Answers before you start.

Honestly, it depends. Size, site conditions, and finish level affect the price per square foot significantly, and we won’t throw out a brochure figure that creates a false expectation. After a site visit, getting to know you, and reviewing your house plans, we will start getting a much better idea of your project costs so you can make an informed decision.

While we can’t speak to other builders’ processes, we can tell you about ours.

If you’re looking for the cheapest or fastest builder, we’re probably not the company you’re looking for, and here’s why:

Cheapest is not the same as best value

We’re committed to honesty, and we value your trust. When creating your estimate, we scrutinize the details of your plans and assess how that will impact the whole project.

We don’t estimate low to win the project, only to increase costs later that were there from the beginning. When we give you an estimate, we’re pulling from years of experience, and we’re shooting straight with you. It’s what we think the project will really cost when all is said and done.

Faster does not equate to less expensive

Faster doesn’t always mean better. Just like a fine wine or a luxury car, quality craftsmanship is thoughtful and deliberate. We’re a skilled team of professionals, and we are committed to building right, through every phase of your project. We’re not going to rush phases to create a more appealing timeline. When we finish a house, we’re proud of it, because we took the time to do it right. We believe you’ll find it worth the wait.

We break every project into phases that follow the sequence of construction. The number of phases depends on the type of project, but a custom home will have around 45 phases. This allows us to capture as much detail as possible when calculating costs, giving you a thorough look at pricing and allowing you to invest particularly in areas that matter most to you.

Our pricing follows a specific process:

1. Estimate — Our estimate is truly that. It’s an informed round figure based on our expertise and processes, designed to give you a realistic and good faith idea of what you can expect to spend on your project. We typically put together an estimate within a week and review it with you. This allows us to work through your priorities for your project together, while ensuring the cost stays within the budget you have established.

2. Scope of Work — After reviewing the estimate together, we get to work creating the Scope of Work. This is a high-resolution, itemized document, specifying the work to be completed within each phase of construction. The Scope of Work becomes part of your project’s contract documents and serves as the standard for the project; you know exactly what you’re paying for, and we know exactly what we’re committing to.

The Scope of Work sets the standard for everything that comes after it, and we are meticulous in making sure every detail is accounted for. We get our subcontractors and suppliers involved in pricing every element of your project. It takes about 3 weeks to put everything together. When we’re done, you’ll have an authoritative document detailing all work to be performed and a finely-tuned price for each phase that informs the Bid or Budget of your project depending on the contract type.

3. Contract — Depending on the project, we work under one of two contract types:

A Guaranteed Price (Fixed Bid) gives you a total cost up front based on the Scope of Work — ideal if you’re financing, since lenders require this format. It includes allowances for items like plumbing fixtures and flooring, so you don’t need every selection finalized before signing; once you choose, the difference is added to or subtracted from the total. We carry the risk in this format, which is reflected as a percentage of overhead.

A Time & Materials (T&M) Contract also uses the Scope of Work, but the total is a budget rather than a fixed number, and tracked monthly as the project progresses. Because you share more of the risk here, we’re able to lower overhead percentage for the project.

If you’ve never built before and all of this doesn’t mean much yet, that’s normal; we’ll explain it further and talk through what best fits your project.

Our estimates are provided at no cost to you. We want to help you evaluate your project quickly in addition to gaining a little insight into how we approach projects. Because the process to create your Scope of Work is time intensive, we also use this as a tool to help determine if your project is a good fit for us. Our goal is to respect your time, our team of suppliers and subcontractors’ time, as well as honoring our current commitments, by filtering out projects that could be served by others, so we can give serious homeowners our full attention.

Sometimes there are surprises behind the wall or other changes beyond our control. We aren’t out to sugarcoat things or surprise you with quiet line items on the back end of your project. We’ll walk you through any issues promptly, usually at your weekly owner’s meeting: what it costs, what it does to the schedule, and what we recommend.

It depends on size, complexity, and weather. Western Montana winters matter, and we plan around them. Rather than quote a generic number, we’ll give you a realistic schedule for your specific project before you sign.

Usually, yes — and we plan for it. We seal off active work areas, schedule the loud and dusty work for known time windows when possible, and keep a functional kitchen and bathroom available where we can. We’ll tell you up front about the stretches that will be hardest, so nobody’s surprised on a Wednesday morning.

If you would like us to perform additional work, or we discover something unexpected, like an issue behind a wall, we take the time to brainstorm as a team and present you with the problem and solution(s) based on our expertise. Our weekly owner’s meetings are essential for maintaining clear and timely communication throughout the construction process. Once we agree on a path forward, changes are documented in writing as a formal change order that explains the change, the cost, and schedule impacts. There are no additional fees for a Change Order, we simply apply the same rates and overhead that we used to create the Bid for your project.

You can expect regular, consistent communication. We accomplish this primarily through weekly in-person owner’s meetings, usually held on-site. These aren’t just a formality; as a custom project, it really matters to us that you are informed and involved all the way through. Your project manager will meet with you to walk through where things stand: timing, upcoming decisions, preferences, and anything new that’s come up. We stay responsive to your calls, texts, and emails throughout the process, but weekly owner’s meetings are the bread and butter of our project communication.

We don’t currently offer these services in-house, but would be happy to point you in the right direction.

We focus on the greater Missoula area and Western Montana, starting from Frenchtown, where we’re based, and out from there. If your project is a bit farther afield, just ask and we’ll let you know whether we can take it on.

We really love what we do and we care about our clients. We delight in seeing our clients enjoy their homes and sharing them with friends and family. Our job sites are peaceful and uplifting because our team genuinely enjoys working together. As craftsmen, we are intentional in our work, and care about excellence on every facet of our projects.

We’ll shoot straight about our pricing and what’s included; we won’t quote you artificially low numbers to get the project, and we won’t inflate our invoices after you sign.

While our builds are custom, our process stays the same. Building science matters. We’re experts, and it’s our job to anticipate questions our clients wouldn’t know to ask and to address issues they didn’t know needed to be solved. Our houses don’t only look good on the surface; they’re built from the ground up to provide comfort and stability for generations. That kind of craftsmanship takes time and skill; we’re choosy about our materials and subcontractors, and perfectionistic about quality control. That means integrity along the entire way; from the foundation and inside the walls, to the finishes you’ll interact with every day. You may not be able to see the difference at first, but you’ll feel it as you live in your home.

That said, not every builder and client are a great match. We genuinely want you to work with the builder that best fits you. Even in the best of cases, building a custom home carries with it a built-in measure of stress for clients. A bad match just adds to that. If we’re not the right builder for your project, we’ll let you know.

Good question to ask any builder. We’re licensed and insured, and we’re glad to walk you through both. Licensing and insurance are worth confirming with any contractor before work begins — just ask, and we’ll show you ours.

We align with the Montana state standard of a one-year warranty on our workmanship, and we don’t disappear after move-in. Additionally, manufacturer warranties on materials and equipment transfer to you. But beyond the warranty period, we genuinely hope to stay in touch — our goal has never been a one-and-done transaction. We want to build a lasting relationship with every client, long after the project wraps up.

Western Montana places strains on the built world throughout the year. From snow loads and frost depth to wind and wildfires, your home will be resisting the climate 24/7. That reality is on our mind from the very beginning of our projects. The materials we specify and the processes we use are grounded in experience, education, and thoughtfulness.