It is often difficult for clients to discern why there can be such a big difference in price from one contractor to another for ‘the same’ set of plans.  While on our last family vacation, I noticed several things that stood out to me as to what the difference is.  The home we stayed in…

That is the question. Here at Custom Dwellings we’ve had clients ask us both to permit projects and not to permit projects, but more often than not, the questions are whether we permit jobs or whether we should permit theirs. Permitting itself is an extra expense, but in the grand scheme of things, it is…

Every so often when providing pricing for larger projects such as a new home, major addition, or stand-alone structure we hear the phrase “I can go buy a ‘new’ home for that”.  Sometimes, the response legitimately means that they can go by a brand-new home in a development for less than the cost of a…

It’s been all over the news lately.  Employers can’t find workers.  The theories for this current phenomenon abound.   While I may have my own theories about the labor market in general, what I really want to address is the construction market and lack of available labor we are currently seeing.  The lack of skilled and…

Among the first questions you will be asked upon contacting Custom Dwellings is if you have a budget in mind. Undoubtedly, some people think the question is asked, to enable us to take as much of the clients money as possible. This simply isn’t the case (though I’d probably be guilty of the same flawed…

In addition to rolling price increases, one of the unique results of the pandemic has been longer lead times for products, as well as products not being available- if not outright discontinued. This is becoming a problem with virtually every product that goes into a new home or remodeling project. Now, more than ever, planning…

Why pay for project management? If a project is only going to last a day or two, in most cases, I often advise against hiring a general contractor and instead act as your own general contractor. If a project is going to last longer than a week, one has to consider if they have the…

‘Builder grade’.  It’s a term we’ve all heard and have probably used, but what does it really mean?  Does it really mean anything?  The term is almost always used in a negative context, usually to complain about the perceived quality of whatever a builder had installed in someone’s home.  Sometimes it is used  to indicate…

One common misconception when people hire a general contractor is that they do all the work themselves or have in-house crews that handle all the work.  While there are certainly some examples of either scenario, the most common method for a general contractor, is to contract with sub-contractors to execute the construction of a project…

If you would like your project to run smoothly, meet your needs, turn out as you envisioned, and avoid extra costs and delays, then design is important to you. So why pay for design? First, you actually get a professional design to build from, not a sketch to work toward as a goal. Second, you…