The questions we get asked most

We work across the Chicago metropolitan area, including Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will and Kendall counties. Most of our homes and remodels are in the Northwest, North and West suburbs, with Barrington as our base. If you already own a site, we will review it and give you feedback. If you are still looking, we can help you find one in the region.

You talk to the Skycrest team directly, not a call center. The first call is a plain conversation about what you want, where you want it and roughly what you are comfortable spending. If it sounds like a fit, we review the lot or walk the house with you and tell you honestly whether the idea works. There is no charge for that and no obligation to go further.

Yes. We will give you a list of past clients and you are welcome to call them yourself. Most of our owners are happy to talk about how the job actually ran, not only how the house turned out. You can also read what previous clients have written about working with us on our testimonials page.

Yes, and we would rather you did before anything is drawn. Past owners regularly open their homes to people considering a build, and we arrange those visits. We also try to keep a few houses in progress at different stages, so you can see framing, trim and finish work in person instead of in photographs.

Look past the trees. Floodplain, soil conditions, grading, where public utilities stop, the real buildable dimensions, existing easements and what your neighbors are allowed to put up next to you. All of it changes what you can build and what the ground will cost you. Send us a lot you are considering and we will review it before you commit.

Usually yes. Plenty of clients come to us with a plan or a folder of ideas they have collected. We sit down, go through the drawings together and point out where they will not do what you are expecting, then adjust them with you until they will. The same applies to a remodel someone else has already drawn.

By red-lining the drawing with you, as many times as it takes. We start from your list of wants and needs rather than a house we already like, then keep working the plan between you, us and the architect until it is right. The specification meeting locks in the finishes, so nothing of consequence gets decided for you later.

A Skycrest project manager and the same crew from start to finish, with Dan visiting the home often. We do not hand you off to a project manager once the contract is signed, and we do not swap trades mid-job. You get a written schedule showing every task, who owns it and when it is due, so you can see what is happening without having to chase anyone for an answer.

Every change goes through a written change order that states what is changing and what it costs. Both of us sign it before anyone picks up a tool. That is slower than a verbal yes in the driveway, and that is the point. It means no change turns up as a surprise line on an invoice at the end of the job.

We want you there. The more you understand about your own house, the better the decisions you make, and walking the site together is the easiest way to settle questions before they become problems. Schedule the visit with us first, though. An active site has trades working and open floor penetrations, so it is not somewhere to drop in unannounced.

We walk the house with you, write the list, and close it before you move in rather than after you start chasing us. Anything needing a trade back on site gets scheduled, not promised. At handover you should have the house described in the specification you signed, finished to the standard we showed you at the start.