GROUNDBREAKING Advice

By ICONIC LIFE

Building the home of your dreams is an incredible experience, and those who are lucky enough to embark on the journey should be well-prepared and armed with the tools of a great team. With more customizable elements, fixtures, finishes and design options than ever before, it’s important to have the best information upon starting the process. So, we asked three custom home-building professionals for their advice on building a luxurious custom estate.

“As much as possible, front load all design work and decision making. It allows your construction team the opportunity to pre-purchase key materials, helping avoid disruption from the supply chain. Nationally for the construction industry at large, building costs have gone up approximately 30 percent since the start of the pandemic. Further, Phoenix is one of the hotspots in the country for growth, which adds additional pressure on construction costs, so understanding scope and expectations can help keep unnecessary costs from creeping in.

Along the way, something is going to go wrong—you will do your entire project team and your mental health a favor by choosing to work together with your project team to find a constructive solution. Anything worth having is worth waiting for. In the words of Warren Buffet, ‘No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time.’”

–Jeremy Meek Desert Star Construction

“There’s no substitute for a good team! You need to create and build a solid team—architect, builder, lighting designer, interior designer and landscape architect. With today’s level of design, you need a team that has the resources, experience and knowledge to pull it all together in a well-executed way that is wellplanned and visually harmonized. The materials, finishes, applications and details we are seeing today are highly complex and not standard in the home building industry. You need to execute these flawlessly, and you need a builder with a deep bench of subcontractors who build at that level of sophistication. Relationships are key to success.”

–Gary Fries GS Fries Construction

“So often clients will begin the process with one piece of the puzzle, whereas, if the client selects their entire team early, it can be very advantageous, ultimately saving considerable time and money over the lifetime of the project. Having the team on the same page from inception, contributing their individual thoughts and perspectives on design and methods of construction from day one will result in a much better finished product, and lead to a smoother construction process. Once you’ve chosen your build partners: architect, designer and builder, trust them to execute. Allow the team to navigate the hurdles that are inevitable during any build process, so that you can enjoy watching it come to life in anticipation for move in day! HAVE FUN! Building your dream home can, and should be an exciting, fun process!”

–Nate Gossage Living Stone Builders

480.665.9108 | www.modernshade.net

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