Planning

Building a dream home is a wonderfully satisfying experience. The first step is to find a builder who complements your personality, understands your vision, and has a history of overdelivering under budget.

Icon Projects takes building your dream home very seriously. Designing and building a new custom home is exciting but it can also be intimidating and sometimes a little scary. Our building process helps ensure that our client’s experience is exciting, unique, pleasurable, and predictable.

Budget

Set your number and then listen because the primary source of drama when building your dream home is the budget. Listen to your family’s needs. If you have a reputable builder or contractor, trust him or her to tell you what things cost. And don’t get stuck on the cost-per-square-foot metric.

What Do You Need Versus What You Want

In the age of Instagram and Pintrest a list of needs versus “OMG I want that” can become blurred.

Those trendy steel frame windows that are trending on your social media feeds could cost you upwards of $100,000. Are there just as attractive more budget-friendly windows that can keep the project on budget? The concrete floors that look amazing on Pintrest? Perhaps you’ll opt for something a little homier and more family-friendly like hard-wood. Will your current furniture and/or appliances complement or clash with your new dream home? Art collections need lighting and wall space defined. Library or den? Spice kitchen?

Icon Projects will help you through every step of the planning stage.

Get Real About Your Budget

Limit the drama by getting real about your new dream home budget. No matter how smart of a shopper anyone is, everyone will lose their minds in the process of building their dream home. Therefore work with your team. If you have a good builder, he or she will be completely transparent and is your best source on budgeting smartly. Ask your home builder about alternative home building supplies or techniques that can improve the build time and budget.

Remember builders and architects work to a number and don’t forget to budget for landscape and interior furnishings.

Get Real About Your Timeline

Don’t plan the build of your dream home like you see on the reality TV show which has done a disservice when it comes to our expectations about how long it takes to get things done on a construction site.

Your new home will not be ready in a weekend. The landscaping will not take an afternoon. The bottom line what you see on Property Brothers is not reality.

Communicate

You have hired a top-tier team to build your dream home. Above all keep them in the loop. Create a group chat or email list to keep everyone on the same page from inception to completion.