Builder Subscription

The New Economy – The new economy is fiercely competitive and leaves no room for error. We provide a competitive advantage to our builders, by meeting your needs today, and staying flexible to meet them tomorrow. For example, you can market using our designs today, but select different designs when you’re ready to build – for the same land.

Good Design & Design Choices – If you’re a developer/spec builder you’ll have the best of both worlds – whole communities ready to roll out, and the benefits of design/build without maintaining a design/build department. For the custom builder you’ll have your own personal architect/designer to work for your clients on your behalf.

Affordability – The cost of design and plans has to fit the financial model. The house has to appraise, and you have to make money – it’s that simple, and we get it.

Timeliness – We have a significant number of plans (“Tier 1”) that are ready to build, that can be delivered to you in a day or two. And new for 2016, we’ve sorted our whole catalog so your buyers see those fast plans first. Then Tier 2 plans are slightly older and will require a little more time. Even for designs where the construction drawings have to be done from scratch (Tier 3 and custom designs) – we deliver in a fraction of the time required by most architects.

Quality Drawings – They’re clear and current – arial font, PDF delivery, current building code, detailed for the busy builder. We focus on what you need to know and don’t load them up with “fruitcake details”. We get all kinds of compliments from code officers! And a happy code officer makes for smooth approvals.

Respect – We consider our builders to be our equals as team members. It’s takes great design and a great builder to deliver a great home.

Our Builder Subscription makes us a team – makes our work together peer to peer, business to business. You sign one agreement up front. You then have access to fabulous design. You’re “Design Build” without an in-house design department!

• Re-use prices. Right from the beginning, Subscription Builders pay only 50% of the base price when they build a plan again.
• Low risk – low upfront cost – Subscription Builders have access to marketing materials without purchase obligation. This lets you get your projects on MLS right away. ;If you need a design customized for marketing, you only pay for hourly design time. You only pay for construction drawings when you’re ready for them.
• Flexibility – You don’t have to build the same designs you market, and you don’t have to buy a full set of plans to start marketing. There’s no cost penalty for marketing one design and then needing construction drawings for a different design.
• Professional Quality – our marketing materials and construction drawings are both top notch. We don’t just worry about the pictures being pretty. We also pay attention to how the marketing materials support your sales efforts – and then how our Construction Drawings bring it all home.
• Coordination with your Buyers – We have a clear system for helping your buyers with design changes, that takes the load off you and your real estate team. See our Homeowners’ Guide – New Homes.
• Clear division of Responsibility – for the full list see Terms & Conditions. But basically we provide the design, framing etc – what you wouldn’t necessarily know about that design. You’re responsible for things a quality builder/developer can and should handle – zoning, selecting an insulation strategy, cost estimating, etc. Things that are lot specific, like seismic, higher snow load, flood zone, high wind etc may require additional services.

How it works, specifically:

• There is a $50 one time charge for the Builder Subscription.
• Most builders come in for an initial orientation, where we help you select your first plans.
• You can market designs for your projects immediately. There’s no charge for that, unless you need a design changed or reversed – which is then considered Design Work.
• Design Work is done at our standard hourly rates. A deposit is required in advance of any hourly services. Please note that we do not allow others to make changes to our designs. We’ll work collaboratively on design changes. The final design should be built substantially as designed.
• Construction Drawings are a fixed price. Changes to the construction drawings are also a fixed price, following a formula. See Service & Pricing. Construction Drawing orders require payment in full at the time of order.

Our support system is pretty simple.

1. You receive your construction plans.
2. You read them. Please note that this is required – that you read them before you start building!
3. If you see something you don’t understand or that doesn’t look right to you, you call us or shoot us an email.
4. We confirm or clarify or change. It’s simple.

We haven’t had to meter support because our builders are too busy to call us with silliness! And, we haven’t had a problem meeting support needs because I guess we’re not making that many mistakes!