Building A Custom Home: The Details

Today, we’re talking to John McDonough about new builds and about the details that go in and the questions that need to go into when you go to build a custom homes.

Because John, how many years of experience do you have in building custom homes?

About 25 years.

So 25 years of experience, 25 years of failures, 25 years of amazingness.

So it all comes together, which has been, it’s been such a blessing to be part of our team because you’ve elevated our company to the next level.

Oh, that’s really kind.

Thank you so much.

It’s, you know, in construction, you obviously get a lot of experience.

And some of the experience comes the hard way, by making mistakes and learning from those mistakes.

And that’s what I try and tell our clients.

I try and have told superintendents over the years that, you know what, we’re gonna make mistakes, but learn from those mistakes and let’s make it better the next time so we don’t have that mistake or we get better by learning those mistakes going forward.

Right, and so speaking of mistakes and things that you’ve learned in the past, you’ve always taught me the importance of what happens before construction.

So the architecture aspect of it, the interior design aspect of it, and making sure you’re attacking those.

And when I say attacking, really thinking those through earlier on the project.

So how do you do that?

Like, how do you coordinate the architecture and the interior design to make sure they’re on the same page, making sure they’re on budgets?

Because you’re very good at keeping on budgets, better than anybody I know.

And it’s a lot of work to keep it on budget.

So how do you do that?

No, that’s a good question.

And then budgets are, you know, we do a budget at the beginning of the process and we get it out to all of our subs.

And then some of the line items are actual bids.

Some of them are just budget numbers because we don’t have everything solidified yet.

But it is, it’s a process.

And that’s what some people don’t realize is that to stick to a budget, you have to really stay in tune with what the client wants and what you budgeted for.

So what I mean by that is, if you’re going through a process and the client comes and says, hey, you have, you know, $30,000 in there for kitchen appliances and we wanna spend 50.

We wanna go a lot more, you know, and I’ve had this conversation with clients.

I said, that’s fine.

Just know that we’re 20,000.

Now, most of these numbers are your 5,000 over, 3,000 over.

And I, you know, I’ve had- But they can add up though.

And that’s what I told people.

I told people is, hey, listen, it’s 3,000 now, but 3,000 times 10 is 30 grand.

Or 5,000 times 10 is 50 grand.

So my goal is to keep us as close to a budget as we can.

I actually had one client tell me, you know, at the end of the project, become good friends with this guy.

And he said, John, during the project, we were so like kind of annoyed that you were like, hey, you’re going over budget on this line.

Hey, you’re going over, let’s really watch it.

And they were like, hey, it’s only a couple grand, whatever.

And they said, we’re so thankful that you did that because we ended up at budget.

And we would have been disappointed if not.

But a lot of things go into that, especially with the design.

Like when you start a project, going back to your original question is, you know, you have to get with the client.

You have to talk to them.

What are your needs?

We sit down, we have a sheet that we go through that a wishlist of what they want when we’re working with an architect.

And we have to really reel that in because we’ve done this for so long that we found that clients sometimes don’t know if a hallway is too narrow, if a family room’s not big enough, a master closet.

So, you know, making mistakes on those sizes over the years, we’ve learned that, okay, this room should at least be this minimum and this should be at this minimum.

Now every client has different needs.

So they may say, I want a bigger master.

Okay, great.

But typically what we do when we’re designing is we try to stick to a square footage number.

Very, very easy to give us a wishlist and they want a 6,000 square foot home and we can be at 7,500 if we’re not careful.

Right, and I noticed that when I’m around you and listening to your conversations, most of our competitors are, hey, we can do this for 750 a foot or 650 a foot and they end up coming in at 900 a foot and that’s kind of the way they play the game, right?

They don’t have good enough plans, there’s a lot of vagueness there and their job is just to land the project and then at that point, people are, their clients are handcuffed, right?

People are, and then at that point, you’re so far into the project you’re going, whoa, I thought this was gonna cost me $600 a square foot and now I’m at 900 bucks a foot.

It makes a very frustrated client but there’s nothing they can really do about that because of the contracts and it’s not the contractor’s fault for misguiding you, that’s your design’s fault and that’s your architect’s fault but you’re really good at value engineering for our clients.

Like, I’ve noticed that you’re really good at understanding the numbers.

You’re very honest, you’re upright, you’re not change ordering them just to make an extra buck.

You hate change orders.

In fact, you have the one that, I bet you in the Valley, you’re one of the only contractors, but if they were gonna do a test, you’d be one of the top tier guys of having the least amount of change orders because you hate them.

We do.

But lots of guys make their money off of change orders.

Yeah, they do.

That’s their game.

Absolutely, we’ve lost a lot of houses by giving accurate, but not a lot, but we’ve lost houses over the years by giving accurate budgets of what that house will take to build and we’ve lost them to other contractors that come in and low ball it and do exactly what you’re saying.

Yeah, I mean, you just told me the other day, we’re not gonna name names, but there’s a really nice home that you thought you’re gonna land and then they came back at you and said, hey, this other contractor’s super cheaper.

You’re like, there’s no way they can.

Sure enough, they over-promised on timelines and on budgets.

You’ve come to find out they’re way over the timeline.

You would have beat those timelines.

And then on top of that, they’re way over budget and it’s like, you don’t wanna say I told you so, but it’s more like, you’re almost frustrated for them because you just are, it’s all about honesty and trust and they just wanted to go with the cheaper number.

Yeah, and that can happen really easily, you know?

And the one thing you have to be careful with is working with interior designers.

That’s what makes it so nice here at Kingdom is with the in-house interior designers, you’re not gonna get a lot of surprises where you can get them without house, because what happens is with working with a lot of interior designers over the years, they can come in and say, okay, we showed the client this tile and they love it and blah, blah, blah, and you move on.

And all of a sudden you find out that the tile is $75 a square foot and we have a $15 a square foot budget.

And the install is way higher because it’s like huge tile or whatever.

And it’s just super disappointment to come back to the client, an interior designer, and go, oh, we missed the budget with this tile, but we can show you this tile that’s 15 and all of a sudden they’re disappointed.

Yeah, you’re the killjoy.

Totally.

So you have to be really careful that it has to be a team approach.

Everybody has to be on the same page and it has to be a team approach and everybody has to know what budget numbers you’re trying to stick to and to design to those numbers.

I love that.

And that gives at the end of the day, ultimately, you’ve always taught me this is you want to have a happy client.

Oh, yeah.

You really care about that.

I mean, obviously we have to make some money, but you’re just so transparent about numbers, about budgets, about the process that you’re not here to hide anything.

You’re very, very honest where, again, there’s other contractors out there who will even do a cost plus format, but then they’ll get kickbacks from their subcontractor.

Oh, yeah.

I’ve heard of a lot of crazy things and I’ve always been really transparent and tried to show everything to the clients.

They get to approve the bids and I think it’s a good process.

So that’s why you have one of the best names in the Valley.

Well, thank you.

You and I, we’re building a couple of homes together and I noticed you and our business partner, Zion, you guys went out and you guys went towards some of these really nice high-end homes to kind of see what our competition is going to look like.

Sure.

And I was so surprised because there’s a home, I think it was listed for $12 million, and you came back and you were like, guys, I was so surprised on the lack of craftsmanship on this home.

All of all, it checked off a lot of boxes, but the detail just wasn’t there.

And explain that kind of what you saw and kind of how what sets us apart on that.

That’s a great thing to talk about is I’ve always prided myself on attention to detail and that transitions from tile to hardwood, corners, just sheet rock, paint, just the details that really matter.

And I think if you’re spending the kind of money that it takes to build a custom home nowadays, you really want attention to detail.

Yes.

You don’t want anybody walking through your home and going, oh, wow, look at that wall, or look at this, or look at that.

Right.

And I’ve noticed in a lot of the homes in the valley that as you walk through them, you can point and see things.

Right.

I’ve done that with clients.

I’ve walked them through homes and said, look at this, look at this, look at this.

And so we have literally got a lot of our homes that we’ve been awarded because of our attention to detail.

Right.

So we really focus on that.

And there’s so much building going on in this valley right now that you can see that a lot of the details are getting missed.

They feel like, I mean, obviously they are, some of them are flip properties, but they almost feel like a knockoff of like these flip properties where you go in these homes and you’re like, man, look at those, the paint smudges all over the place, or look at these gaps on the cabinets, or look at these, like, look at these transitions.

They’re just not thought out.

And they didn’t take the time to go back and fix them.

And to me, if you’re buying a $12 million home, an $8 million home, a $5 million home, even, you want to make sure when you’re buying that thing, it is a trophy house.

It is perfect.

It’s beautiful.

It’s exactly, when you’re in this home, you want it to just feel right.

Yeah, exactly.

You want it to be like, like I said, you want it to, it’s your pride and joy.

It’s where you live.

Right.

You want it to feel like everything was taken care of.

There wasn’t anything missed.

Right.

Now it’s construction.

You know, things happen.

Right.

And we have to come back in and touch things up and fix things.

But when they’re all polished off at the end, and you’ve paid attention to the details, and the transitions, and everything have come together good, you’ve got a house that you should be proud of.

Right.

You know, and that’s what we tried to do over the years, is really pride ourself on that attention to detail.

And I think, again, creating an atmosphere or an environment that has that quality, you can just feel the difference.

I don’t know why, but like for me, like the energy just feels different.

So I think it’s important to make sure that whatever contractor you use, or whoever you may use, that you go on field trips and look at their old projects.

You go through, you know, and scroll in and look on their Instagram page or their website, and look at the details, because then you’ll be able to tell the difference between the players and the non-players, in my opinion.

We had a house once, about four years ago, that we were being interviewed for.

I took the client through a couple of our homes, and I pointed out all of these details.

I want you to look at our sheetrock.

I want you to look at this.

I want you to look at that.

And I just started pointing out the details of one of the homes we’d finished for another client.

And this would have been a very large project.

And we ended up getting awarded the house.

And I talked to the client and I said, so if you don’t mind, tell me why you chose us.

And he said, John, the reason we chose you is when you walked us through the homes you took us through, you were so proud of your attention to details.

And we saw how excited you were to show us that.

And that made us realize that you’re the right guy for us.

Well, it’s funny.

And it goes up further, go more personal.

I mean, if you see John’s truck, it is immaculate.

It is always clean.

And it’s like, this is the guy that you want to be in charge of the quality of the product.

So I think it’s awesome.

That’s funny.

My dad would always tease me and say, you’re the only contractor I know that you could eat off the floorboards of your truck.

So I do.

I like to, it’s probably OCD, it’s probably that.

It’s, you know, I don’t know that it’s a good thing.

It’s a flaw in the strength for sure.

And you know what, at the end of the day, it’s definitely a strength in building.

So that’s awesome.

Working with designers, I know that that has to do with a lot with the type of finishes and the quality that come at the end of a project.

So John, your experience with working with our interior designers, working with other interior designers, what is your experience with the good ones and the bad ones and how their ability to design correctly can basically become, transfer into the field of what you’re doing?

Yeah.

So, you know, it really is important for the client to be working with a good interior designer.

Right.

Not only with how the finished product looks regarding, you know, tying into other elements of the home, but more so of picking the right materials.

Right.

So we have a lot of people now that are, you know, everybody’s on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok and Houzz and they’re coming up and seeing these things that they want.

And then I have to step in a lot of times and say, I don’t know that that’s such a good idea because it’ll probably be problematic down the road trying to do that.

Yes.

So if you’re working with interior designer that doesn’t know our climate.

Right.

And a lot of them are from California and other places.

We’ve worked with interior designers out of New York.

We’ve worked with interior designers out of Northern California.

Right.

And we’re working with a different market here and the dryness of our climate, the woods you select, the cabinets, there’s so much stuff that you have to think about to make it where it works for here in Las Vegas and to make it where it’s sustainable.

Right.

So that you’re not choosing something that five years from now is gonna fall apart.

Right.

And that can happen very easily.

It happens all the time.

Yeah.

I mean, we get a lot of remodels because of it.

Yeah.

I mean, and it’s one of those things where when an interior designer understands construction and understands the elements and understands, you know, it’s really what it’s like, I kind of consider it almost like a football game, right?

Like when you’re a quarterback, I could say you’re the quarterback, and your designer’s, let’s say, the wide receiver, when you guys are in sync, it just, the game just flows and things just happen and beauty just happens.

And there’s not so much friction and challenges and frustrations.

And so I noticed that when you’re working with the right interior designers who are playing on the same team and not finger pointing, but understanding the construction aspect, understanding the transitions, understanding all the details that go into it, it makes the process go so much smoother.

And then at the end of the day, the end result seems to be phenomenal.

That’s a really good way to talk about it is I liked your story there about being the quarterback and the receiver and everybody being on the same team.

Right.

Because that really is what has to happen.

Whether it’s an in-house designer with us or an outside designer, you know, we let the clients choose whoever they want.

Exactly.

We obviously love working with our in-house, but if it’s an outside designer, we all gotta make sure we’re on that same team.

And there’s some really good outside designers.

Absolutely, absolutely.

But we just don’t want the finger pointing.

There’s a GC said this, or the interior designer said this, and that can turn into a nightmare.

Right.

So I like that analogy.

And I do have to say, it’s been a breath of fresh air working with some of the interior designers here at Kingdom.

Right.

Because they do know construction, they do know the finished product.

And we just finished a house with Jen, and she just did an amazing job.

And the clients were happy.

And it’s like it goes faster.

It’s like it went faster because you guys were just, hey John, I got a quick question for you.

Yep.

Hey, and you walk over, how’s the design going?

Oh yeah, and all of a sudden it’s like, this random meeting that wasn’t actually planned happened because you guys were here together, and then all of a sudden, you just saved another week.

You saved two weeks.

Totally, and that happens a lot, where it takes three days to get a response from an interior designer or whoever.

And this is really nice, because we’re all in-house.

We can walk by each other and run a question by each other the same day.

Right.

So I think it takes a lot of the frustration out of the process.

Yeah, I mean, I was just doing it with you in landscaping.

When we’re trying to get our spec home done, I was in charge of the landscaping.

You’re sitting there redlining everything for me.

And it was like, it was a five-minute meeting that saved me a lot of time and headache because of your expertise.

And so it was just nice to have that.

No, thanks.

Yeah, I think that’s the key.

So John, I noticed after being with your partner and really diving into all of these, you’ve done so many styles of homes.

You’ve done, I mean, Santa Barbara.

You’ve done modern.

You’ve done a lot of, I mean, I don’t know.

Everything.

Old world.

Old world.

You’ve done everything.

So when it comes to designing and you building these different types of homes, like, what goes into that thought?

I mean, because like I first said, like a Tuscan home, there’s a lot of Tuscan homes back in the day, or there’s a lot of new modern homes.

Like, what do you do to prepare for these different style changes and whatnot?

Because they’re not all the same.

It makes things challenging.

Yeah, it does.

I love architecture.

I love to go, for years, ever since I was out of college, I would go to different Parade of Homes around the Valley.

And not only the Valley, up in Utah, down in California.

Right.

All over the place.

You’re passionate about everything.

Yeah, Scottsdale.

I love Scottsdale.

And I love to walk through the homes.

I love to see what the builders were doing in different areas.

And back in the day, it seemed like Vegas was always kind of behind on architectural styles.

Yeah. 20 years ago.

Right.

We definitely were more of a plain Jane style architecture.

You didn’t have a lot of character to it.

Right.

So, it’s been fun over the years to try and bring some of those outside styles into Vegas.

And now you’ve seen, because we’re such a large city now, you’re seeing that we have such great architects in this Valley.

You are seeing us, throughout the Valley, wonderful design homes.

It’s elevating, for sure.

For sure.

I mean, like the one I walked with you, that $20 million home that you did the Santa Barbara style, where you had the New York interior designer and you had the architect from Santa Barbara.

Walking through that home, it made me realize, because for me, that’s not my favorite style, but then I walked through it, I’m like, oh my gosh, I can appreciate how amazing that is and how beautiful you made it.

And it was just incredible.

My mind was blown on how amazing that project was.

And then I go into another project of yours and it was completely different.

And I’m like, man, this is, so everything that is, and I’m not trying to just talk it up, but I mean, I am.

It seems like every single home that you touch, you were able to put your design touches with it, as well as your craftsmanship and your quality.

And it’s just so neat to see how you can work with any interior designer.

You can work with any architect.

And it’s just amazing to see what transforms out of it.

Because you work so hard and you’re such a perfectionist that it just turns out amazing.

Thank you.

No, thank you very much.

I really appreciate that.

It’s, you know, when you’re working with clients, obviously you don’t want to step on their toes.

They may like a style that you don’t like.

Right.

And, you know, I’ve just learned over the years, okay, they’re living in this house, I’m not.

But with that style, I’m going to make sure that it ends up being what they want, even though I may not love it.

Right.

So I delve into it and make sure that everything, the transitions, like I said, every once again, all the details are there.

Yeah.

And you may finish it and you may go, I don’t like the tile they selected or this or that, but that’s okay.

Right.

But you want to pull it all together so that you don’t walk through one part of the house and it’s, they use some contemporary elements in an old world house.

Right, right, right.

So I try and steer them in the right direction.

I say, hey, listen, I’m going to give you my opinion on a lot of things.

That doesn’t mean that you need to agree with it and I’m not going to get my feelings hurt.

Right.

But I’ve done this for so long that I’m going to give you my opinion.

And most of the times when I do that, the client comes back and says, wow, John, I’m glad you said that.

Right.

You wouldn’t have seen it.

Well, I’ve noticed if I’m just watching you from a distance and watching you go through these plans and redlining some of them, and you’re like, hey, the sink here, that makes no sense, or this window over here, I would add a cabinet right here, or hey, the barbecue will be in the way of this window.

Like, you’re so good at seeing things before people, and so that you can avoid those change orders in the field that cost so much money.

So your ability to foresee things because of your expertise and because of your experience, it saves the client’s time and money.

It’s awesome.

That’s what we try to do is, and like I say, it’s not that I’ve got this, you know, I’ve been doing it a long time.

Right.

And obviously, I’m going to make decisions that they may not like, or suggestions, I should say, not decisions, but suggestions that they may not like.

But I’m going to give you my opinion, because I’ve seen so many mistakes be made.

100%.

You know, so I think that the clients value that, because they’re like, wow, John’s been doing this for 25 years.

He’s built, you know, homes throughout the Valley.

He knows what he’s doing, and they respect that advice.

And you’re smart enough, because you’re the person, we’re a boutique builder, which means we are focused on quality, high-end, and we only do four to six homes a year.

We’re not going to do some of our competitors, 15, 25 homes.

You’re getting our third-tier guy, you’re getting our fourth-tier guy.

We don’t have 1,000 lawsuits.

I mean, it’s just, it’s one of those things where what sets us apart really is just that customer experience.

Let’s say I’m going to go build a home right now, and I’m like, hey, John, I need your help.

How do you break down the cost to a client?

Like, okay, how much am I going to spend in design, in architecture?

How much money am I going to spend on, I mean, let’s say the lot’s already developed, right?

It’s already ready to go.

Like, how much money am I going to spend on that?

And it’s hard to say, right?

I want to build a 7,000 square foot home.

I want to build two-story.

I want this kind of, you know, architecture.

It’s really hard to dial in the numbers, but how do you guide a client through that process of trying to budget a home and do, and basically fulfill your dreams with the budget in mind?

It’s a great question.

You know, we get calls probably three to five a week of, hey, I’ve got this lot, I want to build a home.

What’s the price per square foot you build?

And, you know, without seeing the plans, without seeing the lot, without knowing the design, I tell people, well, it can range.

It can range from $400 a square foot to $1,000 a square foot.

It all depends.

And it all depends on what you put in it.

So when a client comes to us and they say, hey, we bought this lot, say it’s in the Northwest part of town.

And what we try and do is tell them, okay, you don’t want to overbuild, first off, for the area you’re in.

Most of the homes are in the high-end golf course communities, but if someone’s building out here in the Northwest and they say, we want to build this house, okay, then we know we’ve got to design around this budget number that works with this community.

And vice versa, if you go into a golf course community and they’re trying to build a house for that $4,000 a foot price, you can’t.

So you have to tell them, listen, you can’t do that.

You have to be comparable to the comps in the neighborhood.

If they’re selling those homes for $700 a square foot, then you’re not going to build that thing for $400 a square foot.

So you have to educate the client through the process.

And you’ve got to make sure, I’ve told clients over the years in my opinion, it’s better to have a house that’s smaller in size and more detailed and tricked out is the word I like to use.

That’s my biggest regret with my home that I built.

Is having a big house that’s more generic.

Yes.

And I’m not saying yours is that.

No, that’s fine.

It’s funny you said because that’s literally what I did.

I was talking to my friend yesterday.

I’m like, my biggest regret is I wish I went smaller and focused on all the details and all the furniture.

Cause that’s what sets a house apart.

Totally.

But you know, I only had so much budget.

And by big, cause I, you know, when you’re younger and you just want to go crazy and it’s like, man, bigger is better.

Right.

And your house is beautiful by the way.

But that does, that does happen a lot.

Right.

And we worked with a client once and the plans were done.

And I was, they were interviewing me.

Somebody referred them to me and the architect had drawn up a 20,000 square foot house.

Massive house, yeah.

And we went through it and I said, Hey, let me, do you mind?

This was the second meeting and I thought, okay, I’m going to lose this job.

Yeah, you’re holding back, but you have to say what’s on your mind.

But I said, do you mind if I kind of dissect your plans and tell you what I don’t like and do like?

And the, and the client was like, sure.

So I sat there for 45 minutes to an hour and went through this house and basically just tore it apart.

And.

You’re probably like, I’m stepping on so many toes right now.

I thought, I walked out of that meeting and thought, okay, I’m done.

I’m never, they’re never going to call me again.

He called me back and he said, Hey, John, we do want to meet with you again.

And we appreciate this because they were literally ready to go into the County.

Wow.

It was at that point.

Yeah.

And, and they said, we really appreciate your advice.

We didn’t see a lot of these things we didn’t notice.

And I told them the same scenario I’d rather see you.

Cause they had a budget number, right?

I said, I’d rather see you build a smaller house for that same budget number to where we can make it phenomenal versus this big generic house.

Cause this is what it’s going to be.

How much smaller was it?

Well, this is a funny story from 20,000 square feet.

We spent the next year redesigning that house with a local architect, really good guy.

And it went to 10,000 square feet.

And that was half and cut it in half.

And they couldn’t be happier.

Right.

Because we built this 10,000 square foot house, which was beautiful, big, gorgeous home.

And that’s, that’s just a scenario that happens.

Cause people don’t know.

I want six rooms.

I want this room.

I want a dog room.

I want a toy room.

I want a craft room.

And all of a sudden your 10,000 ends up at 20.

Right.

And you don’t know how you got there.

Right.

But you got there.

It’s not functional.

You help them dial it in to a 10,000 square foot home.

But I guarantee you that home is so much better than what that would have been.

They’re thrilled.

Right.

And they were able to build it for the budget they wanted and were able to put the finishes that they wanted.

And that’s the most important part.

Yeah.

There’s nothing better than walking away from a home and it’s finished, furnished and just gorgeous and just nailed it and everything’s on budget.

Like there’s nothing better than that.

No, it’s a good, good feeling. and the clients obviously are happy when that happens.

For sure.