Questions we get asked

Seven to eleven months from breaking ground to keys, plus two to four months of design, budgeting and permitting before that. The variables that move it most are how settled your plan is when we start, permit turnaround in your city or county, and window and cabinet lead times.

Yes — it is a large share of our work. That includes rural acreages needing a well, septic, driveway and power service. Before we price anything we look at soils, grade, setbacks, easements and any covenants, because those decide what the site work actually costs.

Across Central Iowa and the Des Moines metro: Ankeny, Waukee, Johnston, Urbandale, Grimes, West Des Moines, Clive, Norwalk, Bondurant, Altoona, Polk City, Adel, Granger, Dallas Center, Van Meter, Huxley, Indianola, Carlisle, Pleasant Hill and Ames. See all service areas.

Absolutely. Bring a purchased plan, an architect's drawings, or a sketch. We will price it as drawn, tell you honestly what we would change for your lot and this climate, and adjust it with you before construction starts.

Central Iowa lenders commonly look for 10–20 percent of total project cost on a construction-to-permanent loan, and land you already own often counts toward it. We work directly with your lender's draw schedule and inspections so you are not relaying paperwork.

Every change is priced in writing and approved before the work happens. Nothing gets built on a verbal, and nothing shows up as a surprise at closing. Changes before drywall are cheap; the same change after is not, which is why we push selections early.

Yes, and we want you to. We schedule formal walkthroughs at framing, mechanical rough-in and before drywall — the three points where changes are still inexpensive. Outside those, coordinate with your builder for safety, especially once the trades are stacked.

The same trade partners on every home we build. Long relationships are the reason the finish carpentry looks the same in house number forty as it did in house number four, and the reason a warranty call gets returned.

One year of workmanship coverage with a walkthrough at month eleven, before the year runs out. Plus manufacturer warranties on materials and equipment and the statutory structural coverage. It is all written into the construction agreement, not promised verbally.

Freeze-thaw cycles that punish poor drainage and shallow footings. A 110-degree annual temperature swing that makes the envelope matter more than the furnace. Expansive soils in parts of the metro. Spring thaw that turns a site to soup for two weeks. And a build schedule where the trades all want to work the same four months. Every one of those shows up in how we detail and sequence a house.

Yes to all three. Alongside custom homes we do renovation and remodeling — kitchens, baths, whole-home updates and additions — and commercial construction for retail and office space. Same crews, same standard, same written scope.