How WE Do It?
We Follow our Proven Process.
DESIGN
It all starts here, with a great design. A home is a place that represents a family and its inhabitants. Whether the right choice for you is a mid-century inspired glass home, or a timber frame west coast contemporary home, or a colonial plantation home, or a little craftsman cottage, we love all homes and all styles, as long as it is the right fit for you and for the land on which it sits. We have worked with many architects from all over Western Canada and we can almost always find the right fit for you. And if you already have a chosen architect, we are more than happy to work with them, and assist wherever we can. We also have connections with many local draftsmen if your needs are more simple. We will also assemble the needed engineers and other experts to ensure you are getting the best advice and input to make a great home. We often involve our construction team, and local trades and suppliers in the design process as well, to ensure that the designs are practical and achievable, so we can provide you with the best value. We believe that an inclusive and collaborative design team is a powerful force that can overcome any obstacle.
“The alternative to good design is always bad design. There is no such thing as no design.” –Adam Judge
Selections
Now that we know what we are building, we need to know what is in and on your home. We believe that it is in your best interests to have as much of the selections process complete prior to construction as possible. We find that the more information the build team has, the smoother the build process will unfurl. We have also found that if the majority of selections are complete the build process is much less stressful for you. We work with you to introduce you to all of our suppliers to find the right solutions to fit your dreams and budgets. This can be a daunting process, so we stand right there with you through this whole process, ensuring that you have all the correct information and advice. Once we better understand your wants and needs, we try to present you with curated lists of what we think will fit you and your home.
We believe in using a 'value' equation when helping you select the materials, products, and systems that go into your home. 'Value' in our opinion has three factors, initial value (cost today), life-time value (cost over the next 20-50 years), and the impact value (how it improves your life and/or the design of your home)
"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives." - William A. Foster
Estimation
Now that we know what we are building and what material we are building it with, we need to know how much this will all cost. We want to ensure that this is a sound investment for you into the future. During the whole design and selection process we will be giving budget updates on where we foresee this project going, and as we eliminate the unknowns we can get more and more precise with that estimation. The end goal is to have a detailed, complete and clear estimate for your final review. Over the past decade we have developed a system of estimation that we believe allows you to understand and be comfortable with what is often one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. We take this process seriously because we believe that if this part of the overall process is done correctly, much of the future stress and confusion is eliminated.
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get” –Warren Buffet
We strive to ensure that the design, selections and estimate process is inclusive. We are firm believers in the '1-10-100 rule', that states, A given change will cost just $1.00 during the design process, $10.00 during the construction process, and $100.00 to change after the construction is complete. This is why we believe that the time prior to construction, 'the planning phase', is the most valuable time we have during the whole process.
Construction
Now that we know what we are building and how much it will cost, we can get going on the exciting part of this process. Let's build something! This is when we assemble our construction team of local trades and suppliers to "build the dream". From land clearing, through foundation and framing, through interior and exterior finishes right up to our final checks and inspections. We are there from first shovel in the ground to handing over the keys to you for move-in day. This is when the sawdust starts flying and your dream really begins to take shape. You will begin to meet and get to know our team of craftsmen and every day you will see progress towards your dream.
"Craftsmanship names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well done for its own sake." - Richard Sennett
Management Systems
During the construction process you will have full access to what is happening on your home through our customer website. This will give you full access to current events, pictures, communication, questions, and changes in scope or budget. We specifically use this system with our clients in mind, who often do not have time to come to the job site every day, whether that is because they are busy working on other dreams, or are not located here on the island, or just want to get away and travel the world. We have tried to build a system that will allow you to check in as much or as little as works for you. Some of our clients check fanatically 10 times a day, and some once a month, we adapt to each of our client’s needs. Of course, having these systems in place does not preclude you from coming to site, in fact we encourage it, whenever it is safe to do so. There is something really special about seeing your dream taking shape and seeing all the parts fitting together. We also use this system to organize and inform our construction team, to ensure everyone has all the current and up to date information they need to do their job efficiently and accurately.
"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family." - Kofi Annan
Quality Control
During the entire design, selection, estimate and construction process we implement a robust system of quality control. We have multiple scheduled reviews at key stages during the process with detailed checklists we have developed over the years to ensure that nothing gets missed. Today's modern homes have an average of 40,000 components that go into building them, and since we specialize in building the more unique homes in our region this gets exponentially more complex. So we rely on a few things, working with craftsmen that understand and care for the work they are doing, and a series of checks and balances to ensure we get it right. During your home construction we have dozens of scheduled reviews, some simple inspections of specific details, and some that are multiple page checklists. So that when a problem is revealed it is corrected right away. We strive to build a culture on our job sites of bringing the problems and mistakes forward to be fixed. We are not here to place blame; we all want excellence in the end result and that is what matters. We also schedule professional reviews by our architects, engineers and other experts to ensure that we have not missed anything.
"Trust, but verify" - Ronald Regan
Completion
Now it's done, now you can move in and enjoy the fruits of all your labour. All the above work and systems are organized to ensure that you move-in to a complete, beautiful, enduring and just downright awesome home. All of the documentation for your home will be handed to you in a complete and concise package so if you have any future questions about how to maintain something or how something was built you will have all the needed information. Even though we pride ourselves in not needing to provide much after move-in service, we are always there for you for those inevitable questions or requests. We believe that our reputation is all that we really have at the end of the day, and we want to ensure that you are "Unreasonably Happy" with the choice to build your dream with us.
"Starting Strong is Good, Finishing Strong is Epic" - Robin Sharma