Our Process
Seven steps, and you know where you are in all of them
Building a house should not feel like guessing. Here is exactly how a Skycrest project runs, from the first walk of your lot to the day you get the keys.
It is exciting to think about building a house. It is also intimidating, because you are asked to picture a home from a set of blueprints, which is hard even for the people who draw them.
So we front-load the thinking. Every expensive decision gets made while it is still a line on paper, and by the time a trade is on site there is very little left to work out.
Before you start
Still choosing a lot? We will review it and give you feedback, including what the ground is likely to cost, before it becomes your problem.
Call (847) 380-8212Step by step
How a Skycrest build runs
The same seven steps run every project, whether it is a ground-up house or a whole-floor remodel.
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Tour our homes
Before anything is drawn, we walk you through houses we have already built. You see the framing standard, the trim detail and the finish quality first-hand, and we get to know what you are actually after.
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Walk the site
Usually the second meeting happens on the lot, whether you own it, are considering it, or are looking at one of ours. We review the property and talk through the height, orientation and placement of the house. Afterwards we research set-backs, building codes and the survey plat, so you know what the site allows before you commit to it.
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Design the plan
We start from your list of wants and needs and develop a preliminary plan. Then we sit down and red-line it together, and keep doing that between you, us and the architect until the blueprint is right. This is the cheapest stage to change your mind, so we spend real time here.
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Specifications and quote
The specification meeting is deliberately exhaustive. Pinning down the details this early is what stops surprises later. We quote the house off those specifications, review the number with you, and adjust plan and pricing together until it meets your budget. We go through the building contract in the same meeting.
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Contract and schedule
With a signed contract we set a start date and build the full project schedule: every task, every pending decision, who owns it and when it is due. A final site meeting fixes the location of the driveway and house and the height it sits at.
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Construction
We are in constant contact while the house goes up. You know what decisions are coming and what is happening on site on any given day. We meet regularly to walk the progress, so nothing is a surprise and nothing drifts quietly off schedule.
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Move in
Every home goes through a comprehensive quality review before we hand over. At the end of it you have a house that was built to the specification you signed, in the time we said it would take.
How long it takes
Most custom homes take about 12 to 20 months from first sketch to move-in, but there is no fixed timeline. It depends mostly on the scope of the project: its size, the design, the finishes and the approvals it needs.
Every project moves through the same stages: design and plans, permits and approvals, construction, and a final quality review before you move in. You get a written schedule for your project before construction starts.
Designing it
A plan built around your life, not a catalog
A home office with built-in shelving. A kids playroom with a loft hideaway. A lower level with a media room and a wine cellar. A second-floor laundry, or a main-floor primary suite for the years after the kids leave.
Start from one of our floor plans or start from nothing with an architect. Either way we keep working the drawing until you are not merely satisfied with it but genuinely looking forward to it.
Building it
You should never have to ask what happened this week
Once the frame is up, the thing that separates a good build from a bad one is information. We run the schedule openly and share it daily, so you can see what is done, what is next and what we need a decision on.
- Every task and decision has an owner and a due date
- Regular walkthroughs on site, not status emails
- Changes get priced before they get built, never after
Ready to see where your project would start
Tell us what you are thinking about and we will tell you which of these seven steps you are already on.