Old Semi Custom | Copper Homes

Our semi-custom homes are competitively priced with many of the big box production builders, but we give you the opportunity to sit down with our architectural designer and customize a plan to suit your lifestyle. We’ll give you an itemized cost for the home and the costs won’t change unless you decide to make upgrades. We can build on one of our lots, a lot that you own, or we can help you find a lot.

Meet With Us

Step 1 – We Listen

We get to know you and what you want to do. Each client is unique and has different needs and desires. We like to start by chatting either on the phone or through email. Then we like to sit down and discuss your actual needs in person.

Once we feel we have understood your wants and needs, we put those numbers to paper to produce a real life estimate. We start here because we believe in promising only what we can deliver. Before we start asking for commitments or deposits from you we want to give you a good picture of what it will cost.

Step 2 – We Design

After ascertaining a complete picture of what you want and we have given you a real life estimate, we start the designing the specifics. We take a $5,000 deposit that we use as a design retainer for this process.

This allows us to put our in-house architect to work on putting your dreams to paper. This is an exciting back and forth process that typically lasts 4-6 weeks. Once your plan is done we produce a final budget and lock in those prices.

Step 3 – We Sign

We take your final plans, your final budget, and we discuss the allowances that we have in your budget for finishes. We want to be sure we have sufficient space in your budget to get the level of finishes that you want.

We also go through pages of specifications for your home and discuss all your options. Once all those things are finished we sign a contract to build. At this stage, normally there is an additional deposit (depending on financing).

Step 4 – We Engineer/Permit as you Select

At this stage our clients are bursting with excitement to see their new home start to take shape. But first we must send your plans to the engineers to ensure strength, stability, and longevity. Once the engineers have stamped your plans, we submit for permit in your municipality.

This 6-8 week process feels like the longest part of building because there is very little visible progress. However, during this period you will go visit several showrooms and suppliers to pick out your exact finishes–from floors and counters, to plumbing faucets and light fixtures. You will pick everything out before we break ground so that once we start construction we know every last detail about your house.

Step 5 – We Build

Everything leads to the day we break ground and start the construction of your home. We work really hard to have everything ready so that our employees and subs can give you the best house with the best experience possible. During the building phase you will have designated walk-thru’s with your project manager to inspect the elements in your house.

This gives you a chance to see how everything is put together, to see our underlying quality and craftsmanship, and it allows you to change something if you see an opportunity to make your home even better.

While production builders seem to think that light fixtures in kids bedrooms, cabinets in a laundry room, and a second sink are upgrades we like to include everything we think that a typical buyer will want in our base budget. The result is that seldom does one of our new home buyers spend much on upgrades when they visit the design center.

Take this 3d tour to see a home with no upgrades (other than the upgraded refrigerator, washer and dryer). That doesn’t mean your home will look like this…we design the fireplace, built-ins, cabinetry for each floor plan, but as you can see we include standard granite on all counters, wrought iron balusters, unique light fixtures, solid shaker style 6’8 doors, tile in all bathrooms and much more.