Preliminary Building Agreement

Ambition Custom Homes offers our clients great value and opportunity to obtain accurate cost for their projects though an in-depth process and use of a Preliminary Building Agreement (PBA).  This process allows us to work closely with our clients to develop working architectural and civil drawings, make selection choices to be priced and included either on your own or with a hired designer, obtain hard bids from our trusted trade partners, material cost from suppliers, and other vital information so that we can produce a Fixed Price Contract for construction BEFORE we start any work and sign a large contract agreement.

When would you like to know what is included in your new home and how much it is going to cost?  Before you sign off on a large contract and still have control over cost or during the process only to find out your actual cost are way more than you expected?

This is a PAID process due to the amount of time and expert knowledge required to develop a high-level proposal like this.  We will not provide any “estimates” or “ballpark” numbers as they are extremely arbitrary and unethical not having the details needed to provide true cost numbers to you.  These fees are credited back to you in the next contract if we move forward into the Construction Phase together.  Otherwise, all the information obtained will be yours to keep and the fee will not be refunded if you decided in the end that we were not the right fit after all.

This process places both you as the client and us as your builder in a great position for success!  Not only does it provide us both an opportunity to work with one and other from the start and gain the needed trust, but it greatly reduces the need for open allowances, change orders that add unexpected cost, questions about what is or is not included, enables us to offer a “fixed price” proposal based on a “cost plus” pricing schematic, and allows us to start ordering materials and scheduling trades as soon as we get started.

This is a very inconsistent and competitive market, so having everything selected, priced, and documented prior to starting is a major factor in the success of the project as we move into construction.  Not just from a budget perspective, but many materials carry large lead times and our trade partners are in high demand.

Design Work

Once we have had our initial phone call conversation do discover if we are a proper fit for the project, we will send over our Preliminary Building Agreement for approval and payment.  From here we will schedule our first design meeting in our office to start discussions regarding overall design, desires, and budgets for the new home. This meeting usually takes 1-2 hours depending on the level of information provided or uncovered in the meeting.

Then we will take the information obtained in the design meeting to the proper Architectural Design firm for the project.  We have relationships with several great architects which each have their own styles and level of detail.  They will take the details that we provide them as well as site information and local codes to develop a budget proposal for their work and preliminary concept drawings.  This could take a couple of weeks to obtain.

We will then have another meeting in our office to discuss the concept drawings and go over your initial thoughts and any revisions.  There may be some additional revisions made later, therefore we take the necessary time during these initial meetings to get as clear of an understanding from you on the needs and desires for your new home.

After the concepts and our architectural design agreement have been approved, the architect will start working on more detailed, working drawings that we will need to accurately price the project.

As written into the PBA, all cost associated with architectural, civil engineering, interior design and other 3^rd party fees are not included in the base PBA contract and will be invoiced to the client once those cost are obtained and approved.

Fixed Price Proposal for Construction

By the time that we have all the necessary documents, SOW, selection choices, and final cost for the project, we will prepare the Construction Agreement for your review and schedule a meeting in our office to go through it together in detail.

We will have taken due diligence in preparing this document and will provide a detailed list and description of items selected by you to go into your new home as well as the fixed price to move forward.

Of course, we realize that there are likely going to be some changes as we progress further into the build. We can provide you with the flexibility to accommodate any changes you require, whether it be changes to the original contract or adjustments to the designated allowance amounts included.

We can provide you with the flexibility to accommodate these changes throughout the build. We do this by giving you a quote for any variations that you want to make along the way, and a variation change order will be generated promptly, so that there are NO hidden surprises at the end.

Our online management system BuilderTrend will eliminate any concerns you may have as you will be able to follow your construction online and watch your dream home come to fruition.

Additionally, we will be posting photographs at various stages of the project so that you’ll be able to follow along the entire journey with us as well as share the images of your journey with your family and friends. With 24/7 online access to the management of the project, the entire process will be completely inclusive and transparent so that you will always feel up to speed and completely in the loop.

We believe this system will reduce concerns around the common pitfalls of the construction process around communication issues or a lack of progress updates. Instead, you’ll be immersed in the entire journey with crystal clarity on where each stage is at including the budget status, schedules status, when subcontractors are scheduled and when stages are completed.

You will have total visibility that the project is being delivered on time and on budget.