your engineer to precisely position your house on your lot (see #3 below) and a house construction budget for the lender (see #4 below).

3. Site Planning: Now, you must retain a licensed professional civil engineer (or surveyor) to design a site plan for your house and lot. We will recommend an excellent firm or you can pick your own. This site plan will contain a wealth of information necessary for the land development and house construction phases of the project. It is a requirement for obtaining a site work permit and building permit from the appropriate local jurisdiction. The engineer will also point out if there are any unusual site conditions or utilities issues which must be addressed.

4. Construction / Permanent Financing: It is time to get the lender involved. You now have your lot cost from your realtor, a budget house cost from us, and a general idea of the site conditions and utilities. The lender will likely seek our input and assurances on the overall construction issues facing the project and arranging a tailored funding schedule for house construction. Remember that our Component Crafting process has unique requirements which must be structured into the loan. The end product will be a written, non-contingent construction / permanent mortgage loan commitment (contract) between you and the lender. Your dream home project must complete this requirement before it can move forward to the next step.

5. Final Home Plans: You have your lot, your site plan, your preliminary house design and you have your construction / permanent mortgage- you are ready to finalize your house plans and specifications in exquisite detail. At this point, we will ask for a final house plan retainer of $6,500 which will fund the design, drafting and structural engineering necessary to produce a final set of architectural plans and specifications for your dream home. The process starts with the preliminary home floor plan designs which we completed in step #2, above. These preliminary plans go to the engineers and draftsmen who computer generate the first draft of your detailed structural house plans. The process is made quite efficient because they know that you have accepted the preliminary design as a starting point and we have used known components in the design (Component Crafting). We will review their output and your house specifications several times, and revise them as appropriate until we have a final set of plans and specifications which you accept. This process usually takes only a couple of iterations because we are mixing known components and systems to reach the final design. This final set of plans now belongs to you.

6. Construction Agreement: Now that your home's detailed construction plans and specifications have been finalized, we can, at last, give you a firm price to build your dream home (cue drum roll please). We will collect cost data from our various systems subcontractors and component fabricators over a two week period (more or less) and give you a written cost proposal. You should review this with your lender for their input and adjustments to your commitment which was based on our preliminary house budget. If all is acceptable, we will then enter a firm Construction Agreement which will finalize the planning steps above and start the building process.

7. Utilities, Permits and Municipal Approvals: Time for you to get involved in the process in greater detail. It is your lot and your home being built. As the owner, you must secure the necessary approvals from the appropriate local and state authorities for the development of your land, the right for your driveway to enter a state road, the easements and service agreements necessary for providing your lot with utilities, the approval of your well & septic system plans (or sewer & water system tie ins), and municipal approvals of your site plan and building plans which will result in your building permit being issued. You can do as much or as little of this as you desire and we can point you to reliable contractors and professionals to lend a hand where needed. While it may sound like a handful, all of the agencies and utilities with whom you will deal are really quite helpful to the individual homeowner going through the process. At the end of the day, you will have learned valuable information about your lot and your home, and be the expert on your own domain. We recommend you take an active role in this process even if you choose to have it done primarily by others.

8. Land Development: Building permit in hand, let's move some dirt!! Before we can start construction on your home, most all of the required or desired improvements to your lot must be completed. This can vary from just a few days work to a fairly significant undertaking. It can include demolition of an existing structure, clearing, grading, import or export of soil, installation of a well, septic system, sewer laterals and / or water laterals, rock blasting, installation of electric, gas and telephone to a temporary pedestal by the house, and providing road and driveway access to the house location for heavy vehicles. You likely have been thinking of many of these issues since you started to evaluate the purchase of your lot, so most of this will not be new to you. Again, you can be involved with as much or as little of this land development as you wish. We can set you up with experienced contractors or subcontract some of this work on your behalf with payment coming directly from the lender. In our experience, a knowledgeable and involved owner results in greater long term satisfaction.

9. House Construction: Time for you to stand back and let us do our thing in the main event. Our Construction Agreement (#6 above) will grant us and our workers access to your home site for this process. When the land development phase is complete, we will first install a heavy rock driveway and construction entrance from the access road to your house site. Weather permitting, we will endeavor to excavate your basement as soon as this access drive is complete. Once the foundation walls are in place, we plan to have our portion of your home construction (which may be all of it) completed within 90 days. At certain critical stages, our work will be inspected either by municipal inspectors and / or licensed private firms. We will provide you copies of all their reports for your records. If you wish to bring in contractors to add other improvements (such as a pool or sauna) when we are finished our work, both we and the lender will be happy to accommodate. You will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly and efficiently our Component Crafting process goes- your home will be finished before you know it.

10. Home Acceptance: When we have completed our work, we will have a formal inspection and acceptance by both you and the lender's inspectors. Deficiencies noted, if any, will be promptly rectified. Depending on whether you plan to have additional work done by other contractors under the same permit, the acceptance process may or may not include inspections by municipal inspectors. That's it!! Your construction loan converts to a permanent loan and you move in. Your dream home is a reality and you are living the dream. We have another satisfied client raising their family in one of our homes which is our real reward.

One of our favorites!! This home has it all.