Custom Home
Guidebook & Workshop

The first thing homeowners must get right before they buy any property, hire any architect, and commit to any builder is to create an on-budget pathway for the entire process.

In this video, I talk about the critical importance of our Custom Home Guidebook & the Dream Home Workshop, which are necessary due to a massive flaw built right into the custom home industry that homeowners are completely unaware of.
First, homeowners most often begin their custom home process in a way that inadvertently creates over-budget designs and over-budget construction. Take a look at this diagram. It may seem right, but there’s a hidden flaw in the entire process.

The wrong way is when:

1. Homeowners interview architects and builders.
2. Then hire the architect they feel will serve them the best.
3. Then they design the home.
4. At this point, homeowners either put their designs out to bid to find the best price, or they work with a builder they like the best.
5. Then they hire the builder and build the home.

Seems straightforward, right? But did you see where the flaw is? 

The flaw is hidden in the fact that this way of designing a custom home always results in an over-budget design, and the only way to fix this is to take things out of your designs, which is terribly disappointing & aggravating. This typical process is the wrong way.

​Let me be clear, these flaws are not only due to deceptive builders or subcontractors, though they certainly exist. Everything I’m talking about here is about a broken process — a series of dysfunctional practices that are simply accepted as the way to design and build custom homes.

​This results in the fact that homeowners are not in control of the process and therefore, are not in control of their money!

​Remember what I said in the first video about what controls a home’s cost to build? It’s not the builder. It’s the process, and the process is flawed. That’s why it’s critical for homeowners to follow the right path to achieve their dream home on budget.

That’s why I wrote the Custom Home Guidebook.

Let me show you the right process to design and build your custom home. And again, this isn’t about the right style to design your home, or the best roofing material. This is about a specific process to protect you from costly surprises.

Step #1, you must learn how to avoid the 18 most common mistakes homeowners make when designing and building their custom homes. If you don’t know them, you can’t avoid them.

​Step #2, you should assemble your preferred team of architects, builders, interior designers, and landscape architects to help you create an on-budget strategy for your home — and there are no signed contracts at this point — that comes later.
The Guidebook reveals 18 secrets to finding the right architect and builder. It also includes a unique questionnaire to interview architects and builders. This questionnaire gives you “insider knowledge” to ask the right questions in order to hire the right team. 

​Step #3, you must sign the right design agreement. The Guidebook shows you the 15 steps to hire an architect the right way. For example, many high-end architect’s design fee is based on 10% to 12% of construction cost. Do you see the flaw in that? You’ll just incentivize your architect to make the designs as expensive as possible because their fee increases accordingly! That’s a “no-brainer” to me, but people hire architects this way all the time. 

​Step #4, once you’ve hired the right architect or designer, then you start creating your on-budget designs. The Guidebook shows you the 10 steps to accomplish this important phase the right way.

​Step #5, you must see your home in 3D. Anyone spending a million dollars or more on a custom home must see their home in 3D because it will save them so much more than it costs for the upgraded design services. It’s an absolutely indispensable tool. 

​Step #6, the Guidebook shows you how to establish an on-budget construction process by revealing the 7 steps to hire a builder the right way.

​Step #7, the Guidebook offers critical contractual clauses to ensure you sign the right agreement with your builder. Remember, in the first video, I said that builders do not control cost? Here’s another shocker: builders don’t actually build your home either. A small army of subcontractors and suppliers do the actual construction. Therefore, you need specific contractual clauses to protect you from the hundreds of people who will actually build your home — people you never met, never interviewed, and never vetted. The Guidebook tells you why this is important and how to do it.

Everything must be driven by your On Budget Pathway. Therefore, I’ve also created a step-by-step checklist so you don’t miss any important steps and decisions throughout the entire process of designing and building your home.

​To be clear, this doesn’t focus on how to build the house. Instead, the Guidebook shows you the right pathway — and in the right sequence — to avoid costly surprises. It educates you and empowers you to stay in control of your dream home process — and your money.

​I also created the Dream Home Workshop.

​This gives you the opportunity to meet directly with me in a one-on-one process to create your on-budget pathway so you don’t miss a step attempting it on your own. I’ll help you interview and vet the architects, builders, interior designers — the whole team. I’ll review their contracts and process with you. 

​Each home and homeowner are unique. There’s no “one-size-fits-all.” So, the Workshop incorporates all the tools and systems I’ve created to develop your personalized on-budget pathway. I’ll stay with you the entire process.

INDUSTRY-CHANGING RESULTS
The result of our process is that you will stay in control of the design, the team, and the cost — and ultimately, stay in control of your money. We create your unique pathway for the Architect, the Builder, the Interior Designer, and you, the main decision-maker, to follow to ensure everyone has the same mission and the same outcome on your behalf. 

​We help ensure your Dream Home doesn’t become a nightmare, but it requires a new way to design and build a custom home. The old way just doesn’t work. It’s flawed.

​Our goal is to ensure you enjoy this process — to have fun designing your dream home! It doesn’t have to be a stressful experience.
So, if you want to design and build your dream home on time, on budget, with no costly surprises, let’s jump on a call by clicking on the SCHEDULE CALL button below. Let’s start your Dream Home the right way together. 

​I look forward to speaking with you.
Thank you!