Step One:   The first meeting is an opportunity to get to know each other and talk about the many issues of designing and building a custom home. Not everyone is familiar with the process so we try to remove any fears up front. We cover topics such as lot selection (basement vs. non-basement), house plan selection from a plan service or starting from scratch, financing of the construction process and construction contracts. The conversation usually moves into more detail about the home, especially if you have plan book pictures, which are always helpful. More talk about room sizes, master suites, kids rooms and ages, home offices, covered decks, room to store junk! Karen's design brain kicks in and develops a dialogue that begins to bring order to the arrangement of rooms and space. We ask questions about your "wish list" that allows us to get an even better understanding of your idea of the perfect home.

Design Fee deposit due at this time.

Step Two:   We will provide you with a Preliminary or Review Floorplan drawn to scale, which will show room layout and sizes, kitchen and bath layout, decks, porches and garage. From the Review Plan we can begin to record more details about your home that will become part of the Specifications. Specifications are the written description of materials to be used in your home, many of which you will have choices as to brand, model, color, design etc. In addition to the "Specs", we will use $ allowances to establish cost budgets for certain items in the home that will be selected by you during the construction process. This is the best time to begin "budget shopping" for allowance items.

Step Three:   Our next meeting will be scheduled after you have had an opportunity to thoroughly critique the Review Plans at which time we make any changes or modifications necessary to the plans or specifications. Once the floorplan is finalized & approved, the elevations can be created showing views of the home from all sides.

Step Four:   With the approval of floorplans and elevations, Hoffman Builders will prepare a detailed job cost using your allowances and specific material selections. All of this information will be combined into Construction Contract Documents for your review.

Step Five:   Working drawings are finalized to allow for actual construction to begin.

Balance of Design Fee due at this time.