The Heavenly Experience begins with an initial meeting that lasts about an hour between the Client and Heavenly Homes.  This meeting does not cost anything and is simply an introduction to inform the Client about Heavenly Homes, how our system works and how we can help the Client achieve their goals for their new home.  During the initial meeting, clients will usually ask general questions about pricing, quality, amenities, and other items important to them.  Once we have some basic information about overall style, layout and desired finish, we can usually tell you within $5 per square foot what your home will cost.  To further assist in giving you an idea of home prices, feel free to preview some of our subdivisions to see a variety of homes for sale in different price ranges.  Designing and building your home will typically take between six to twelve months.  To ensure this is an exciting experience, it is very important that our clients are comfortable with us on both a professional and personal level.  Even if you are looking for general information or want to know how to go about starting your custom home, contact us.  We are happy to share any information to help you get started.  Once our clients decide they want Heavenly Homes to build their home, we start the design process.

Building on your own lot usually requires extra planning and preparation that many builders don’t know how to do or simply don’t like to do.  Making sure building pads are adequately above existing elevations for proper drainage, providing the engineering and installation of septic tanks, running power lines to the lot, installation of culverts, and the clearing of the lot are just a few of the often stressful tasks that take place when building on your own lot that Heavenly Homes will help you with step-by-step. These are some of the same steps that Heavenly Homes goes through on our own lots as well. 

Every lot is distinct in many ways.  It is important to have someone who understands view lines and how to orient the spaces of the home to capture the desired views through those view lines.  When building a home on a golf course, lake, open view land, or even a standard lot with a pool, view lines and focal points must be taken into consideration when designing your home.  Heavenly Homes understands how important these factors are and has not only helped many Clients choose the right lot for their needs, but we help design and build the right home for their needs as well. So choosing your lot is the first and most important decision when designing and building your new Heavenly Home.

We have created a step-by-step interactive design experience through our sister company Heavenly Designs, where our Clients and our design professionals design every detail of the custom home in a well-organized fashion.  We also know that your budget is always a consideration when designing a custom home.  Heavenly Homes uses the knowledge obtained from our unique design-build process to keep clients informed about construction costs throughout the design process.  An initial estimate will be given at the beginning of the Design Process that will provide a starting point to build from based on the information collected in the initial interview about your preferences.  Pricing updates will be given to you throughout the Design Process based on the choices made by you.

During this process, we gather all of the information our clients have about what they want in their new custom home. This can take anywhere from one week to six months, depending on how quickly you want to get started and how many major changes are made toward the end of the process. Our entire design-build process is focused on creating an interactive design experience that gives our clients the flexibility to review and modify their plans during each step.  We start by either modifying one of our existing plans or designing a completely new layout that is a perfect fit to your family’s particular lifestyle. Our process is structured to make you think about how you live and how you would like to live, while letting your imagination flow freely as we put all of your thoughts and ideas into a functional and aesthetically pleasing home.  By being involved in the design process it helps eliminate future frustrations and keeps everything exciting and fun. 

After creating the new layout, Heavenly Designs modifies each plan to accommodate existing and future furniture placement, develop desired elevations, and plan for special wiring and electrical layouts. We then work on the plans until our clients are completely satisfied with their new custom home design and you will never be limited in revisions or changes. We will know every intimate detail about your home before most other builders have even had a chance to look at the plans for the first time.  After all, who knows your plans better than the person who helped design them?  This enables us to build a comfort level and relationship with our clients which encourages an enjoyable design process and a successful builder-client relationship.  We ask for an initial deposit as the design process begins: $1.50 per sq.ft., and up to $5,000 is credited back to the client in the form of earnest money when the construction contract is signed.   This allows the Client to get free plans once we begin construction, saving you literally thousands of dollars.

Once the plans are finalized, an overall cost of the home is reviewed with the client, including a detailed list of specifications and allowances for their home.  At this time, the plans and the allowances are incorporated into a contract to build your home.  Our goal is to keep you as informed as possible about the choices and options available.  We believe this will ensure the final product will be exactly what you wanted.  No surprises, no regrets, just the joy of a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

Interim financing on the construction loan is primarily provided by the client when building on their lot.  When doing this type of loan, the client pays for the interim construction interest accrued during construction while paying Heavenly Homes in the form of draws throughout the construction process.  When construction is complete, the client then gets their permanent mortgage and starts making their monthly payments.  The down payment, when using this method, is equal to the balance of the loan being obtained.  For example, if you are getting an 80% loan, the down payment would be 20%.  If you are getting an 85% loan, the down payment would be 15%.  This percentage is a flexible number based on your bank and current situation that can be adjusted to be paid at various times during the construction process. 

Heavenly Homes provides a professional decorator at no cost to help our clients choose all of their home selections including paint, counter tops, tile, backsplashes, doors, and other decorating options.  Our decorator will not only help you coordinate your selections, but also knows where to go to get the most value for the product and materials you are choosing.  Because you get items at our cost, this knowledge often saves our clients thousands of dollars and a lot of time.  We have a unique design center that offers several of the more popular selections at our central office.  These selections include extensive faux painting, decorative flooring inlays, custom cabinetry, special order moldings, various stain finishes, wrought iron doors and other decorating ideas.  Our clients are not limited to choosing from just our design center, but we have found it gives them a good starting point.

At the onset of construction, the client is presented with a construction manual tailored specifically to their home.  The manual, among other things, makes the construction experience more efficient and organized.  It will contain all of the documents that have gotten us this far into the process including plans, specifications, contracts, site plans and other miscellaneous items.  Throughout the construction process, there will be several phases when we will ask to walk the house with you to get your input and answer any questions you may have.  The construction time for homes between 3,000 square feet and 5,000 square feet is approximately six months.  Homes ranging from 5,000 square feet and larger take longer, depending on the size and the complexities of the custom home.  Our construction program is an ongoing set of methodical processes that have been continually improved and adapted over the years to create the most enjoyable, exciting, and rewarding building experience for each of our homeowners.  In the end, we want you to feel that we built your home with you, not simply for you.

We have also found it to be more convenient and cost-efficient to include a pool and rear landscaping while the home is being built. If planned ahead, we can roll the cost of the pool and landscaping into your home loan. We also include all flatwork, septic, and other site work into your contracted price. This will make sure you will know exactly what your custom home will cost.

Closing on your new home can be the most challenging time, as well as the most exciting.  To remove the stress and keep it exciting, we have developed a closing process that ensures the house is completed and ready for you to move when promised.  The final phases of construction include two home orientation walks.  The first walk is done one to two weeks prior to closing and usually takes two to three hours to complete.  During this walk, all mechanicals are checked with you, all emergency shut-off switches are shown to you, and all cosmetic items are inspected, including flooring, counters, lights, paint, and exterior items.  Any exceptions found are noted and corrected prior to the second walk.  The second walk is usually done the day prior to closing and usually takes between 30 minutes to an hour.  During this walk any exceptions noted on the first walk are inspected to ensure they have been corrected, and a quick final check is done on the home.  We have found that our processes are a little more time consuming to complete, but they ensure our clients are kept informed and the house is truly ready for you to move into when planned.

Even after your home is complete, we keep working for you.  Due to our superb slab designs and framing installations we have an excellent track record of homes that produce very few settlement cracks, if any at all.  The majority of cracking that occurs is due to the trim materials expanding and shrinking while getting adjusted to their new climate.  However, during the course of one year, some settling and shrinkage cracks may appear in your new home.  To keep our clients homes looking new, Heavenly Homes will come back one time, at any point specified by the client within the first year of ownership, and touch-up these cracks.   We also warranty every aspect of our homes for workmanship for one year, all of our mechanical equipment for two years, and a ten year warranty on all structural items.  So lets get started on your new Heavenly Home today!