When Great House Plans Cost Too Much to Build
Your construction budget is finite.
The question is where you want to spend it.
When you’re building a custom home, there are things you see, touch and experience every day—and there are things you’ll never notice once the walls are closed.
If you can save money on unnecessary complexity, specialty hardware or materials hidden inside the walls, that money can instead go toward the things that make your home exceptional: beautiful stone, custom cabinetry, better windows, lighting, flooring, outdoor spaces or the architectural details you actually see and enjoy.
That’s not about building a cheaper house. It’s about getting more value from the money you’re already spending.
And sometimes, the biggest opportunity to do that is hiding in the plans.
Why Was This Home Getting $2.5M–$3M Bids?
A homeowner came to us after receiving $2.5 million to $3 million in construction bids. She had given her architect a specific budget, but the design had grown well beyond it.
She loved the design. She just needed a way to build it within a realistic budget.
When we reviewed the architectural and engineering plans, we saw opportunities to make the home substantially more efficient to build.
The issue wasn’t that anyone had necessarily done anything wrong. The plans had been developed without the builder being involved throughout the design process.
Some details were exceptionally complex from a construction standpoint. Some specified materials and hardware were specialty products that had to be custom ordered, even though standard materials available through local lumber yards could accomplish the same function.
So we went back to the plans.
We redesigned portions of the home, simplified details, reconsidered material specifications and looked at the house from the perspective of the people who would actually have to build it.
We ultimately built the home for approximately $2 million.
The important point isn’t simply that our bid was lower.
We changed the way the house was designed to be built.
What the Builder Sees That the Plans Don’t Show
Architects, engineers and builders each bring different expertise to a project. The challenge comes when those disciplines become so separated that decisions are made without fully considering how they will ultimately affect construction.
An architect thinks about proportion, space, light, circulation and aesthetics. An engineer thinks about structure, loads and performance.
A builder is thinking about how all of those ideas become a physical house. What materials are actually available? How complicated is a particular detail? How many trades have to touch it? Is there a standard product that can accomplish the same thing? Can something be simplified without changing the finished result?
Those questions can have a significant impact on construction cost.
Small Changes to Materials Can Save Tens of Thousands
We recently built two $5M homes that were designed by an architect and engineered separately from the architecture firm. Both homes were buildable, but both were highly complex and labor-intensive to construct.
Simply changing specified hardware and lumber to standard, readily available materials saved the owners approximately $80,000. And that was without redesigning the homes. The engineer simply updated the specifications to reflect the recommendations.
Had we been involved earlier in the design process, we believe there would have been opportunities for substantially greater savings. One of the houses was so complicated to build that it often felt like we were reinventing the wheel. We estimated that we could have saved more than $200,000 in the concrete foundation alone.
Improve the Plans You Have—or Integrate the Team From the Beginning
If you already have architectural plans, you don’t necessarily need to start over.
We can adjust the specs in the plans you already have. If you love the design, we can identify opportunities to simplify details, reduce unnecessary complexity, use readily available materials and make the plans more efficient to build. We then provide recommendations to your engineer for review and implementation.
The other option is to bring the architect, engineer and builder together from the beginning by redesigning your existing plans with Robert Wise Construction. When our entire team communicates throughout the design process, construction expertise can influence decisions while there is still time to make changes. The result can be a home that stays true to your original vision while being more efficient, economical and elegant to build.
Spend Less on What’s Hidden. Spend More on What You Experience.
Sometimes the most elegant solution is also the simplest one.
Reducing unnecessary complexity can make a home quieter visually, cleaner in its layout and easier to build. And when you’re not spending your budget on things that don’t improve the finished home, you have more freedom to spend it on the things that do.
Save where you won’t notice. Spend where you will.
That’s what putting your money where it counts really means.
Before You Accept a $2.5M–$3M Bid, Get a Builder’s Second Opinion
Before accepting a $2.5 million or $3 million construction bid, it may be worth having an experienced builder take a second look.
Not every high bid is wrong. Not every project can be redesigned to save hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But sometimes the plans contain opportunities that aren’t obvious until someone who understands construction looks at them from a different perspective.
You may already have a beautiful design.
The question is whether you have the best way to build it.
Get a Builder’s Second Opinion.
Put your money where it counts.
Contact Robert Wise Construction today.