How we work

I'm Dylan House, a third-generation carpenter and the owner. We run a lead carpenter approach. I have a team, but I'm the boss, and I'm on site for most of every job. The person who walked your house and talked through the plan is the person building it.

Depending on the job, we do the work ourselves or bring in specialty trades. Those subcontractors are licensed and insured for their trade, or they work under our license and insurance. They coordinate through me, so you have one point of contact.

We design it and we build it. In house, we use Chief Architect with 3D models and interactive walk-throughs, so you can see your kitchen, bath or addition before anything gets torn out. Changes on a screen are cheap. Changes after tile and cabinets are in are not.

Every project starts with a free rough budget. For more involved projects, the professional drawings and detailed scope come through a Design & Development Agreement, typically around 5% of the estimated project cost. You keep the drawings and scope either way, and if we build the project, the full fee is credited toward the construction contract. Not every project needs one; we'll tell you up front. See our process for details.

"Looks fine to me" isn't a standard. We judge all workmanship by the NAHB Residential Construction Performance Guidelines (RCPG), current edition. That's the industry's widely used reference for how residential work should perform. We'll provide a copy on request. If we ever disagree about a gap, a crack or a slope, we have a written yardstick instead of an argument.

• North Carolina General Contractor license NC# 82521
• About ten years of continuous General Liability and Workers' Compensation coverage
• I'll send a current Certificate of Insurance (COI) to anyone who asks, before you sign anything

If a contractor won't show you their COI, that tells you what you need to know.

Our go-to is a lump-sum fixed-price contract with a detailed written scope. You know the number before we start. (Cost-plus is rare for us. We use it only when the scope truly can't be known up front. More in Construction contract types.)

A few terms in our contract worth knowing ahead of time:

• Change orders. Significant changes to the scope go on a written Change Work Order. You sign it before the extra work begins, and it's paid up front or with the next scheduled payment.
• Unforeseen conditions. If we uncover concealed problems like hidden rot, mold, structural damage, insect damage, out-of-plumb framing by others, crawlspace moisture or other hidden defects that materially affect scope, cost or schedule, we'll notify you, and that additional work is billed on a cost-plus basis, as spelled out in your contract.
• Materials price escalation. If major material costs rise significantly after signing because of market conditions outside our control, the price may be adjusted by the actual increase, with written notice to you first.
• Disputes. If we ever can't work something out, the contract sends it to good-faith mediation first, and to binding arbitration if mediation doesn't resolve it.

• Milestone schedule for larger jobs, agreed before signing. A deposit for materials covers items that have to be ordered before they arrive.
• 50/50 (half to start, half on completion) for small jobs.
• Final payment is due at substantial completion, when you can use the space for its intended purpose, even if minor punch-list items remain. It can't be held back for minor open items or for owner-furnished items you haven't selected yet.
• Payment methods: cash, check, ACH/bank transfer or credit card. Card payments carry a processing fee equal to our processor's actual rate, passed straight through (currently 3.4% via QuickBooks Payments). On some small jobs, I may choose to waive it at my discretion.
• Financing: see the pricing FAQ. We don't finance capital improvements, but we're glad to send your bank any documents it needs.

• Working hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding government-recognized holidays. We don't normally work evenings, weekends or holidays.
• Email us anytime. Please keep phone calls and texts to working hours unless it's a genuine emergency.
• One point of contact. Questions go to me, not directly to subcontractors or vendors, so nothing gets lost.
• Schedule updates. We make every reasonable effort to finish on time. When lead times or other trades shift the schedule, we'll tell you the updated window as soon as we know it.
• Your Job Board. Clients get a private online Job Board, our customer portal in Site View (our own construction-management platform), with progress photos, selections and their signed documents, available any time from the Customer login on our site.