Custom Home Building Process

One Team - Architecture through Construction

DISTINCTIVE DESIGN BUILD OF NORTH SHORE CUSTOM HOMES

Committed to A Seamless Design Build Process

The journey is just as important as the destination – and we love a good journey.
Our unified team of custom home architects and skilled builders will guide you through every decision needed to transform tracing paper sketches into a home that will bring you a sense of joy and well-being every day.

Q + A TEAM MEETING

We will meet with you to talk through your ideas and weigh the opportunities of your lot, at no cost. Here, we’ll share our portfolio of experience and can take you through similar projects to help solidify concepts for your unique custom home. We will get specific on realistic budgets, help you secure financing and formalize our understanding with a contract.

ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN

From your design inspirations and practical needs as a family, our architects will then design your home in collaborative steps: sketches, renderings, 3D floor plans and, finally, blueprints to make sure the space is as harmonious as it is functional. More detail on the design process and our architects is here.

PERMITTING + SITE PREP

After obtaining a building permit based on the construction design documents we will prepare your lot for building and schedule all the trades that will support the process: foundation, framing, electrical, plumbing, A/C and heat, appliances, cabinetry, flooring, drywall, trim carpentry, tile, paint and landscaping.

INTERIORS + SELECTIONS

Our team will help you visualize the look of each space with our in-house expertise or your interior designers. We’ll guide you through selections to get materials like counters, light fixtures and appliances ordered in enough time for the construction schedule to begin. Here’s a video that explains this fun part of the process.

CONSTRUCTION + MOVE-IN

Our open-book expertise will be in full swing as we bring your home to life. We will manage each contributor, supervise inspections, oversee the supply chain, coordinate any change orders/design updates and meet with you regularly to answer any questions and address any budget or timeline concerns. And we’ll back it all with our three-year warranty.

design build

A single vision under a single contract with a lockstep workflow and a constant perspective of the “big picture” opens the door to:

  • cross-discipline insights that save money
  • concurrent productivity and advance information that save time
  • open-book information that solidifies expectations
  • focused expertise that promotes innovation and inspiration
  • higher responsibility that elevates standards

 

Read more about the benefits of design-build.

INTEGRATED TEAM OF ARCHITECTS AND BUILDERS

Offering design and build skills under one roof allows us to tackle the most challenging luxury home projects on the market. It is the best way we know to ensure your goals are supported by beautiful, realistic and cost-efficient design and construction plans – made even better with our three-year warranty.

Each home we design and build is completely custom. Our collaboration will bring the best of our 30+ years of expertise to a home that will specifically deliver on your family’s needs. And a design-build process complete with an in-house team of architects and designers will ensure it happens in the most efficient way possible. Learn more in our FAQs.

design build

NORTH LAKE SHORE DRIVE REMODEL

Take a tour of the deconstruction and renovation of an incredible Lake Shore Drive condominium. Architect Amy Berka shares the thinking behind a total redesign of a 1920s space and some of the challenges of remodeling in a city high-rise on the Lake Michigan.