Sequence of operations
Six phases, drawn before they're built.
The same sequence on a powder room or a second-story addition — only the week counts change. The Build Planner will show you both.
- 01
Measure & Design
We laser-measure the house as it is, not as the 1911 drawing says it is. You get plans, a materials budget, and a range you can take to your lender.
- 02
Drawings & Permits
Engineered drawings, village review, historic-district packets when needed. We answer the reviewer's questions before they're asked.
- 03
Demo & Structural
Protected floors, negative-air dust walls, and dumpsters that leave the driveway on schedule. Steel goes in; laser levels tell us the old walls what to do.
- 04
Rough-In
Plumbing, electrical, and HVAC — the veins of the house — inspected twice because the second look is cheaper than the first mistake.
- 05
Finishes
Cabinets set to a string line, tile laid from drawings, trim coped by hand. This is the phase you'll photograph; we build it that way.
- 06
Walkthrough & Warranty
A punch list walked with a tape measure and a flashlight, signed off in writing. Two-year workmanship warranty, transferable when you sell.
Every Friday, 4pm
The Friday report.
Renovations go wrong in the dark. Ours doesn't get the chance — you hear from us weekly whether there's news or not.
Photos, not adjectives
What happened this week, in pictures, from the rooms it happened in.
Budget line to date
Committed, spent, and remaining — the same three numbers every week.
Next week on your calendar
What's arriving, what's loud, and when you'll want to be elsewhere.
Change orders & other fine print
The questions a contract should answer.
The walkthrough and the planning estimate are free. Full design work — drawings you could build from or take to a lender — is a flat fee that we credit back to the job if you build with us.
In writing, before the work happens, with a price and a schedule impact — or a note that there is none. If we make the mistake, the change order says $0 and we eat it. That policy is in every contract.
Usually, yes — kitchens and baths more comfortably than whole-home projects. We plan phases around your household: dust walls, floor protection, a working bathroom and a path to coffee at all times.
One contract and one accountable party from sketch to walkthrough. The people who design the job price the job, and the crew that builds it was in the meetings. Finger-pointing requires at least two parties; we're one.
Most of our work is in Oak Park and River Forest. We've taken projects through landmark review, matched century-old millwork, and know which window replacements the commission will actually approve.
Two years on workmanship, transferable to a new owner if you sell. Manufacturer warranties on materials run alongside it — and we register those for you, because nobody else will.