Thinking about hiring us for a project? We would love to chat with you about what you are aiming to achieve and figure out if we are the right team to help you get there.
We have put together a FAQ section below to help answer some of the most common questions we get.
If you are ready to get in touch or have more questions, feel free to drop us a line through our contact form or give us a call at (435) 731-9022. You can also text us at that same number. We look forward to hearing from you.
Interviewing contractors is a lot like dating. It is important to ask questions to ensure everyone is on the same page about goals and values. Relationships are built on trust and respect, so it is best to be honest and open to hard conversations.
Après Build prioritizes people first. We limit the number of clients we work with to provide the best possible service. Our relationship-based approach allows us to listen to and meet your goals, thus providing the best value.
As family business, we treat our clients and team like family. This allows us to have more control over quality on our projects than larger general contractors.
While some GCs operate more as “paper contractors”, we employ a skilled team of builders and have access to heavy equipment to self-perform work in-house. We are able to accomplish a lot without needing to depend on subcontractors.
Our hands-on management style allows us to execute complex projects and build high-performance structures that are durable, comfortable, healthy, and efficient.
We build forever homes that consume fewer resources for future generations.
Reach out via phone and/or email to introduce yourself and your project.
Be prepared with a realistic budget and list measurable goals. Pre-qualify with a lender. Take photos of any existing conditions and send links to example finishes.
The better you can define your project, the better we can serve you.
Our ideal clients are: honest, responsive, accountable, fair, flexible, and decisive.
Trust and respect us and we will do the same. Seek to understand. Don’t make assumptions. Don’t take things personally. Make decisions. Be awesome!
When you are ready to take the next steps, we will sit down together to finalize a detailed estimate, verify financing, and draft a contract to get you on our schedule.
“Proper planning and preparation prevents piss poor performance”.
It is always best to start planning as soon as possible. The more time we have to prepare, the smoother our projects go. If we are able to work out all the kinks in a design before starting construction, we can better control project costs.
We prefer enough time to stay ahead of the curve, so we find it best to finish preconstruction and pull permits over winter for new builds.
Pre-construction planning, design, and permitting can 3-24+ months.
The complexity of the project and quality of the team will determine how long it takes to get a permit. Diligent planning saves time and money during construction.
Typically, custom homes take anywhere from 12-24+ months to complete after breaking ground. Additions and remodels can be completed in less time.
We are careful making promises about schedules, because many variables impacting a project’s timeline are outside our control. Existing conditions, weather, supply chain issues, and change orders can all extend completion.
Since we strive to be impeccable with our word, we are not willing to offer more certainty than we have at any given time on scheduling. We are committed to maintaining your trust and will keep you updated when things change.
We promise to always do our best to prioritize your project and ask for your support in providing us with timely decisions and finances to remain productive.
Our most efficient projects involve collaboration and respect from start to finish.
We employ a full-time project manager to manage trade partners and inspectors. Our dedicated office manager keeps track of job costs and company overhead.
General contractor (GC) fees are the way we cover our costs and get paid for the services we provide. They are typically billed as a percentage of total job costs.
Some of our clients prefer a fixed GC fee vs. percentage, so we also offer that option as long as all selections are finalized up front and we stick to the course.
Unlike other GCs, we provide added value to our clients by including building performance consulting, blower door tests, and thermal imaging with our GC fee.
If you choose to pursue further testing and/or energy modeling, we have partners that can provide these services at an added cost.
Since we complete much of the critical scope with our team, we don’t assign superintendents to our jobs unless our clients request daily supervision or we deem it necessary to accomplish project goals. We can either include this service with a higher GC fee or bill for the time our supervisors spend on site.
Preconstruction services are billed in addition to our GC fee, unless otherwise noted. Permits, fees, labor, materials, supplies, delivery, waste removal, temp power, temp toilets, and other job costs are also billed in addition to the GC fee.
In order to provide a high-quality customer service experience, we limit the number of clients we work with at any given time.
We spend anywhere from a month to several years on our projects. We typically have 2-3 projects going on at the same time, at various stages.
The nature of work and relationship with our clients comes first when deciding to commit to smaller projects. If we determine you are a good fit and you are flexible with scheduling, we can often help out.
We get asked this question a lot and the best answer is, “it depends”.
It depends on the finishes you select. It depends on your ability to commit to decisions. It depends on the access and topography of your lot. It depends if we include the cost of land, basements, garages, patios, and unfinished space in our calculation.
A similar question would be to ask how much a bag of groceries costs.
An architecturally-driven home deep in the mountains on a steep, rocky slope with luxury tile and exotic wood flooring, cabinets, and custom millwork throughout can cost $1,000/SF; while a code-minimum production house in a subdivision with utilities to the lot can be built for under $300/SF, excluding land.
One of the first conversations we like to have is about value. Our goal is to build you a durable and comfortable home. Without compromising on quality, but can value-engineer a building footprint and finishes to match your budget.
We estimate roughly $150-200/SF for the building shell, which includes: design, permits, excavation, concrete, framing, siding, roofing, windows, and insulation. Most garages and unfinished spaces fall in this range. With thoughtful selections, custom high performance homes in Utah can be built for $300-500/SF.
We want to set our clients up for success, so we are careful not to commit to projects that have unrealistic budgets.
If we turn your project away due to budget, please do yourself a favor and reflect on your wants vs. needs. It is safer to scale back on your design and add-on later, than try to build a project you can not afford.
Many General Contractors work on a cost-plus model, so you only pay for the actual cost of your project, plus a 15-25% GC fee to cover overhead and profit.
When contractors provide fixed-price bids, they charge more to cover the risk of projects costing more. Whenever a bid is higher or lower than the actual cost of a project, either the contractor or client loses. Some contractors cut costs at the expense of quality to increase their margins on fixed-price bids sadly.
With a cost-plus model, the actual cost of the project is determined by the quality of subcontractors hired, materials used, and decisions made. Between GCs, the final cost of a project should be similar if quality and time are equal.
We prefer fairness and transparency, so recommend cost-plus on large projects. It allows us to carry out our mission to serve with integrity and craftsmanship.
Estimates are essentially best guesses on what a project or portion of a project’s scope will cost, based on the level of detail known at the time. Estimates rarely guarantee a final price, while bids clearly define scope to provide fixed prices.
Bids can be organized by line items or a lump-sum can be assigned to a project. If unit pricing is shown, final costs are based on how many units are provided.
Some bids have expiration dates and others include escalation clauses to account for price fluctuations. The sooner materials are ordered and subcontractors are hired, the greater the degree of certainty we have on final project costs.
When reviewing bids, it is important to understand what is included and excluded. It is not uncommon for subcontractor bids to be missing scope and it is our job is to ensure all scope is covered to accomplish the goals of a project.
Since there are so many variables on large projects, most GCs provide estimates rather than bids. The most detailed proposals often have the highest estimated costs, but are most accurate to final project costs.
We recommend budgets based on “safe” high bids and value-engineer decisions based on project goals to minimize costs and maximize value.
We allocate a minimum of 4 management hours to providing each estimate. For a new build, a rough-estimate with material quantities may take around 20 hours. Depending on the complexity of your project, your estimate may take longer.
Once you are serious about moving forward, we recommend selecting finishes so we can estimate the project you wish to build. For larger projects, we require you complete a detailed estimate prior to verifying finances and signing contracts.
We typically estimate about 40 hours of preconstruction management time to research project-specific costs, assist in selecting finishes, and request unit prices from suppliers to provide an accurate estimate.
We can save you money on your estimate if you visit suppliers with a designer and provide us with allowances for materials like: flooring, tile, cabinets, counters, plumbing fixture, electrical fixtures, doors, windows, siding, roofing, trim, etc.
If you are determined to gather subcontractor bids before you commit to signing a contract, we can provide this service for an additional fee to cover everyone’s time. It is important we respect our trade partners, so they prioritize our clients.
Après Build employs a hybrid model that includes fixed-price and cost-plus scope.
Whenever possible, we bid scope we plan to self-perform upfront, defining inclusions and exclusions. This allows us to provide a greater degree of certainty on final project costs, since we can fix the price of many larger ticket items.
Change orders and remodel work are often billed on a time and materials basis. We provide day rates upfront for our crew’s labor hours and bill materials cost-plus.
Our GC fee covers scope we manage and materials we purchase. We can save our clients GC fees whenever we self-perform scope on larger projects, as we can often waive markup our labor.
If you hire another GC to manage your project and they hire us as a subcontractor, you will pay our standard labor rates in addition to their GC fee.
We strive to be transparent with our clients, sharing all anticipated expenses to complete a project upfront. We separate our estimates by trade, providing a detailed scope of work for each trade along with allowances when necessary.
Our goal is to limit the number of unforeseen costs incurred on the project and minimize change orders during construction. We’d rather estimate high and save you money, than force you to beg lenders for more money halfway through.
If you choose to hire more than one contractor to estimate your project, it is best to compare estimates on their level of detail, rather than bottom line cost. Our estimates are not necessarily more expensive. They are more thorough.
With a cost-plus model, the total cost of your project is controlled by you, the client, based on the decisions you make. Even a 5-10% difference in GC fees can be offset by a GC who listens to your needs and pays attention to the details.
Be careful trusting low estimates. We hear horror stories about clients that start projects they cannot afford to finish.
We receive calls every year from clients whose contractors who walk off their jobs and won’t return their calls. Typically they underbid the work and lack the courage to be honest. It is a major expense, liability, and logistical mess to take over another contractor’s projects and we are rarely able to serve these clients.
Based in Park City, Utah our service area includes:
We are experts at navigating the logistics to build year-round at high elevations.
Our team thrives at building resilient structures that can withstand the heavy snow loads and harsh weather found in the Wasatch Mountains.
At the same time, we understand the intricacies of working with city officials to execute projects on tight lots in Salt Lake City and Park City.
As our client, you are responsible for making and committing to decisions.
When hired in a design+build capacity, we becomes your point of contact for the entire design and construction process.
Our project manager(s) promote efficient collaboration between our: clients, architects, engineers, designers, suppliers, inspectors, and trade partners.
We orchestrate the design process to ensure constructability and effectiveness of plans in achieving project goals. We take-off material quantities and estimate costs to guide decision-making at each step, so no time or money is wasted.
As a general contractor, we oversee scheduling, management, inspections, contracts, and billing over all subcontractors and suppliers. We provide you progress invoices with transparent accounting for all billable expenses.
Should any changes occur or unforeseen expenses arise during construction, we will provide you updates with cost impacts, so we can pivot as needed.
It is important we pay all suppliers and subcontractors ahead of schedule, so we require our clients provide timely payment. This is your primary obligation as a client and the easiest way to incentivize trade partners to prioritize your project.
Après Build has a skilled team of builders on-staff qualified to complete: demo, land clearing, excavation, utilities, foundations, framing, siding, &, trim.
From ground-breaking through dry-in, it is important our projects progress efficiently. Thus, we hold an active role with excavation, concrete, framing, and waterproofing to ensure our buildings are tight and protected from the elements.
While we do not always perform all scope we are capable of ourselves, we pride ourselves in our ability to be self-reliant and not depend on subcontractors.
Our team of trade partners are qualified to complete: electrical, plumbing, drywall, paint, and other trades needed to achieve design and scheduling goals.
Each project requires a unique team of finishers to achieve its goals, so we hand select trade partners for each project individually based on the finishes selected.
We hold the following Utah licenses:
We carry the following insurance policies:
We encourage clients carry Course of Construction or Builder’s Risk Insurance to help cover any unexpected theft or damages incurred on-site prior to occupancy. Examples of risks covered include: fire, theft, vandalism, wind, and rain.
We hold a Certified Passive House Tradesperson (CPHT) qualification through the international Passive House Institute (PHI). Our employees are trained to safely operate heavy equipment and hold OSHA certifications as well.
We love learning and take advantage of every opportunity we to improve.
Our commitment is to always do our best to honor our word.
We provide a detailed written description of the scope we plan to complete and/or manage at the beginning of every project. If you have additional requests, we ask you share these with us before signing so we have clear expectations.
Within one year after substantial completion, if any work is found to be not in accordance with the agreements of our contract, we will correct it if notified.
Manufacturer warranties rarely cover installation, but reach out if an appliance fails within warranty and we will connect you with an installer for the replacement.
We want our clients to be satisfied with their projects Après [after] completion, so we do our best to meet all realistic goals in alignment with our agreements.
