The three most important things that will bring about a successful build are these:

1) Communication! Good and honest communication between all parties. Building is not an exact science. There are good days and bad days. One thing is for sure, bad news is bad, but bad surprises are worse. Good communications keeps the good things good and when challenges arise, and they will, dealing with them when they’re small challenges keeps them from becoming big challenges.

2) Transparency! Open book transparency in all aspects of the project, the positives, the expectations, the challenges, the finances (especially the finances), the embarrassments, and the mistakes, all of it as open and honest as possible.

3) Experience! Believe it or not, building a home is people business. Putting the pieces together is the easy part. The people, the homeowners, the designers, the subs, the vendors, the banks, the inspectors. This is where experience counts. Laying out expectations for everyone, managing those expectations, and being clear in all matters will bring the project along in the best possible way and with the best possible results.

Building a custom home, add a specialty custom home, is not rocket science. No, it’s more important than that.
Typically, our homes are the last home our clients are going to build. Building
a custom specialty home requires thousands of questions, thousands of
thoughtful comparisons, and thousands of good decisions. You will also be
investing a big chuck of your financial resources. Our job is to make the
experience as enjoyable as possible. Life is short, a project like this should
be a fun life adventure.

Contracting a specialty home is fraught with challenges. The classic General Contractor arrangement has some inherent
difficulties in that everyone is agreeing that an incredibly complex product is
going to be created and built. Something with plenty of risks and challenges,
and for which hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions are not yet firm. In
some way it is setting up for failure in an adversarial relationship between
the homeowner and the contractor. The homeowner always wants more than they budgeted
for, and the builder must keep the cost down and maintain profitability. On top
of that, the homeowner/contractor relationship is the most important single
factor in the success of the project and the spirit of the process.

We at Natural Element Homes at The Hardwood Mall have chosen another way for successful builds and successful
relationships. We want to be on your side of the table as your advocate
throughout this process. Project management is an arrangement where we will
manage the project just as a General Contractor would, taking care of daily
operations, pulling in and managing subcontractors, maintaining quality
standards and code enforcement. We are hired by you the homeowner, homeowner
acting as the contractor of record, to manage your project on your behalf. You
will manage the money and oversee keeping your project in the budget you choose
for yourself. We have not found a better more honest way to build a home,
working as a team with the homeowner.

Project management is not for everyone. We are working TOGETHER to bring your home to fruition. This arrangement
typically requires that you have your own money or collateral assets for the
project because banks are not always friendly to homeowner contractor
arrangements, although some are, but at the end of the day we believe the
project management style of operating deals the best chance for a successful
build and a great working relationship.

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