Process
Most remodels are run as two separate projects that happen to occur at the same address. First a design project, then a construction project, with a nervous gap in between where the budget gets decided by people who were not in the room for the decisions.
We run it as one continuous project. The order below is a real sequence — each stage genuinely depends on the one before it, and skipping ahead is how projects get expensive.
01
Before anything is drawn, we find out what your property will actually allow and what you can genuinely spend. Slope, soils, setbacks, sewer or septic, panel capacity, access, protected trees, coastal zone and fire hazard designations.
This is the least glamorous stage and the one that saves the most money. It is also where we tell you if the answer is no. A short feasibility look costs very little next to a set of drawings for a building you cannot afford to build.
02
Jennifer develops the plan, the materials, and the light. Josh prices it as it develops. That is the whole trick — you learn what a decision costs while changing your mind is still free, instead of six months later when it costs a redesign.
You leave this stage with drawings, a specification, and a number that has been tested against real construction costs rather than hoped at.
03
Permits, scheduling, trades, inspections, and the weekly rhythm of decisions. Vantara manages the project; the construction work itself is performed by our licensed general contractor partners, and we will tell you exactly who is doing your work before you sign anything.
You get one point of contact, a schedule that means something, and change orders that are priced and approved before they happen — not discovered on an invoice.
04
Walkthrough, punch list, and the documents you will want in three years — permits, warranties, finish schedules, paint colours, where the shutoffs are.
And an honest read on what the work did to the value of the property, because Josh spent over a decade selling homes here before building them.
Open books
Design-build has a real cost, and firms like ours tend not to mention it.
You give up competitive bidding. In the traditional model, three contractors price the same drawings and the market tells you what the job is worth. With us, you are trusting one team's numbers.
You give up the independent check. The person designing your project and the person managing its construction work together. That is the efficiency. It is also the risk.
The only thing that makes that trade fair is transparency. So: you get a line-item cost breakdown, not a total. You can question any number in it and we will explain it. Allowances are set at real numbers rather than the optimistic ones that make an early bid look good.
If a design-build firm will not open its books to you, walk away. Including us.
Stage one
The first conversation costs you nothing and usually saves the most. Tell us about the property and we will tell you what it will carry.