All right, today we’re gonna be talking about new builds, custom homes, selecting your lot, compiling your plans, working with designers, timelines.

And so Lincoln, if I’m looking at building a custom home, what are some things I should know ahead of time when it comes to selecting my lot?

I think the most important thing for me when I bought my lot was understanding what the cost is gonna be in general and understanding that no lots are created equal.

Yes.

Does it have a view, does it have a view, does it have water, does it have power, does it have all these intangible, you don’t really understand if you’ve never done it before?

Yeah, it’s not as simple as I get this much square feet of dirt in this zip code, therefore it’s this price.

It is totally dependent upon how close is it to be able to build on.

You know, with utilities, does it have a well, does it have a septic, is it in an HOA, does it have fencing, block walls?

Like all of that stuff, you could have two almost identical lots, one’s build-ready, one’s raw.

Dramatic difference in costs because of how much it takes to get a raw piece of dirt ready to build on.

And that’s why we really like to build in places like McDonald Highlands, Ascaya, Summit, places like that because the lots are ready to go.

You know, taking a raw piece of land, you know, your grading plans are much more robust.

You’re having to get soils tests and do all sorts of over-excavation, prepping for perimeter walls and stuff like that.

And yeah, it gets really expensive and really takes a long time to get approved.

Can really extend your timelines dramatically.

Exactly, and so the important part is making sure you’re with a team that understands all of these dynamics.

Okay, let’s say I know the area that I wanna be in, I know the community I wanna be in, I acquire my lot, and now what, what should I be looking forward doing next?

Design, so the most important thing next is design and that’s the most important part about the whole process is making sure you have a solid designer, interior designer, a solid architect, a solid contractor.

You want all those up front that are working together throughout the whole process, in my opinion, because then everybody’s communicating and talking while this is going on.

We’ve seen it where it’s separated before where somebody will hire an architect, then later on they’re done with the architect, then they’ll hire the designer, and then the designer wants to make some changes and then they’re back and forth and it’s taking forever, and then the contractor gets involved and now they’re like, whoa, this isn’t gonna work, this isn’t gonna work, and then they get a bid and it’s way over budget and nobody’s on the same page.

So to me, that’s why Kingdom & Co and Design Build is so powerful because you are here with the designer, the architect, and you’re here with the contractor, so you are with the group, the team, working through it, the entire process.

Yeah, for the listeners or the audience, just Google advantages of design build process.

The fact that you can have one go-to team that’s entirely responsible for the full process, there’s no finger pointing, everybody’s rowing in the same direction, and you get a much more holistic project, and you’re able to do it quicker and on a better budget.

Yeah, and when we do it, we’re proud that we say, hey, listen, we want to be the ones that are at fault if something happens.

We want to be the one, and most people are like, what do you mean by that?

And I’m like, what I mean by that is, you’re typically in a situation where you hire separate people, separate teams, there’s a lot of finger pointing going on, and it turns into, a lot of times, a big challenge.

And so, for us, it’s like, no, if something’s wrong and the plans show it and everybody agreed upon it, and it’s wrong, we’re gonna own that and make that fix and not blame anybody and take a loss on our part.

That’s really important.

That’s why we go above and beyond for our customers.

It’s important to understand when you’re embarking on this process, all of the team members that have to be, not only is there the one drawing it, okay, and designing that roof line, there’s usually an interior designer.

Oftentimes, there’s also an exterior artist that’s doing the, that’s blending the landscape plans with the roof line and making those renderings and making sure everything blends well.

Then there’s the professional set.

There’s the structural engineer, there’s the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineer.

Then there’s the civil engineer.

The engineering team all come with price tags.

And so, all in, I think you’re at least looking at anywhere from 40 to 100 grand, at least, getting and compiling that full set of package to get that project ready to build.

Every time I’ve seen somebody try to shortcut that process, they end up spending it, and more, time and execution.

It happens every time.

It’s messier.

Yeah, much messier.

I would say don’t think that you’re gonna be saving money by shortcutting that planning and design process because you’re gonna pay for it, sometimes multiple times over, in the execution process.

Exactly, and what’s really powerful with what we do is with Kingdom & Co, we have such relationships with all of these guys that they give us discounts, and we’re able to take that discount, apply it together, so you guys get a better price, a better experience, and at the end of the day, you love it.

You’re like, I can do it myself and save money.

You really can’t because we do so much volume that, okay, maybe we can match your price, but we’re doing it all for you.

Or you might be able to save on this one line item, but the circus that you introduce by doing that is costing you so much more money in streamlining the process.

And that’s why we’re a terrible fit for DIY guys.

Yeah, we always have a hard time, it just doesn’t work.

DIY people, we just, people who wanna be involved and hire their own contractors, and I know an electrician, and I know a guy here, and they’re just not our fit because they don’t understand the importance of understanding each step of the process and having such strong relationships in quality and knowledge and being able to drive our prices down because of our volume.

Those things really matter.

If they don’t understand those things, then we’re just not a good fit for them.

And I love them, I’m one of them.

Yeah.

It’s like, when I needed some flooring down in my house, I DIYed it.

So I get that, but if and when I were to build again, I would never DIY that.

You know, I trust that process.

What’s that?

I’ve already built your own cabinets.

Oh my gosh, can you remember?

Yeah.

The things I learned.

But that’s the experiences that people who have the DIY mindset need to go through and understand the value of time and whatnot.

But we’re so proud of our company and what we can accomplish with being able to form that team in the pre-construction process.

And some of the biggest mistakes people make is oversimplifying the pre-construction process.

It is so important to understand there’s so much that goes into it and not having the team on the same page, like the designer, the contractor, and the architect not being in the same room at the same time doing these things together, it just turns into a lot more challenge.

Yeah, even on a…

One thing I would also add to this is be prepared for the timeline that it takes to make all these decisions and go through this process, even if you know exactly what you want and you have it all spelled out.

Even on our spec home, I think we’re at least, I guess we closed on the land in August.

We submitted, so August, September, October.

So we were at four months.

So even if you’re hitting on all cylinders, you’re at least four months to get submitted and then another two months at least to get permitted after that.

So you’re at least six months.

For perfection.

And there’s no customer on the other end, like even us doing it ourselves all in-house, it’s still taking us six months to get to that finish line.

Yeah, that’s a really good point.

I guess to get to that starting line.

To get to the starting line.

Before you build.

And so yeah, so that’s really important to understand those things and we are the best option, in my opinion, in town to do these things.

Yeah, design build is a process we believe in.

That is why we orchestrated Kingdom & Co.