New Construction
The questions are different when you start from bare ground — the way the work happens isn’t.
A home built from bare ground starts with nothing in the way. That’s the appeal of it: every choice is still yours to make, in sequence, before anything is framed. It’s also a long list of decisions, which is why we build one client at a time, with the same crew from the first conversation to the final detail.
We take on a small number of projects each year, with a short list of trade partners we’ve worked alongside for a long time. Each one gets the attention it needs.
A thousand decisions, roughly in order
That’s what a new home is, more than anything: decisions. Siting, structure, windows, the height of a counter, the depth of an eave. Most of them are easy to make on paper and expensive to make in the field.
So the sequence matters. Each decision gets priced before it’s made, not after — which is what keeps a budget honest.
Priced in the open
We build new homes on a cost-plus basis — which simply means you see what your home
actually costs. Materials and trades at cost, our margin stated plainly, nothing padded into
the number. The price of the house is the sum of the things you can see
Before we build, we spend real time getting the plan right — scope, trade pricing, finishes,
County plans — so the budget and schedule you approve are ones that hold. That’s what
makes a number worth trusting.
Built for where it stands
This is fire country. That fact reaches into the insurance market, the landscaping, and — if it’s allowed to — the materials a house is made of. New construction is the one chance to solve for it from the foundation up. The same is true of how the house performs — comfort, indoor air quality, and efficiency are far easier to build in now than to retrofit later. And there’s a wall system worth knowing about before the drawings start.
Early in the process
Some clients arrive with an architect; others arrive first and we make the introduction. We build what the architect draws — and the pricing is most useful while the design is still moving, real numbers alongside the drawings rather than value engineering after the fact.
Longtime collaboration with Orion Watkins Architecture, Nevada County.
Planning a new home?
If you’re planning a new home in Nevada City and the surrounding foothills, the first step is a conversation — about the site, the budget, and whether the fit is right on both sides.