Every project with us begins with a paid phase. We call it pre-construction. For a Custom Home Build or a Full House Remodel, it runs 40 to 60 hours over one to two months, billed at $100 per hour. We always charge the lower end of $4,000. If it takes longer, it’s on us. When you sign a construction agreement, every dollar of it comes back as a credit against your deposit.
People ask about this more than anything else in our process. Plenty of builders offer free estimates. So it is fair to ask why we do not. This article explains what the hours buy, why we bill for them, and what happens to the work if you decide to build with someone else.
What a free estimate really is
A free estimate on a custom home or a whole-home remodel is a guess. It has to be. Nobody can price a house in an afternoon. The builder looks at a sketch, multiplies by a number per square foot, and adds a margin for comfort.
That number then has to be defended. The cost of the guess is paid later, in change orders, allowances that run short, and a schedule that slips. Seth spent years repairing other builders’ work. Many of those problems started on day one, with a price that was set before anyone understood the house.
We would rather do the understanding first, and charge honestly for it.
What the hours cover
Pre-construction is real design and estimating work. Over those weeks we do the following:
- Walk the site or the existing house, and document what is there.
- Review zoning, setbacks, and the building-department steps your town will require. Most of the Farmington Valley has inland wetlands and wildlife protection zones, and those add reviews that take time.
- Check drainage and, on valley-floor lots in towns like Granby and Simsbury, the water table.
- Develop the plan in 2D and 3D, so you can see the rooms before you commit to them.
- Coordinate with an architect or engineer, who stamps the drawings.
- Choose the assemblies: foundation, framing, insulation, windows, roof, and mechanical systems.
- Gather pricing from subcontractors and suppliers, trade by trade.
- Build a cost-plus budget with a guaranteed maximum price and a visible contingency line.
On a healthy home or a Vastu home, the list grows. We bring in our Building Biology consultant from the Healthy Building Alliance, or the certified Vastu architects at Maharishi Vastu Development. Their input changes materials, wiring routes, ventilation, and orientation. Those changes need to be priced before the budget means anything.
Why we bill for it
Hours spent on your plan are hours we cannot spend elsewhere. We are a small company, and most of this work sits with Seth. If we gave it away, the cost would have to be hidden somewhere. Usually it ends up spread across every contract, so the clients who build pay for the ones who do not.
We prefer to keep the money visible. You pay for the hours you use. You see what was done with them. When you sign, the full amount is credited back from your deposit. For a client who builds with us, pre-construction costs nothing in the end.
Billing also keeps both sides serious. A client who pays for planning tends to show up to meetings with decisions made. A builder who is paid for planning has no reason to rush toward a contract. Both habits make for a better budget.
What you keep if you walk away
If you decide to build with another company, the plans and the budget are yours. You paid for them. You can hand them to another builder, use them to compare bids, or set them on a shelf until the timing is right.
We think this is the fairest part of the arrangement. You are paying for drawings, a scope, and a line-by-line cost. Those have value whoever builds the house.
What can go wrong in pre-construction
Being honest about this phase means naming the problems that show up in it.
The first is scope. A family arrives wanting four bedrooms and a two-car garage, and the first budget lands well above what they planned. At $450 per square foot and up, square footage drives everything. A modest custom home in Connecticut lands near $850,000. We would rather tell you that in week three than in month nine.
The second is the site. A lot that looked simple can need ledge removal, extra drainage, or a wetlands review. On the ridge towns of Avon, Canton, and Farmington, storms are heavier, and the house needs more drainage and wind detailing. Finding these things on paper is cheap. Finding them with an excavator on site is expensive.
The third is hours. Some projects take more than 60 hours to plan. A complex remodel of an older house can surprise everyone once walls are opened for inspection. When we see a project heading past the range, we say so early and explain why. You decide whether to continue.
How the credit works
The mechanics are simple. You are invoiced for pre-construction as a set fee per project type. We think this keeps things fair and competitive. We get paid for most, or at least some of our work, while still ending up providing some amount of free service upfront. When you sign the construction agreement, the total you have paid is subtracted from the deposit due at signing. It appears as a line on the agreement, so there is no question about where it went.
Builds usually begin three months to a year after signing. Construction runs six to twelve months for a new home and three to eight months for a large remodel. The budget you leave pre-construction with is the one we build to. The guaranteed maximum price holds, and any contingency we do not spend goes back to you. We explain that structure in detail in our article on cost-plus with a guaranteed maximum price.
Who this phase is for
Pre-construction makes sense for custom homes and for additions or whole-home remodels starting at $100,000. It is the work that turns an idea into a buildable plan with an honest price. If you want to see where it sits in the larger sequence, our process page lays out each step.
If you are ready to talk about your project, start here, and Seth will be in touch about a first conversation.