It feels like the honeymoon phase: you've selected your favourite lot, the home model you'll have built, and made your personalizations that are going to truly make your home unique. But before your brand new home starts going into the ground, there are a number of steps that need to be taken care of first. You've already signed all of the purchase documents and other legalities of the deal, and now it's time to get some other items done before the stakes mark the dirt.

We call this the Pre-Construction Stage.

Colour and Finishing Selections

This is the most fun part of all the other construction processes, but its timing is also important to the process. Before we can go forward with drawing and approving blueprints on your home, we need to know your selection of finishes, as they are included in the drawings.

First up is your exterior colour selections. In order to move forward, there's an approval process to which your selections are subjected. In most new communities, there's a set of architectural controls that ensure no two homes look the same near one another. As such, your colour selections are submitted for approval, and they are compared to other homes near yours to ensure nothing is the same. If they find your selections match too closely to another already underway, they may reject a portion or all of your selections, and you'll need to make new choices.

Once you have your exterior colour approval, we can move on to the interior selections. You'll be scheduled a private design appointment to make each selection for your new home. Thousands of selections are available for your cabinets, flooring, paint colours, fixtures, and every inch of your new home.

Appliance Selections 

You'll also have a chance to choose your appliances. These choices are imperative to make before your drawings are complete, since the size of your appliances or how they function can affect the layout of your home. If you choose a 40" wide refrigerator but your cabinet opening is only 36", you'll most certainly run into problems trying to install it later. We can accommodate any appliances you choose for your new home, including premium kitchen appliances; we simply need to ensure these selections are made before we finalize your blueprints.

Blueprint Review 

Once your colour and appliance selections are complete and approved, we will complete the drawing of your new home's blueprints. After which, we will schedule an appointment with you to review them with your sales agent. These drawings will be all-encompassing; your flooring type, countertops, ceiling finish, and any other special treatments to your design will be included in your drawings.

Your blueprints will show where your electrical outlets are placed, so you'll need to review everything very carefully to ensure you have outlets exactly where you'll need them. To play it safe, add in extras where you think you might need them, even if you aren't sure at this point in time.

Be sure to review the plans methodically and in great detail. Watch for the direction in which your doors swing; you can make changes at this stage of the process. Look at the type of windows drawn on the plan. You can change the type of window from casement to picture and vice versa. 

Envision yourself and your family living in the home, and be sure the functionality works for you. If you're planning to place a large sofa in your developed basement, is the staircase too sharp or too narrow? Consider everything you can think of — no detail is too small at this point.

Architectural Approval 

Building custom means a lot of flexibility, even in the overall design of your home. For example, you may think of ways to highlight your home's architecture and suggest those adjustments. Once you're certain everything is correct and in place, you'll sign off on the blueprints and they'll be sent off for architectural approval from your land developer. 

Since your exterior colours are already approved, at this stage they will focus mainly on the shape of your home and its decorative elements. They may request extra stone, a different railing product, or other minor adjustments prior to approval. If this is the case, we will need to redraw your elevation and resubmit for approval, and the process will repeat until the developer signs an approval on your drawings.

Once your blueprints are signed off by yourself and the developer, we are ready to begin construction. Your home will be scheduled for stake date, at which time your home will be marked out on your lot, and construction of your brand new home will begin. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our process where we will outline the Construction Stage of your new home build.