More than just your builder, Solluna Builders wants to be your partner in creating the home of your dreams.  Planning a new home or remodel is more than just getting a nice set of plans. Before you get too far down that road, call us.  Let’s talk it over.

Getting started

At the first meeting, we listen.  Tell us your goals, your wants, your needs.  Bring lots of questions.  We help you assess the scope of your project.  We discuss the feasibility of building within your budget.  If you don’t have a budget in mind yet, we can help you zero in on a likely target.

There’s no cost for the initial consultation.

Managing the pre-construction process

Solluna Builders can guide the way.

We will outline the steps – design, discovery, and decisions.  We charge a modest fee – always reasonable – to manage the process for you, based on the scope of your project and the discovery work to be done.

Our clients have discovered the effort spent on careful planning saves time, money, and frustration downstream, forestalling costly problems and mistakes. When you partner with Solluna Builders on the pre-construction process, you get the expertise of our Graduate Master Builder who has 12-plus years of experience in green building and remodeling. The earlier we become your partner, the more we can do to help you.

Planning

Many elements go into your project — architectural design is just one item. We turn over rocks to discover the requirements, considerations, and constraints that affect your project.

You might incur costs for services of certain professionals. Examples are:

Architectural design Soil testing Foundation engineering Structural engineering Site survey Topographical survey

Tree survey Arborist Septic design Rain water harvesting consultant Lead-based paint testing and remediation (for homes built before 1978)

Preliminary concept design

Solluna Builders partners with a number of excellent architects and building designers.  We help select the right professional for your project. We participate as needed in design meetings to consult and advise on construction methods, materials, and cost.

While the designer produces a layout view of your home, we pull together specifications about the major components, the materials, and the techniques to be used.

Discovery

At this point, we stop and price the plans and specifications, to make sure your concept design is on target with your budget.  We might need to work together to re-prioritize your goals, based on cost, energy savings, sustainability, style, comfort, size, materials, and so forth. This might even require going back to the board for major design adjustments.

Final buildable plans

We schedule additional design meetings to refine the plans and add details. When you’re satisfied the design meets your goals, the designer finalizes the design to a set of ¼-inch scale building plans suitable for submission to the local government/coding authority, architectural review committee or home owners association for approval and building permit applications.

Engineered plans

A critical part of preparing final plans for a new home — and sometimes for a major remodel — is engineered plans from a structural engineer for certain elements, especially foundation and framing. We need engineered plans for accurate pricing for your project.

Decisions

Whether you’re planning a high-performance custom home or a small remodel, you have many decisions to make – fixtures, finishes, materials, colors. No worries — we guide you through it.  We help you weigh cost/benefit trade-offs and analyze how choices affect the green rating goal we’ve set for your project.

Value Accurate Pricing

When you’ve made your selections, we roll them up into detailed written specifications. Now we seek detailed bids from vendors and trade contractors –always seeking the best practices and favorable market rate pricing – and arrive at a detailed, value-accurate price for your home or remodel.

Construction documents

At the end, you have a complete set of construction documents—plans, specifications, and detailed budget—and your construction project is ready to begin. Let’s start building!

Related reading

See these blog posts on our web site.

Choosing a Lot for a New Home
Information Your Builder and Designer Must Have

Other Consulting Services

If you’re simply evaluating the possibility of a construction project, Solluna Builders can provide assistance with:

• Finding a lot
• Evaluating the cost to develop raw land for building
• Finding and selecting a lender
• Evaluating the remodel potential before purchasing an existing home
• Determining the best use of your remodel budget to gain the most benefits
• Determining the potential of minimal renovation work to increase salability of a property
• Choosing green methods and materials
• Arranging for surveys, soil tests, septic profile

Give us a call. We’ll be happy to discuss your project to see how we can help.