"Why are you charging me for a quote when another builder gave me one for free?"
We hear this question a lot, and honestly, it’s a great one. But here’s the thing: not all home price quotes are created equal.
You might assume the free quote you got...
You can’t unknow something. If you are happy with the status quo, maybe it’s best to skip this post and move on. If you read this, you may end up like me: convinced it is unethical to build a home you know will have hidden problems.
You’re...
Interest rates are high, and both material and labor costs are high. It’s an election year and the political climate and stock markets are unstable. Is now a horrible time to build a custom home in Michigan? Should I wait for a better market, for...
You may be finding yourself asking these questions: Why do you want to move out of your existing home? Why do you want a sustainable home? Why you aren’t buying or remodeling an existing home? Why should I start looking for a custom home builder?...
I need to start by qualifying these comments. The problems below are mostly unique to custom home building. Semi-custom and Production Home Builders, or “spec” builders are structured differently, and can often achieve higher accuracy with square...
An unfortunate reality is that many folks get blindsided with the actual cost of their home. We seem to think the only things that make a home costly to build are the flooring and countertop choices. In part 1 we looked at design, in this blog we’ll...
Recently I encountered an interesting study on the real cost of home ownership. I’ll look at the data below, but suffice to say I found it quite interesting, because it reminded me of the main reasons my wife Missy and I purchased our 1893 Victorian...
We all want to know how much to budget for our new home cost in West Michigan. We do our research on square foot costs, look at new homes for sale in our ideal neighborhood, and consider the additional cost of major items, like ICF walls. Yet an...
In a recent blog post, I shared a horror story. It is a true story, and my heart hurts for the Johnsons.At the conclusion of the post, I wrote the following:How could the Johnsons have avoided this result?Briefly:· Assemble a design team first....
Writing a blog recently had me in an introspective mood. It got me thinking how our process has been shaped and honed not only to prevent mistakes, but ultimately with our clients’ best interest in mind.
Let me begin with a story nobody wants to...