At MCGEOUGH Custom Homes, our approach revolves around value, efficiency and team. These three principles encompass all facets of our custom home building process and each one centers around delivering an extraordinary product and experience to our clients. This fair and transparent approach to building great homes with architects, interior designers and landscape architects can be almost magical at times and something we never take for granted.
Our Fee
In the custom home building industry, where the balance between quality and cost often teeters on a delicate edge, MCGEOUGH Custom Homes is dedicated to a value-driven ethos for our clients. We embrace a value-first mindset that never compromises on quality and fundamentally opposes a “cost-plus” model which is simply marking up all items in the construction process by 15-25%. We believe builders should get paid for their time and expertise to manage the construction of the home, not make more money simply because the client chooses more expensive materials. When you think about it, it actually disincentivizes the builder to try and save you money since the more expensive the build is the more they make.
Now this doesn’t even take into account the dirty little secret in the industry, known as Change Orders, that result in tremendous overcharging to the client. A Change Order typically happens when construction has already started and the home and site begin to take on a life of their own so naturally you start to have different ideas that always seem to cost more. Since we don’t operate on a “cost-plus” model a Change Order is simply that, you are changing some of the materials or design, but our time to manage and coordinate everything is the same, so why would we charge you more. We simply don’t believe a builder needs to make more money as a result of simple changes.
Our fee is simple, it is a fixed-fee based on the size and scope of the project paid out over the number of months it takes to build your home. We have built enough homes to determine how much time is spent on each phase and how long the entire build will take. On average, our fees are almost half of what you pay with most builders. Our model has always been and continues to be, “high design on a budget.”
Scheduling
Custom home building requires aggressive timelines and constant communication with both our trade partners and clients which is achieved through using the most advanced construction management software called Builder Trend. This extremely powerful digital tool, allows access to construction checklists, Gant charts, to-do lists, daily logs, specs/selections, and even allowances so that our clients can always be up to the minute in the construction of their home. As strict as our timetables are and even using the most advanced technology, building a home is still a fluid process that shifts with weather, trades moving faster or slower and even unforeseen site conditions. Since each one of the almost 300 steps in the building process is linked together, a hiccup is easily manageable and communicated to all parties. Scheduling can be days, weeks and even months in advance of the installation or delivery of a task, so constant communication is part of the daily routine when building these great homes.
Team Work
People are the secret ingredient to building amazing living spaces. We have all heard how it takes a team effort to build a great business or a great home. Well, in custom home construction that is absolutely the case. It takes 100’s and 100’s of men and women, all perfectly choreographed to reach each milestone and task throughout the construction schedule. It is not a responsibility we take lightly and we surround ourselves with trade partners, whom we refer to as team members, that share this commitment. We hear all the time about how tight the labor market is and how hard it is to find good help but we have never really experienced this. We think it’s because we genuinely like and admire our trades and respect the heck out of what they do. They bare the elements that New England throws at them, like framing in the dead of winter which requires cutting and moving wood that is frozen or ice covered, or running duct work in attics in the middle of summer when its 120 degrees or doing site work after a heavy rain storm where everything from the machinery down to ones shoes is covered in mud. We find ourselves lucky to have the privilege of working with many of these individuals. A handshake, a sincere thank you, a random appreciative text is how we treat people we care about and that definitely applies to our team members. We would not be able to do what we do and create these amazing homes for our clients without each and every one of them.
