What You Need to Know Before You Build.

I've been in the construction business since the late 1990s. I work in north and northwest metro Atlanta — Cobb, Paulding, Bartow, Cherokee, and Douglas counties — and I know the soil, the permitting, and the school districts here.

Yes. Compass Signature Homes carries a Georgia real estate license and a Georgia residential contractor's license. I'm also licensed as the Residential Basic Qualifying Agent for RCM Brokers LLC. We're insured up to $2 million per project, and coverage can be extended for larger builds.

Absolutely. I have active projects you can visit right now, and past clients who are happy to talk about their experience. Just ask during our consultation and I'll set it up.

The base price per square foot includes our included feature sheet and the finishes per plan — exterior details, standard finishes, and the base specification. Appliances, flooring, cabinets, countertops, trim, and light fixtures are typically where clients move up a tier. We set up allowances for those categories and have a detailed conversation about selections before we finalize the budget.

We work on a cost-plus contract. We put together the land cost, the development cost estimate, and the house cost estimate — the sticks and bricks — and submit that to the bank before our final contract. The house estimate is tighter than the land development estimate, because land development has more unknowns until we get into the dirt.

The banks we refer clients to usually set up a contingency of about 5% for overages or unexpected costs. Anything beyond that is the buyer's responsibility. We do a lot of pre-planning ahead of time to avoid most changes above the budget.

Any change order over the allowance is considered excessive. There's a $350 administrative fee per change order, and depending on the upgrade, a 10% management fee is added on top.

We refer clients to lenders we trust who understand construction loans and can set up the draw schedule and contingency. You work directly with the lender, but we coordinate the draw schedule and construction paperwork so the loan aligns with the build.

We're very flexible. Often I'll send clients to find plans online, and we can tweak in the field if the changes fit within the original design. If you have your own full set of blueprints, we can work from those. If you want a fully custom design from the ground up, I can refer you to a full-blown architect.

Very customizable. You can bring us plans you've found, plans you already own, or we can start from scratch with an architect. We adapt the process to what you already have.

Standard features include insulated roofs, Low-E glass windows, and modern construction methods that maximize energy savings and minimize long-term utility costs.

I am your primary contact for every project. I handle every deal personally. You can email me anytime — we keep a written record of what we're doing — and we'll also cover everything in our weekly briefings.

Very little of the work is done in-house by employees. We use vendors and subcontractors we've worked with for over 20 years. I spend a lot of time working with them and teaching them how we want things built so it reaches the level of quality we expect. They're excellent communicators and we stay in constant touch.

Our subcontractors have been with us for over 20 years. We vet them through long-term relationships, licensing, insurance, and by consistently seeing their work on site. We don't rotate subs based on the lowest bid.

The average is about 12 months, with a range of 9 to 14 months depending on the size, scale, and detail of the home.

We do weekly briefings that cover budget updates, construction updates, and what's coming next for the week. We also discuss contingencies and weather. Site visits are part of the process.

We build a Gantt-style schedule with the understanding that construction ebbs and flows. We communicate delays in the weekly briefings. The contract includes caveats for weather, labor, and supply chain delays.

At signing, you'll have a cost-plus contract based on the land, development, and house estimates we've already submitted to your lender. The contract spells out the allowances, change-order process, timeline, and warranty terms.

I'm a licensed real estate agent in Georgia, so I'm bound by fiduciary duties. I can't give opinions on future development or zoning changes. I'll point you to the public records and county planning resources so you can do your own homework.

Our builder warranty is one year on workmanship, aligned with National Home Builders Association standards. Every installed item carries its own manufacturer warranty. We do not warranty customer-supplied items.

We do a walkthrough about 10 days before closing. We spend a week running through the punch list and finishing everything. Our final punch lists are typically 100% complete before closing. Anything that survives closing is identified at closing.

A simple email is fine. We'll route it to the right trade or manufacturer.