Eating An Elephant

How do you eat an elephant?  Easy.  One bite at a time.

How does this apply to building custom homes?  Contracting to build a custom home will be a major event in your life.  It has also been compared to running a marathon, climbing a mountain, or giving birth.  There are many analogies that come to mind, but no matter the comparison, building a custom home for yourself will be both the most fulfilling and one of the greatest challenges you might ever face in your life.

Whatever the major goal, whether it be running a marathon or building a custom home, once you commit to the result you'll need a plan as well the fortitude to go the distance.  Every step, or bite, you take is a decision toward the finish of your home, and it takes dedication and endurance, and miles and miles of decisions.

So, how do you develop a plan?  Here are a few essential decisions, to be made in advance, to help you map out a plan:

1.  Choose your coaches - choose a builder who you like and trust and have a rock solid contract to define your expectations.  It also helps to like your builder's other staff members since they will play a key role in the on-time, on-budget completion of your project.  Also, choose an architect or home designer who understands your needs and your vision for your new home and can clearly convey your vision to your builder.  Do your research on your coaches and find out their experience, expertise and expected longevity and stability in their business.

2.  Put your goals in writing - define your expectations through a detailed set of working plans and specifications for the home, and a budget that realistically defines the costs of completing your home within your expectations.  Your builder's expertise in estimating costs will be essential to a realistic budget.  Decide as much information as possible about your standards for your new home and you may more closely rely on your builder and avoid the disappointing news that your budget does not allow for the brand or style you wanted (doors, windows, millwork, cabinets, hardware, flooring, etc., etc.)

3.  Prepare body, mind and soul - before you start, bank your money as well as your decisions on styles, materials and finishes.  If you make your decisions about money or materials after you start, on a daily or weekly basis, your building project will not be timely, not run smoothly, and will not likely be within budget constraints.  Making decisions in advance will leave time for multiple bids, price shopping, and special order of materials during an economy when inventories are very low.

4.  Miles of training time - work backwards from the date you would like to start your new home and leave ample time for every aspect of the advanced planning and decision making that will be the groundwork for a less stressful building experience.  You can expect that the time it takes to make advanced decisions about your designer, general contractor, "must- have" features, finalizing a design and getting permits will be approximately as long as it might take to build the house itself.

5.  Countdown to the finish - understand the standard timeline for building your home, but expect delays and be flexible.    Don't make plans to move into your new home until the last punch list item is completed.  Again, your builder's expertise in estimating the time it will take to complete each phase of your project will be essential to a realistic timeline.

6.  Balance your dedication to the result with life as you know it - while your building project is in process it will almost assuredly interrupt every other aspect of your life, including your relationships, your personal time management and routines, and your finances.  Expect the added stress in your life and make sure your family is on board with the process.  Having a plan, including a well chosen builder, clear goals, and many decisions made in advance will minimize unexpected obstacles.

One thing that accomplishing all major goals have in common is a plan.  If you would like assistance in planning for your custom home building project, contact Winsome Construction, shan@winsomeconstruction.com or  503-472-7402.

Winsome Launches their Featured Architect Series with an Interview with Nathan Good

We have found that often the journey to find the right team of people to design and build is a daunting one for clients.  Your architect or designer and builder are such critical team members that will help to ensure that your building process is all that you want it to be, so how do you make sure that you make informed decisions about which one is a good fit for you and your project?  It is a good idea to check out their websites, to look at their work, to ask for referrals and to meet them and ask lots of questions to find out how they work and to be informed about what you should expect.  Trust and a good working relationship are essential.  

In our business, we have had the good fortune of meeting and working with many of the area’s finest architects and designers.  We felt that it would be helpful to have a place that clients and potential clients could go to learn about our local architects and designers to facilitate this difficult decision.  With this in mind, Winsome has launched the “Featured Architect of the Month” series.  Every month in 2012 we will be featuring an interview with a local architect or designer complete with extensive project photos, website information and contact information.  We will highlight the architect on our blog and a full, detailed interview with more photos to be found on our website.

  

For our first featured architect, we sat down with Nathan Good, an award winning green architect based in Portland, Oregon.  Here is a recap of our talk with Nathan.  Visit our website for the full interview and a more complete set of photos of his work.

Talking to Nathan, with his humble and down to earth style, you would never guess that he is one of the premier architects in Oregon and an internationally renowned green architect that has designed homes and commercial buildings across the United States and even internationally.  I had the good fortune of meeting Nathan back in the late 90s when he was still working with Portland General Electric (PGE) the then utility based energy conservation program, Earth Advantage Institute, which later became a highly successful independent green building resource.  He was innovating then in spectacular ways that continued to change the landscape of green building long after he moved on to other things.  Now he continues to change the landscape of green building through his creative and innovative designs.  He is clear about his vision and drive.  He thinks the future of green building needs to be that green building is standard building practice.   

 

Nathan was drawn to architecture as a child when his parent’s started working on designing a home.  Even as a child, Nathan found that he was fascinated with the decisions to be made in designing a home and how to help people to collaborate to create a final design together.  Even today, Nathan says, “If you were to ask my clients, they would say that negotiating win/win design agreements among couples is my greatest strength.”  Nathan uses a collaborative approach to design, where relationships and working together are emphasized.  “In the process of designing and building a project, I find that it works best to temper the ego and ask others for advice.”  Nathan explains,  “It produces a superior result when I suspend having to be right and ask others to contribute genius to the project.”

To see the full interview with Nathan, visit our website at http://www.winsomeconstruction.com/building-with-us/design-services/nathan-good/