Building a custom home: what to expect

Planning, timelines, and costs are critical when building a custom home. We follow a tried-and-true framework that sets expectations first and ensures that we build your home on time and budget.

Defining Your Needs

S&L Porter Homes

We work with you to define your expectations and budget – your ideal timeline for your home build from start to finish, your budget, and when you’d like to build. From there, our trusted staff ensure you’ll get the designs and features you want and when the perfect time to start your build will be.

Our Planning Process

S&L Porter Homes

Our robust process includes a thorough research and planning phase before we even begin designing your custom home. Whether you’re an empty nester, a first-time homeowner, or anything in between, we’ll work with you every step of the way to bring your home to life. 

Truly custom homes for inspired living. 

Planning Makes Perfect: the Steps Involved

1. Lot/location requirements

When selecting a piece of land to build on, there are many factors to consider. These include the location (are there bylaws in the municipality that you’ll have to abide by?), lot size, privacy and closeness of neighbors, slope of land, natural surroundings, access to resources such as power and municipal water and sewer, and more.

2. Preliminary plans & feasibility study

Before purchasing a property, you’ll want to ensure that you can build what you want on your piece of land. Preliminary plans and a feasibility study ensure that S&L Porter Homes can bring your dream home to life, by assessing any easements, development restrictions, and more.

3. Determine estimated budget

Once we’ve conducted a feasibility study and have a preliminary set of plans, we can determine what the estimated cost of the build will be, from start to finish.

4. Determine project timeline

We work with you to create a project timeline for your home, taking into account your desired date of completion, and what is feasible given the design of the home and any setbacks that may occur.

5. Final plans

We develop the architectural plan for your home, working with you to determine what style of home you would like, and what needs, wants, and dreams you have for the design of your custom-built home.

6. Product selections

After determining your design and style preferences, we select products and finishes you’d like to use in your home – think interior finishes like cabinetry, flooring, appliances, mouldings, countertops, and tiles, and exterior finishes like roofing, siding, windows and doors. Our expansive network in the home-building industry ensures you get the high-quality products you need for your home.

7. Develop scopes of work

Specification documents are developed to ensure your new home is built with the specific choices that you requested. This documentation includes general job site requirements, who is responsible for purchasing materials, tools, and hardware, quality requirements, and the responsibilities of the suppliers involved in the home building process. 

8. Approve selections

Once you’ve reviewed the scopes of work, we’ll ask you to approve the selections we’ve made together.

9. Confirm schedule

We’ll work with our suppliers to confirm what we need, and confirm a final schedule for completion. 

10. Verify financials/prepare to proceed

We verify the financials, insurance, and permits needed before proceeding with the build.

11. Construction agreement

S&L Porter Homes will present a formalized construction agreement, and we can move forward with the build. 

Design aspects

Our team works with you to design your dream home – taking into consideration all aspects of the site and structure, as well as your lifestyle and needs. You choose the design, architecture, and features you need – all under warranty – reducing the likelihood of repairs in the first years of homeownership, so you can focus on building your life. The custom home design process starts simple, with your future in mind – whether you’re an empty-nester or have a growing family.

The design process includes:

Floor plan development to determine room location and layout

Assessing the lot to incorporate tenable design principles and features, including energy-efficiency and building orientation to maximize desired light

Deciding on construction methods and systems, in addition to materials and finishes

Selecting appliances and other additions

Designing hardscaping and landscaping

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