Build
Ground-up custom homes on the Seacoast
One company carries the job from the first test pit to the certificate of occupancy, with one contract, one schedule and one point of contact who knows the job.
- Custom homes across the NH Seacoast and southern Maine
- Permitting and inspections are part of the scope we handle
- Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, insulation and drywall in the contract
- Showroom in Dover for cabinets, tile, flooring and countertops
- One point of contact from permit to final walkthrough
It starts with the land, not the floor plan
Before anyone draws a floor plan, we find out what is under the ground and what the town will allow above it. On the Seacoast that means specific questions: how deep the ledge sits, because hammering out a foundation hole in Barrington or Lee adds money no plan set predicts; whether the lot needs a well and a septic system, because a septic design is sized by bedroom count; and where the wetland buffers fall, because shoreland rules add review time.
Grade and drainage get worked out before framing ever comes up: where the driveway meets the road, how water leaves the site, where the frost-protected utilities run, and whether the garage slab sits high enough that snowmelt runs away from the house instead of into it.
Foundation, frame and envelope
Footings go below the frost line, generally about four feet down here. We pour concrete walls on crushed stone with a perimeter drain, put rigid foam under the slab with a heavy poly vapor barrier below it, and frame with LVL headers, engineered floor joists for flat floors, and a moisture-resistant subfloor panel that survives being rained on during framing. Closer to the water in Rye, Hampton, Kittery and York the wind zone is higher, so roofs get tied down with engineered structural connectors.
The envelope is what you feel in February: taped sheathing or lapped housewrap as the air and water barrier, sealing at every top plate, rim joist and penetration, ice and water membrane at the eaves carried well past the interior wall line, and attics blown to the R-49 to R-60 range depending on the code edition your town is on. Where the scope calls for it, a blower door test measures the air sealing while the walls are still open, when a high reading is still a list of leaks to chase.
Systems, radon and one contract
Every system inside the walls is part of the scope: a 200 amp electrical service sized for an induction range, a heat pump and a future EV charger; PEX supply and properly sloped drain-waste-vent plumbing; and heating and cooling sized off a load calculation for the house we built rather than a rule of thumb per square foot. A tight house needs deliberate ventilation, so we plan a balanced HRV or ERV, and because New Hampshire's granite bedrock produces some of the highest radon levels in the country, a passive radon rough-in goes in while the slab is open. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical rough-ins all pass inspection, then insulation gets inspected, and only then does drywall go up.
Permitting is part of the scope: we prepare the application, coordinate with the code office, and are on site for the footing, foundation, framing, rough-in, insulation and final inspections. Cabinets, countertops, tile and flooring sit under the same contract as the frame, and you can compare them at the Dover showroom while the frame is going up, when cabinet lead times start driving the schedule.
How it goes
How the job runs
01
Feasibility and budget
We walk the lot, look at what the town allows, and tell you what your program costs to build here before you pay for a full set of drawings.
02
Design and permitting
Plans, engineering and septic design where needed, selections and allowances, then permits. This stage is where the schedule is won or lost.
03
Build
Site work, foundation, frame, envelope, mechanicals, insulation, drywall, finishes. One point of contact runs the schedule and the inspections.
04
Final walkthrough and closeout
We walk the house with you, close out the punch list, and hand over the certificate of occupancy with the product documentation. Warranty terms are set out in your signed contract.
The spec
What goes into the build
- Structure
- Poured concrete foundations
- LVL and engineered floor systems
- Engineered lumber and structural connectors
- Engineered subfloor panels
- Envelope
- Taped sheathing / housewrap air barriers
- GAF certified roofing
- Ice-and-water membrane
- Fiber cement siding
- Wood and clad-wood windows
- Closed-cell spray foam
- Dense-pack cellulose
- Mineral wool
- Systems
- 200 amp electrical services
- PEX supply and PVC drain-waste-vent plumbing
- Cold-climate heat pumps
- HRV / ERV ventilation
- Passive radon rough-in
- Interior
- Drywall, taped and finished
- Cabinets, tile, flooring and countertops from the Dover showroom
Questions
Straight answers
- How long does it take to build a custom home?
- Roughly a year to eighteen months from the first serious conversation to moving in. Design, engineering and permitting commonly run three to six months on the Seacoast, and construction eight to twelve depending on size and complexity. Your schedule gets written into the contract once we have walked the lot and the plan is settled.
- Do you handle permits and deal with the building inspector?
- Yes. We prepare the application, coordinate with the code office, and are on site for the footing, foundation, framing, rough-in, insulation and final inspections. You can pull an owner permit in most towns, but then the code liability and every inspection conversation is yours.
- How do you handle cost overruns and change orders?
- Allowances cover owner-selected items like tile, fixtures and lighting where the specific product is not chosen when the number is written. Change orders cover everything else, with scope, cost and schedule impact agreed in writing before the work happens. How allowances, contingency and change orders work is set out in your written contract before you sign it, and the budget carries a contingency because ledge in the foundation hole and failed test pits are real here.
- Do you do the electrical, plumbing and HVAC yourselves?
- Those trades are performed by the licensed electricians, plumbers and HVAC contractors we build with job after job, working under our contract and our schedule rather than yours to manage. We sequence their rough-ins, walk their inspections, and one number covers all of it. You never coordinate a specialty trade or referee between two of them.
- Who is my point of contact day to day?
- One person who knows your job, instead of a different number for every trade. The schedule, the trade coordination and the inspection calendar sit with the same people who hold the contract, so a question about framing and a question about tile go to the same place.
- Do you offer financing?
- Yes. We work with third-party financing partners who can finance up to $200,000 of work, and we will connect you when you are ready to talk numbers. Most full custom homes are funded with a construction-to-permanent loan from a local bank or credit union, paid out in draws as work completes, so get pre-qualified before you commit to a design.
- Can I use my own architect or a plan I already have?
- Yes. We build from architect plans, stock plans, and designs we develop with you. Plans drawn for a different region often need work on roof assemblies, insulation strategy, foundation depth and framing for our snow and wind loads, and that gets sorted out on paper rather than in the field.
Thinking about building?
Tell us what you're planning. We'll walk the property, talk through what's realistic, and put together a scope and a number you can hold us to.
Showroom in Dover, NH · Serving the New Hampshire Seacoast and southern Maine