So you think, how about a custom modern home? Let's do this the right way and get what we want. Now what?

How Does this Work? What is the Process to Design and Build a Custom, Sustainable, Modern Home?

Well, first things first. Give us a call. We are here to make the process easy and fun for you and to answer any questions you have; even as you are just pondering about it all.

While this is a quick walk-through of the Wittehaus path, you should expect something quite similar with every design team you engage with - whether it is an architecture or a residential design firm - and of the overall creation process in general.

How to get there? Well, here it goes:

In short, it’s going to be an adventure of a lifetime - a good one. This is anything but buying a home or picking out a floor plan. What our clients come to us for is the creation of a home that uniquely fits their lifestyle, their dreams and aspirations. They are asking for a stage for their life that is designed and built from scratch - for them personally.

Without saying, this might be the first and only time that you will engage in a process like this.

Can I do This?

Before you go too deep into the process and spend money on things you cannot afford, we want to answer all your big-picture questions up front. You want to find out whether this is for you. You also want to find out whether we are the right fit for you.

To make this easy, we have set up an introductory process for you that starts with ordering our free Design Starter Guide.

Part of those first steps is a feasibility study, our Design Goal Review. With it you get to explore your dreams and wishes, the full financial picture, and the steps to take you there. It will essentially set the goal posts for all the bits and pieces that take you safely to the end. This feasibility study should provide you with a reasonable plan for what might work for you. With it you can decide if it’s too expensive, takes too long, or simply just won’t provide you with what you are yearning for.

First Things First - Finding a Lot

Before you can do anything else, you have to have a property to design to and build on. The design of your home will have to consider the specifics of the lot: the topography, direction of sunlight, solar gain considerations, issues of privacy, views, and more.

Rest assured, we help you with the search. Largely there are four options available to you - each not mutually exclusive to one another. We set you up with a realtor, can have you search online, and let you lose to pound the pavement. We can also set you up to purchase tax foreclosure properties at a discount.

As the most important tip for this search, we can only stress to consider properties that are not in a developer's community; since they most likely come with HOA restrictions that make the house you envision impossible.

The Design Process

This is the best part. Together we conceive your future home. To start out, we take you by your hand, listen, and go through all the dreams and wishes you have and those you were not aware of. This includes aesthetics, spaces, materials, details, colors, size, budget, cost, and time. We look at other designs, talk about your lifestyle and activities, discuss changes your life might bring, and explore the things you want, and those you don't. We also talk about the property you just purchased and its needs. We talk about structure, construction methods, and energy efficiency. Everything goes on the table so that we know what this house has to respond to and accommodate. 

Once we understand your needs fully, we start the design process with simple napkin sketches, figuring out the functions, size, and rough look. We'll look at it together and make changes and then move on to a schematic design. This will provide you with full floorplans and one or two elevations. That's when the house will start to come into focus. We look at it together, discuss, and make changes.

This is followed with a design development phase, where the structure, heating/cooling, and plumbing systems are addressed. Wall sections, every exterior elevation, and important details will be considered and drawn up. It'll call for some changes and for the quality of the design to be sharpened. As we look at every corner, we'll adjust and make changes. At the end of this marry-go-around your house will be fully designed. Essentially we are figuring out how it all gets built. We again evaluate this together with you and make adjustments as needed.

At this point we also engage with a builder who should be the right fit for your project and your personality. With them we get to test our assumptions and measure them against a preliminary cost estimate.

To keep you entertained during this technical part of the design, we provide you with photorealistic 3D renderings of your home, as well as a Virtual Realty walkthrough.

We lay out your interiors, the bathrooms, your kitchen, and a lighting design.

At last we lock our doors and throw away the key. We get down and dirty and turn all of this into a set of construction drawings, looked over and sealed by a structural engineer. This is a tool to communicate to banks, trades, and county officials what we are trying to do.

The Financing

The financing is complex, layered, and destined to make you rip your hairs out. It's all about the banks lending products, the appraisal, the depth of your pockets, and the real estate market. Here too, you have to do your homework and talk to banks, take a hard look at your finances, net worth, and how much aunt Ethel is willing to add. You'll be disappointed and worried,  will adjust to unexpected realities, and still charge ahead.

If you don’t pay 100% out of pocket for this shindig, we will recommend some lending institutions we have had success with in the past.

If you are looking at a construction loan, it get’s set up before the construction starts with our construction drawings and the final estimate form the builder at hand.

The Construction

We work with builders who we can trust and who are able to tackle special and unusual circumstances, those who are apt to execute your dreams. Throughout the construction process we maintain a collaborative experience.

In fact, we build out a custom team for you that is specific to your project. Besides the structural engineer and the builder, we might bring on board a civil engineer and a landscape architect if desired or needed; collaborate with an interior designer; work with a kitchen studio and cabinet maker; involve an energy rating agency; have fun with the smart-home pros; include the expertise of a solar panel company; and discuss the ins-and-outs of a splash pad with the pool pros.

Together with you we select all the fixtures, appliances, materials and colors. And finally, when it’s all done, we even help you set up the move-in.

During the entire construction we are at the back and call for you, the builder, and the entire team. We help to resolve issues, adjust details to field conditions, and work to ensure the overall design intent survives.

What Now?

I am sure we have you properly confused. But here is a quick run-down of the steps you might expect in the right order:

• Pick the right design team

• Buy a lot

• Do a feasibility study

• Design

• Set up Financing

• Build

• Move In

Still interested? It might all sound like a bit much. But the fun of creating a custom jewel, in the end, is worth all of it. In fact, when you put the right experts in place, you will love the process. It ought to be fun an exhilarating from front to back.

Let us know how this might fit with your specific ideas and dreams.

~ Toby

And order yourself a free copy of our Design Starter Guide right HERE: