Q&A

First and foremost we are truly a custom home builder . We have been in the Custom Home Building business in Durango since 1978! We have developed a business model that assures that the owners are closely tied to every decision in your build. We like to track the progress of your home build with personal attention working on site every day of your home build . We are personally vested in your home. All of our sub-contractors and tradesmen who work on site have been doing business with SCH for decades.  They know exactly what we expect of them when it comes to the quality of work in our builds. They are true professionals who name and business rely on the quality of their work.

Brett is a third generation builder here in La Plata county, my grandfather, my dad, my uncles from the Metz and Enge families have been building a reputation in Durango for over 60 years. Chances are if you drive through Durango you will drive on a street we have laid, a bridge we have built and countless homes that we have dedicated our lives to! The summary is that we want to earn your business and will respect your home as more than just another build. We want you to love your new home.

I have a city of Durango Business License #201900242 There is no Colorado State Contractor Licensing. I am a long time member of the Southwest Colorado Assn of Home Builders, and the National Association of Home Builders.  I attend yearly NAHB conferences including training sessions at each yearly conference.

We Typical build 2 to 5 homes per year depending on the size and complexity of the full custom builds we take under contract. Building a home is task oriented project and each home requires hundreds of decisions. We believe in keeping our builds to a lower number so that we can maintain our personal approach to home building.

We are considered to be equal or better than the top 6 or 7 highest quality builders in Durango. We have won first place awards for all 6 of our parade of homes entries since our first one in 2005.  We have not had a primary focus on entering a home in the parade of homes every year as it is quite time intensive and we prefer to focus on our builds. We always strive to provide our potential clients a personal walk through a completed and an in process project to show them the level of work we are capable of. A true testament to status as a premier builder would be the fact that we have return clients. It’s not uncommon in the building world that the  home owner is so frustrated with the builder by the end of the process they would never have them build for them again. We have multiple repeat customers. Our references speak volumes about our business acumen.

We do the complete design “in-house” and at a substantial discounted rate, by packaging the design and the entire building project. Most of our competitors charge 2-3% of the cost of the build for designs, in many cases this is over $30,000 for designs. On average our designs are in the $15,000 – $20,000 range and we bill design time as T&M so customers only pay for actual design time with every hour documented.   Another reason our building costs are lower because we have our own excavation equipment and are able to “self-perform” this very important phase as well as a large number of tasks that are required of a General Contractor. We have the skills and the equipment to self-perform work to keep costs down when feasible.  This allows us to control the costs on earthwork, utilities, driveway, etc.  We also are a “small builder” with lower overhead than most.  We have a small (but professional) office for myself, our office manager and Carl Heide (our jobs supervisor). If you meet a builder with an extravagant office in town you can guess who is paying for that office! We are modest with our expenses and focused on the building process!

Because I promise that we will do a great job for you and you will love living in a home designed and build by Summit Custom Homes. Here at Summit Custom Homes we didn’t move in from out of town to take advantage of a construction boom. We are generational. Our name has been part of building this town and we hope to be here in future generations. This is more than a business for us. Its our life!

We are set up for having 3 to 5 houses going simultaneously, as long as the schedules are phased by at least 1 month. There will be no adverse effect on your project due to other work that we have going at the same time.

The trends in design are leaning more and more to contemporary / modern. For years we have been able to mix contemporary features with the rustic look typical to the mountains. (rustic contemporary). Lately, were seeing less rustic and more modern – often spilling over to the exterior design with cantilevered, angled components, larger expanses of glass, steel railings, exposed structural concrete & exposed structural steel. Modern light fixtures. However, this is all a matter of the owner’s taste, and in fact “eclectic” more describes the current design trends. I define eclectic as a mix & match (anything goes) using extreme and different design styles of components placed right next to each other. The use of rusted metal corrugated siding is a popular rustic/ contemporary feature that is extremely popular in our area. Some people love it, some hate it. I personally think, if it is placed properly and used more as an accent, can be quite appealing. It is very functional when used on the lower perimeter (wainscoting) of the sides of the house that snow piles up against the walls, as an alternative to the more expensive stonework that gives a similar protection. Many HOA’s have restrictions on colors and siding types we take in to account. Modern Mountain has become quite popular lately. Ultimately you are in charge of your destiny, we will simply guide you towards the look you want!

We always begin by walking the lot (free service) and taking pictures, we sketch out a proposed footprint inside the building curtain for your lot and share my ideas with you prior to signing a design contract. I also will be discussing with you my thoughts on designing the home with universal design techniques that allow for “aging-in-place”.

I, personally, am the project manager, managing all aspects of the building process. Carl Heide is the job’s supervisor, managing on-site supervision, schedules, coordination of material deliveries, and coordination of the subs and tradesmen on site. Lea Leach is my accounting expert. We self-perform, with myself and our own staff, some aspects of the actual construction on site. The main phase that we do in-house, is the site-work, earthwork (excavation/backfill/grading), utilities, and driveway. Most of the other phases are performed by our experienced and professional sub-contractors. We require all tradesmen to have full insurance certificates on file with us, before setting foot on the job.

HOA compliancy will be assured through the approval of the design by the subdivision’s Design Review Committee for each neighborhood. Every phase of construction is approved by LaPlata County Code enforcement. We receive electronic correspondence from the county before each phase of construction to continues. At the end of the build only after all intermediate plus the final inspections are made will LaPlata county issue a certificate of occupancy!

Carl or I will visit (supervise and inspect) the job every day. We insist on compliance to all codes, plans, specifications, and our sub-contractor agreement. LaPlata County Building Inspectors will be performing all of the required inspections, culminating in the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy. The HVAC subcontractor will also do the 3rd party “blower door” leakage testing and certification of the HERS rating for the home.

I use CoConstruct All-in-one construction company software for home building that allows me to Estimate, Send out Bids for materials and subcontractor labor, and process invoices for draws from each customer. It develops a line item cost breakdown that becomes an exhibit to the building contract and is used by the bank as the guideline for the progress draws. This program allows me to do line item preliminary estimates for budget/design consulting during the design process, so that we can accurately estimate any design options that your architect is having you consider, that will help in your design decisions.

A deposit of 3% of the building contract is made with the signing of the contract. Usually in the 1st draw is also the payment for the building permit, which precedes “breaking ground”

In every draw a “Cost Breakdown” is provided that shows you amount drawn to date, a total for each line item being drawn in current draw, as well as any allowance overages or change orders. This Cost Breakdown always shows the adjusted balance on contract after each draw.

We only do “lump sum” contracts. The variable portions within the contract are treated as Allowances. The allowances are usually for items that vary, based on the owner’s selections during the building construction after the contract is executed: Ex: Flooring selections, Lighting, appliances, Cabinets, Tile, Countertops, etc. The contract will be a “bottom Line” total bid cost. We are saying that we will build your house as per the plans, specifications, cost breakdown, and contract for a fixed dollar amount plus any allowance overages or change orders.

You are 100% in control of the budget!  Price increases for materials are driven by the market (suppliers). Your selections ultimately dictate the end price, we try to guide you in to cost minded selections at every turn.  If you have requested changes to the plans or specs that will add extra cost to the contract, a change order will be executed, delineating the cost of the change, plus the associated contracting fee (18% on change orders) and will be added to the contract amount. With regard to the Allowance items; as long as you select items that do not exceed the budgeted amount of the Allowance Cost Breakdown line item, you will not have an overrun. I try to estimate a reasonable amount for allowance items and I often take advice from the home owner and Susanne (Interior Designer) what place holder amount I should have in the estimate for each allowance item.  If the selections result in a lower cost than the Allowance amount you are not billed for any allowance underage’s so you save that money in your overall budget, the contract will be reduced by that amount.

The warranty is for a period of 1 year from occupancy. This is a combination of supplier, products, subcontractor’s warranties, along with our in-house warranty on all workmanship. Along with the contract, you will receive a copy of our “limited warranty” that is endorsed by the NAHB as well as a list of non-warrantable conditions. You will also receive the consumer reference edition of the NAHB “Residential Construction Performance Guidelines”.  You will have to opportunity to review and sign each document as part of your building contract process.

Breaking Ground can usually take place within 4-6 weeks of the completed “permit set” of the plans. This is driven 100% by the wait to receive a building permit from LaPlata County.  This allows for signing contracts, and building permit application.  Our construction duration times vary greatly depending on timing of the phases and the season.  If we start your home on March 15th (the earliest date to avoid extra winter-protection costs),we can have it completed for occupancy in 9 months.  Because of a winter completion, some of the exterior work (mainly landscaping, patios, asphalt driveway), may have to be done in the spring after you move in. It also highly depends on the size and complexity of your home design and the severity of the winter.

We will make our design and building/estimating consulting services available to assist with the design process. We begin with the design contract and start the process as described in every Q&A above!