Value

Together, my father and I have over 30 years of experience in value engineering. We create homes that are known for  quality and creative design while maintaining a high level of value. During the design process, budget is discussed very early on and reviewed constantly. The design goal is to include as many dramatic, custom elements in a home as possible while staying within budget. Values are assigned to different design elements of the home to rank them in order of importance. Some homeowners, for example, may value the overall size of the home as the most important factor, which will result in less budget available for drama. Others would prefer less square footage, but loads of character.

Many of the factors that affect the value of a home are behind the scenes. The most important factor after value engineering is the selection of subcontractors and suppliers. Many of the subcontractors and suppliers that work on my homes have been working for my father and me for ten or twenty years. They are the best craftspeople in the area with the same type of attitude about the importance of customer satisfaction that I have. They have found that, because my jobs are run efficiently with minimal delays and few surprises, they can price their work more aggressively than they do for their other builders and still be profitable. They have also found that they have to price their work aggressively, because I am constantly searching for equally qualified subs and suppliers whose pricing is even better. I notice that many other builders use some of the same subs and suppliers that I do, but they also use ones that I have written off because of high pricing.

I am personally on site nearly every day, managing every detail and constantly looking for ways to cut down on waste and avoid unnecessary costs. This allows me to price my homes very tight with little or no margin for error. In other words, I am so confident that I will do an excellent job managing the construction process that I am willing to risk the possibility of a lower profit margin.

The other aspect of value that I often discuss with my homeowners is "resale value". The experience that my father and I have gained gives us great insight into what is a good decision from the standpoint of resale value and what is a risky decision. Resale value is more important to some people than others, but no one wants to have a major resale issue. An example of a poor resale decision would be to build a large home with a lower than normal number of bathrooms. During the design process, I point out any potential resale issues, then I give as much information as possible to help the homeowner make the ultimate decision.