Contemporary.

Nothing gets covered that I wouldn’t be comfortable looking at in five years. If something needs to be redone, it gets redone before the drywall goes on.

Change orders aren’t inherently bad. They are how a house adapts to what you learn while standing in it. What is bad is a change order you find out about after the work is done, or one priced as a favor and settled at the end. Mine are written before the work happens, with the cost and the schedule impact stated, and you sign them or you don’t. That’s it. It keeps the conversation about the house rather than about the invoice.

You’ll see the house at every stage, and I want you on site during framing especially. That’s the window where changes are still cheap and still possible.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing get coordinated before anyone cuts anything. Where the ducts run, whether the trusses can carry them, where the panel sits and how far the longest plumbing run has to travel. Done early, on paper, it costs a few meetings. Done in the field by whoever shows up first, it produces drilled structural members, soffits nobody planned for, and rooms that are colder than the rest of the house for reasons no one can trace.

I don't chase the lowest bid on trades. The cheapest framer is expensive twice.

It’s ordinary discipline, applied consistently, which turns out to be rare.

I price the site work honestly, including the parts nobody enjoys paying for. Dirt, drainage, drives and utilities are where the surprises live, and I’d rather put real numbers on them in month one.

Change orders aren’t inherently bad. They are how a house adapts to what you learn while standing in it. What is bad is a change order you find out about after the work is done, or one priced as a favor and settled at the end. Mine are written before the work happens, with the cost and the schedule impact stated, and you sign them or you don’t. That’s it. It keeps the conversation about the house rather than about the invoice.

Selections are where schedules quietly die. Cabinets, tile, stone, plumbing fixtures and lighting all carry lead times, and a single backordered item can idle a crew for weeks. I front-load those decisions and keep a running list of what has been ordered, what has arrived and what’s still open. It’s unglamorous project management and it’s most of the difference between a build that lands near its date and one that drifts by a season. You’ll always know where yours stands, because I’d rather tell you early than explain later.

Drainage is the quiet one. Water has to leave the property somewhere, and where it goes after it leaves your pad is a question the city will ask and your neighbor will ask louder. Getting the grades right the first time is a small line in the budget; getting them wrong costs a foundation.