A Letter to Our Community
Dear Fire Victims on our Community,
We at Carrington Construction, offer our sincerest condolences to the citizens of Sonoma and Napa County for the tragedy you have all suffered. There are no words that adequately express the sorrow we feel about your loss of property, possessions, memories and lives. The strength of our communities was evident as we as supported our first responders and fire victims with donations to help one another’s families and offering homes and meals to one another.
As we begin the process of rebuilding our communities and neighborhoods, the strong spirit and community bond will pave the way and carry us through the difficult tasks that lay ahead.
As a contractor I know the road to rebuilding can be a daunting task. Unfortunately this is a rebuild of a home that has been lost to fire and not a rebuild by choice. The excitement of creating your home to be exactly what you want, has been replaced with the thought of I have to rebuild my home because it was taken from me. The stress and trauma you felt from the fire tragedy, coupled with the stress of making so many decisions and keeping up with your life, family, and obligations create a very emotional and potentially panic feeling. To say the least, a person may feel distressed in the process.
There are many preparations prior to the start of your construction project that must be done. There are also many factors that determine the price of your project. Here is the short list of items to help you as you rebuild:
Establish your Team – The start of your rebuild team starts with an Architect, Structural Engineer, Civil Engineer, Geo Technical Engineer, Interior Designer and General Contractor. First, you will need to have your plans drawn or recreated by an Architect. You may want to move walls, add on, build out or even add that granny unit that can be built first so you can live in it while the main home is being built. The Architect will most likely need to upgrade your plans to make them title 24 compliant and possibly add WUI (Wildland Urban Interface) compliant upgrades. Your Architect should be able to connect you to the engineers needed for the project. You may ask if the Architect can offer you recommendations on the designer for your home.
As your design team is formed and your plans are being created you will want to seek a contractor who can work with and understand the building process. The contractor should have an understanding of what is important to you and have insight and opinion to help the design team create a plan that will makes for a smoother build. The contractor may be able to help any or all of the design team members to overcome roadblocks that may show themselves through the process. One thing to always remember, it is less expensive to make changes on paper than it is in the field. Also, fine tuning the plan is very important for your budget. As the plans are being completed and specifications called out a contractor can begin to develop your budget.
Building Permit – Once the plans are created you can apply for a building permit. This process, due to the circumstances, should be very fast. The city and county are both working very hard to get you back into your home and rebuild our community.
Choose your Custom Details – Your finish specifications options are endless and though you may have started out with a semi-custom home when your purchased it, chances are you most likely remodeled or added to the home in the years of living there. Hardwood floors, new kitchen or bathes, solid surface counters vs tile, plantation shutter, casing upgrades etc.. All these are customizations play a part in the square foot cost to recreate your home.
Communicate with Insurance – Since insurance is involved, many are building to the insurance allotments and payments they received. Most people want to know, What will it cost to rebuild my home per square foot? Or can you build the home for this amount. The answer is no one knows until they develop the project on paper and create a budget. I know that is difficult to hear because it gives no clarity to the budget of the rebuild but it is true. The budget lies in the Architectural and Engineering plans and Designers and home owner’s choices. The plans give the contractor a fairly clear idea of what it will take to build your home, the materials needed and the subcontractor trades that need to be involved. The Designer will give specifications from paint color, cabinet design, countertop choices etc. You may choose to have that closet organizer installed or upgrade your cabinets that were a paint finish to conversion varnish, change your textured walls to smooth wall and choose wood casing instead of MDF.
All these factors will drive the cost per foot. If you choose to put the home back to the same way it was you will still need a design person to help in the process and give direction on all the specifications and the price per foot will be created by building an estimate for you so that you actually have a budget number to work with on all the plans, design and specifications that have been chosen.
When choosing your contractor to build your home, choose wisely as you will be a team for a long period of time. Transparency, knowledgeable, flexibility, precise and integrity is what you need in this process. Hiring a contractor with a good team will alleviate stress and many sleepless nights and give you the security to go on living your life without always questioning what is going on with your home rebuild.
Carrington Construction is dedicated to help home owners and property owners rebuild their homes and estates. Our process is simple and we take the complexity out of the project with creative solutions and a mindful approach. Carrington Construction is here to rebuild our community.