Q&A, January 2026 | Inside Kingdom & Co. Podcast

What are the most common custom home building questions in Las Vegas? In this episode of Inside Kingdom & Co., Lincoln Rogers and Brian Horner answer 10 questions they hear most often on Instagram — from the difference between semi-custom and fully custom homes to how cost per square foot works, what makes a remodel quote accurate, how permits work in Las Vegas, and what luxury really means beyond expensive materials.

These are the custom home building questions Las Vegas homeowners and buyers ask most often — from what separates a semi-custom home from a fully custom build to how much you should expect to pay per square foot, how permits work, what luxury really means in practice, and how to tell if a contractor’s quote is accurate.

Lincoln: We get a lot of people on Instagram that ask a lot of questions, you know, so let’s go through some of them.

So question number one, what is the difference between a semi-custom and fully custom home?

Some people are confused on when we use that language.

Brian: A custom home is literally unique one of one.

You have semi-custom neighborhoods, builders like Toll Brothers, Christopher Holmes, that you’ll have four or five different models and you’ll have that semi-custom feel because you’re able to come in and pick out your final finishes during your sales process.

Lincoln: I think that’s great, yeah.

So the difference, it’s just basically one is completely unique, no others are like it, and the other one, there’s, yeah, it’s a one of one.

One of one, yeah.

So also, Brian, semi-custom versus custom, I noticed that you can always tell big time the exterior of the architecture because you’ll kind of see similarities if it’s a semi-custom, but it’s custom.

Brian: Yeah, you go every three homes, it has the same entry, but they’ll use a different stone on that one as opposed to that, so you still have that difference, but, or they may mirror your kitchen in a house or your staircases over here, and that’s a new model, but the bones are the same, the construction process is the same, the details are the same, it’s just your finishes are different, and then you have maybe four or five different plans, maybe more depending on how big of the semi-custom neighborhood is.

Lincoln: Yeah, like when I’m driving to McDonald Highlands, for instance, I can tell right away where the custom homes and where the semi-custom homes, you can tell immediately just because they kind of almost look like track homes sometimes, and then the custom homes, the architecture’s so different.

Brian: Every house is different, yeah.

Lincoln: Can I buy my own materials in the remodel and new build phase, can they buy their own materials?

I would highly advise against it, because we’ve built relationships with our trade partners and our suppliers to where we get preferential pricing, so by working with us, and why would you want to, because that’s a lot of headache.

Lincoln: I mean, if I give- But in your mind it doesn’t seem like it, though.

I’ve had clients who are like, it just seems so easy, this is not Amazon.

Brian: Yeah, let me give you a lumber take-off that’s 16 pages long that calls out every hardware bracket and make sure that you get those all ordered.

That alone is a week’s worth of work.

Why would you want to go through that when you have your general contractor like us who will procure every material, make sure it gets there, if there’s any damage, we’ll warranty it, they take care of it, the whole process, and at the end of the day, the money you’re gonna save is really not gonna be much because of our preferential pricing.

Lincoln: Because we have such big volume, they’re able to give us a better price, so not only do we get a better price, then we’re able to do all the management, the liability, if something comes in wrong.

There’s a lot, in a custom home, I mean, or even in a big remodel, I mean, there’s literally hundreds of items that come in.

It is a logistic nightmare.

This box came in, this box didn’t come in.

Hey, what about this box?

Hey, where’d that box go?

Who put that box there?

It just turns into, it’s like, no, like at the end of the day, I would say, don’t buy your own materials.

Go through us because we, at the end of the day, you’re gonna spend about the same amount and have zero headache.

Brian: Yeah, think if something doesn’t show up and I have to message you and say, hey, we didn’t get this light, we didn’t get this fixture every time, that’s gonna be real boring, real quick.

Lincoln: Well, hey, this fixture’s not working.

We’ve had one time where somebody bought a fixture from Amazon and it had a potential thing because we caught it, but like, you turn it on, the water fixture and it just, the plumbing fixture, and it just completely burst and you’re like, oh my gosh.

And then you looked at it and you’re like, this is some cheap crap from China.

Like, that stuff can happen if you’re not careful and don’t oversimplify it.

It’s not simple.

Brian: Yeah, and that brings it to quality, too.

Is like, we know the quality products.

We are not gonna put something that’s gonna break to where we get a callback within a year.

We’re gonna make sure it’s high, you know, it’s a respected product and it’s done right.

Lincoln: So this is a good question here.

Can I do some of the work on my own?

The answer, I’ll answer this one.

This answer is no.

And the answer is, if you’re gonna do the work here on your own, there’s no need to hire us.

Now, there are special occasions where we have somebody who is an electrician.

They do that for their, they’re literal, that’s their job.

That’s an exception.

Or if I have people say, hey, can I demo the house myself first before you come in?

Sure, if we’re not there yet, I don’t care.

Demo the house yourself.

But as soon as we step on that project, we are not allowing anybody else to go on that project because it causes way too many problems.

Brian: Too much liability.

Even with the electricians, like, we’ll make special occasions and it’s a one-off.

Lincoln: It’s a one-off out of a hundred.

Brian: And it is a one-off because what we would do in that situation, you’re gonna sign a lot of releases saying that we’re not responsible if electrical fire happens in this house or whatever because it’s not our vetted subs.

Does that make sense?

And that’s why I really don’t like doing it at all.

Lincoln: Right, and the answer is, I would, yeah, the answer is no, usually.

This one’s a simple one.

Why do I have to pay for plans?

Because it costs money.

That’s why.

Brian: And it costs money and you gotta picture your house as like a complicated Lego instructions.

If I don’t have those instructions on how to build it, I’m gonna be bothering you all the time.

There’s gonna be 100% change orders because you’re not gonna like something I did.

The plans is gospel.

That’s what we build too.

Lincoln: And all the plans, we have a lot of people, it costs a lot of money for us to, not to the client per se, but it costs a lot of money to get things right.

And you don’t wanna just start a project with crappy plans.

But we can go out, that’s a whole nother topic.

Is there a cap on how large of a custom home you can build for us?

Brian: No.

Lincoln: Okay.

Brian: No, we can do one million all the way up to 20, 30 million.

Lincoln: Are you able to build a commercial space, not just a remodel?

Brian: Yes, we love them.

Lincoln: Yeah, we do.

Brian: We probably, on average, do about six to 10 a year commercial spaces, tenant improvements.

And we love them high-end restaurants, doctor’s offices, dental offices.

Lincoln: Attorney’s offices, we’ve done a lot of those.

Brian: Yeah, so yeah, we’re not just strictly.

Lincoln: We’re getting ready to do one for a bank, so that’s.

Brian: Yeah, we’re not strictly just residential.

We do commercial as well.

Lincoln: We’re not cheap commercial stuff.

We aren’t.

Brian: Like half the time, and we’re being transparent with you, is we, if I’m coming in just to do a cookie cutter TI improvement, I’m probably not gonna win the job because the guys that are in the commercial space 100%.

That’s just, we’re all about the luxury.

Lincoln: Yeah, it’s a luxury thing, like a lot of custom cabinetry and finished work and things.

We have the skill set for that.

Brian: High-end restaurants, all day.

Lincoln: How do I know if a remodel quote is accurate or inflated?

Like if you’re, let’s say, put yourself in the shoes of a client, how do you know if they’re not jacking up the prices and screwing you over?

Brian: The first thing I would do is just basic math.

Take a square footage of your home, divide it into that price and see what they’re charging you per square foot.

From there, it’s a red flag.

I mean, on a typical remodel, let’s say high-end, you’re anywhere from, correct me if I’m wrong, Lincoln, on this $3,000 to $350,000.

Lincoln: It just depends.

Yeah, I mean, that’s a very loaded question, though.

We always talk about this in general.

Brian: I know, it’s tough on the finishes.

But what I would do is, it’s simple.

I would say, hey, I mean, everybody’s doing this right now.

Go to ChatGPT or Grok or whatever, go ask it.

Everything that we do adds up.

The reason why I know that is because I do it all the time.

I’m like, okay, man, this seems like these drywall guys, the prices, hey, how much is it typical for drywall?

It comes back, I’m like, oh, no, they’re right on page.

It seems like they’re right on what it should be.

So I would use the technology and the AI and stuff to really challenge other people on what they’re like.

We had one client who’s like, wait a minute, your overhead’s, what was it, 21% or something like that?

And I’m like, yeah, for a luxury remodel company, that’s what it is.

And then you look it up on Grok or ChatGPT, and it’s like, it ranges between 18% to 33% or something like that.

I’m like, exactly.

So at the end of the day, if I was our client, I would do that type of research to make sure that you’re not getting screwed on everything.

Brian: Well, so yeah, the price per square foot, too.

If it’s astronomical, you’re like, what?

Yeah, it’s a good basis to go off of.

Lincoln: Right, right, right.

I mean, if all of a sudden somebody started at 500 bucks a square foot for a remodel, you’re like, that seems just ridiculous.

That’s crazy when the houses are being built for 500 bucks a foot or something.

That’s the luxury stuff.

But what are the hidden costs in remodeling or building a house?

Brian: For us, there really isn’t any, because we take that time through the same page, through working with our interior designers in-house, the engineers and architects to make sure there’s no stone that’s over.

Lincoln: And we’re transparent.

Brian: Yeah, we’re transparent.

You’re gonna see it all listed out, so.

Lincoln: Now, there are people who do have hidden costs.

I don’t know.

We don’t, though.

I mean, our costs are our costs.

Brian: No, we show our profit and overhead on the job.

Lincoln: Yeah, I have no problem showing people.

Yeah, we try to net between eight to 10%.

That’s our goal.

Brian: Yep.

I mean, there’s nothing to hide.

We’re not making 600% on our job.

Do permits in Las Vegas take a while?

Brian: It depends on the economy.

Really, right now, on an average home, you’re about-

Lincoln: For a new build?

Brian: For a new build, you’re probably about six to eight weeks, which is pretty standard.

During, you know, when the economy was booming, tracks were going like crazy.

It could be anywhere from, you know, three to six months.

Currently, right now, in the market, I’d say it’s about two months.

Lincoln: This is a good one.

I can answer this one.

How does Kingdom & Co. protect clients from budget creep?

The key is, is making sure your project director and your interior designer are on the same page and making sure they’ll talk to you and be like, hey, if we wanna do this and this, it’s gonna add an extra $20,000 to your budget, or if we do this and this, or hey, this appliance package, instead of it being 30K, it’s gonna be 50K. Are you sure you wanna go about that?

So, we call them temperature checks.

There’s a lot of times you do temperature checks.

And we’ve had clients sometimes who are like, you know what, I just wanna do it the way I wanna do it.

I don’t care if it’s 20% over budget, I’m doing it.

And there’s some clients who are like, I cannot go over budget.

Brian: Well, that’s the value of having those temperature checks.

We’re not just meeting to do that bid presentation and they see that price and they get sticker shock.

They have an idea before they even go to that room where we’re about.

Lincoln: What does luxury mean beyond expensive materials?

Like, what does luxury even mean?

Because people think luxury just means expensive.

Well, it’s a good question.

Brian: To me, I think the number one thing is the craftsmanship of that expensive material.

Yeah, granted, I can put this beautiful…

Lincoln: The cabinetry?

Brian: We’ll do some beautiful walnut cabinets, but if the carpenter doesn’t know basic joinery and you have gaps everywhere.

And yeah, granted, you paid 150 grand for those cabinets, but a $10,000 install and it looks like it.

You know what I mean?

Lincoln: Yeah, I’ve seen it happen so many times.

Even though homes up in McDonnell Highlands, I won’t name any of the builders or whatnot, but we’ve walked through some of the homes because we always like to see what our competitors are doing.

And sometimes you walk in there and you’re like, some of them are amazing.

Like, I’ve been to some where I’m like, oh my gosh, incredible work, great job, guys.

And then sometimes you walk in and you’re like, this is an $8 million home or $12 million home and you’re going, there’s gaps everywhere.

The cabinets, you open the cabinets and it’s like, they’re just cheap cabinets.

And you’re like, oh my gosh, what is going on here?

Like, what is happening?

And you can tell, are they just here to flip it and make money or are they really trying to make a good product?

Brian: Yeah, so luxury to me, number one thing, execution is like, we build those schedules.

We’re always looking to grip on those schedules, get ahead of them.

And that does set us apart is because we’re able to still give that high quality product in an efficient amount of time per the design, right?

Lincoln: And have a luxury experience as it would go with that.

Brian: Yeah, yeah, like, we want you to feel warm and bubbly the whole time.

And that’s not just a sale ploy.

That’s like, it’s a good experience.

Like, why would I want you to have any type of contention towards me?

Because the whole job will go south.

We won’t have a good experience.

We need to be friends.

We need to work through this and be advocates for each other.

Lincoln: How often will I get updates during my project?

Brian: So this is, we’re kind of overkill in this department because we feel communication is so important to the customer experience.

On a job site, you’ll have a superintendent who’s responsible for the whole job.

Then you have a project manager who’s responsible for that individual.

And then there’s even one more layer with the production manager.

So the superintendent is responsible for daily communication through whether it be our Job Tread portal, text message, or face-to-face.

The customer needs to know what’s going on daily.

The PM.

Lincoln: Are there daily logs, though, on Job Tread?

Brian: Correct.

Lincoln: Yeah.

Brian: Yes.

So that’s part of their daily communication is that daily log.

And then you have the layer of the project manager who will meet face-to-face with the super once a week to see if there’s any issues.

Maybe the customer’s in a spot where they’re not happy with what the super’s doing and he needs a space to be able to tell the PM.

This allows him to do that.

Lincoln: Yeah, I mean, so what you’re saying is basically you have people who are, they have a portal that they log into.

They get updates daily with pictures and photos.

Brian: Pictures, photos, the schedule gets updated.

So they see like, hey, framing line item.

We’re 60% done with framing the next day.

We’re now up to 64%.

They know each line where we’re at.

Lincoln: And we have weekly walkthroughs with the clients that’s really powerful.

And then from there, we’re just constantly telling what’s going on.

So it’s like, to me, like you said, it’s overkill.

But to us, it’s a benefit.

How do you select subcontractors and ensure their quality?

Let’s do that.

Do that in 30 seconds.

How do you do it?

Brian: First off, I check reputation.

I go with Better Business Bureau, Nevada State Contractors Board, to see if there’s any files against them.

And then again, I vet them.

I call them.

I like to meet with whoever their head of production is and get, again, like we do with other homes, get previous addresses to go look at their work, talk to the customer, make sure they’re good.

Lincoln: Most of our contractors, we are literally, we’ve been using for 10 to 15 years.

Brian: Yeah, we have a very great trade pool of relationships that have gone on for so long that really there’s no reason for us to bring on any new subs unless those guys are retiring or going out of business.

Lincoln: Good, last question.

What does a realistic project timeline look like?

I think you hit that on Job Tread.

We have a, they have a portal they go to.

How does that work?

Brian: Yeah, you’ll always be on Job Tread, be able to see where we’re at in the process.

So as far as this question, is it like just on average?

Lincoln: Yeah, I mean, just like a realistic budget, like our timeline, like if I came to you and said, hey, Brian-

Brian: So I’m building a home for you.

Let’s say it’s 4,500 square foot, single story.

I could build that in a year.

I come to you, we’re doing a new kitchen remodel, just kitchen, maybe a couple bathrooms, this.

I could do it in three months.

It just depends on the scope and the size of the project.

Obviously, we’re always, like I use that word grippage, we’ll build that baseline schedule, but we’re always trying to beat it.

We’re trying to be ahead of it.

We don’t ever want to be behind on something because then we’re slipping.

Lincoln: Right, and you’re famous for that.

I mean, you got a job done.

It took you nine months to get a job done, and that was supposed to take a year because you’re just on top of your guys, constantly playing chess with three moves ahead, but giving these clients these timelines, and then not only that, they have a portal where they go on their job tread portal, and they go, oh, well, look, this is where we’re at today.

Oh, man, we got pushed two weeks because there was this problem here.

They can see it live.

Brian: They’ll see it in the daily report, and they’ll see it because you have that baseline schedule.

Anytime we modify that schedule, you’re gonna get notified, so we can’t just be adding time without you knowing.

Lincoln: All right, so those are the questions.

Brian: All righty.

Many more to go, I’m sure, but those are, I think those, we hit a lot of really important discussions and answering a lot of questions that a lot of people have in this residential construction, you know.

Brian: The high-end remodel.

Yeah, I agree.