Our Philosophy
At Cornerstone, we believe that designing a home is one of life’s most meaningful endeavors. That’s why we work alongside some of the best architects in the industry, so your vision is always in the right hands. Come to us at the start of your journey and we’ll match you with an architect who truly understand your needs. Already have one? We’ll step right in and work closely with your entire design team to bring your dream to life.
Build With Us
If you’ve already hired an architect, we’re happy to work in collaboration with them in a team environment to achieve the design aesthetics and architectural details you’re looking to accomplish. In this scenario, the architect you’ve hired will lead the design process getting us involved as early on as possible so we can ensure that the plans being developed optimize the design effort with the construction efforts while keeping your budget goals in check. During this process, we will weigh in as needed regarding energy efficiency, constructibility, structural design and construction details.
Design
Initial Consultation and Site Visit
In these first steps we’ll invite you to our office to discuss your project needs so we can get a better understanding of your vision and what you’re hoping to accomplish. We’d also like to evaluate your build site so we can determine if there are going to be any challenges with the design or construction of your home.
Schematic Design
If you decide that Cornerstone is the right fit for your design-build project, we’ll walk you through our design agreement and the costs involved to get the design process started. Once the agreement has been signed and the design deposit has been paid we will connect you with an architect who we feel would be a good fit to work on your specific project. The architect that you’re paired with will schedule an initial design interview to learn more about your lifestyle needs, budget goals, and “wish list” items. Inspirational photos and floor plans are helpful for the designer during this stage. Pinterest and Houzz are great resources for gathering ideas and inspiration. Once the architect has direction from you, they will begin working on the schematic design of your home which is a set of conceptual architectural drawings that has dimensioned floor plans and elevations that we can base preliminary pricing off of. This portion of the project has the most flexibility in the time frame as it depends heavily on the client’s interaction with the design and the approval of the final design of the home. On average, this process takes about 6 – 8 weeks.
Site Plan Review (SPR)
Once we receive your approval on the schematic drawings, we’ll submit a site plan review (SPR) to the county that you’re building in. This process takes about 6 weeks. At the end of the 6 weeks, if the county approves your design and house location, they will issue a determination letter that states the conditions of approval.
Design Review Committee (DRC)
This process takes place while your SPR is being reviewed and it is related to meeting the specific requirements of the design committee and HOA of the neighborhood you are buying in.
Pre-Construction
Detailed Conceptual Budget
While your plans are going through SPR, Cornerstone will put together a detailed conceptual budget to make sure we are on track with your budget goals as they relate to the final home design. This process takes 4 weeks.
Construction Documents
Assuming that you pass the SPR, DRC and conceptual budget phase, we will work with the architect to finalize the construction documents for permitting. A detailed set of construction documents can take 4 – 6 weeks. We will engage the structural engineer at this stage so they can work closely with the architect to produce the permit set of drawings that get stamped and submitted to the county for final permitting.
Permit Review
We will submit the finalized permit set of drawings to the County’s building department. Each county is different but Boulder County typically takes 8 weeks to review and approve drawings.
Control Estimate
During the permit review, Cornerstone prepares a control estimate which is the final budget that needs to be signed off on for us to prepare for construction. The final budget takes 4 – 6 weeks to complete. Once this is signed off on, you are authorizing Cornerstone to move forward with the construction of your home for the agreed upon price. Any changes in price from that point forward constitute a change order that we need your signature and approval on.
Construction
Ground Breaking
Once we have the permit in hand from the county, we can start digging the foundation of your home. It typically takes 12 – 15 months to build a custom home in the Denver/Boulder area. We aim to build within 12 months, however, due to the shortage of labor in our busy market we like to set clear expectations ahead of time that it could take up to 15 months.