Alumni Homes
How we build

How A Build Actually Goes, Phase By Phase

No mystery and no month-four surprises. Here is every phase, how long each one takes, and exactly what you walk away with at the end of it.

  1. Phase 1

    30 to 45 days

    Home & Land Plan

    The $4,500 first step, credited in full at contract. We walk your land, pick and red-line a plan to fit it, quote your clearing, grading, and driveway firm through our family's clearing crews, and build a complete budget accurate to ten percent, packaged for your lender.

  2. Phase 2

    3 to 6 weeks

    Design and a fixed price

    You finalize modifications and pick selections from three fully priced spec tiers. Structural options lock first, then finishes, all before permit submission. The result is one fixed-price contract with the site-work quote, the rock and soils rider, the draw schedule, and the warranty attached as written exhibits.

  3. Phase 3

    4 to 10 weeks

    Financing and permits

    Your construction-to-permanent loan closes on the package we built in Phase 1: plans, budget, and specs formatted the way underwriters want them. We submit permits in parallel, order the septic evaluation on rural lots, and lock your build slot on our start calendar so nothing idles.

  4. Phase 4

    3 to 6 weeks

    Site work and foundation

    The part we are built for. Our family's crews clear, grade, cut the driveway, and prep the pad, on the firm number quoted months earlier. Well and septic go in, utilities get run, and the foundation is poured and inspected. Wooded and sloped lots are our normal, not our exception.

  5. Phase 5

    9 to 12 months

    The build, documented weekly

    Framing through final punch, with a photo update every single week and five to seven draws released only after third-party inspections. Changes after contract follow one written rule: priced, signed, and paid before the work happens, so the loan you closed stays the loan you need.

  6. Phase 6

    2 to 3 weeks

    Closing and warranty

    A blue-tape walkthrough, the final inspection, and your certificate of occupancy. Your loan converts to a regular mortgage, you get the keys, and your warranty starts: one year workmanship, two years systems, ten years structural, backed by a national warranty program, with our cell number on top of it.

Timeline honesty

All in, plan on 12 to 16 months from first site walk to keys. That is honest, not slow: feasibility, design, and permits take 60 to 120 days, and the build itself runs 9 to 12 months. Builders promising faster are usually quoting the build alone and letting you discover the rest later. Complex lots and land shopping can add time, and we will tell you that on day one.

While we build

You will never wonder what is happening on your land

Every Friday you get photos from your site, three bullets on what happened, what happens next week, and any decision we need from you. You walk the home with us before drywall and again before paint. No surprises is the whole system.

Step one costs nothing: walk the land.

Before any agreement, we walk your property with you and talk through clearing, grade, septic, and budget. If we are not the right fit, you will still leave knowing more about your land.