Blog

18th September, 2026

Your price is fixed. Your mind doesn’t have to be!

Building a custom home is a big investment. Before you sign a Builder’s Agreement, you should understand what is included, what it costs, and what happens if something changes along the way.

That’s what fixed price means to us.

By the time we reach a fixed price, the major decisions shouldn’t still be floating around. Your selections have been made and the project has been priced from the structural details down to the door handles. We have a blueprint, a defined scope of work, estimated costs for that scope, a construction timeline and a payment schedule.

It becomes a budget we all commit to executing.

The work before the price matters.

A good fixed price starts well before the Builder’s Agreement is signed.

This is where we encourage clients to take their time. Blueprints aren’t just something we need to get a building permit. They are the basis for what we’re pricing and eventually building.

We want you to understand them.

Look at room sizes. Think about how you want to use your kitchen. Pay attention to where your furniture will go. Look at window sizes and locations. Understand what is included in the scope and what isn’t. Make your selections. Ask questions.

The more decisions we can make together before construction starts, the more accurate the pricing becomes and the fewer unknowns there are later. Before we get to a signed contract, there is often an Option A, B and C. We work through the needs, the wants and what each decision does to the overall price until we land on the house you want at a number you’re comfortable committing to.

But even a really well-planned house looks different when you can stand inside it.

Framing is often the first time a blueprint starts to feel real for a homeowner.

You can walk through the kitchen instead of looking at dimensions on paper. You can stand at a window and see what it actually looks toward. You might realize a window should be higher, lower or somewhere else entirely.

That doesn’t necessarily mean anything went wrong with the plan.

It means you have information now that you couldn’t have had before.

A change order is simply how we deal with that new information. We identify the change, determine what it means for cost and construction time, and you decide whether you want to proceed. Sometimes it costs more. Sometimes it costs less. Sometimes, particularly early in construction, the impact is minimal.

A real example.

Kora and Jamie put a lot of time and thought into their blueprints. They knew what they wanted before construction started.

Once the house was framed and we walked through it together, they realized they wanted to change the height of some windows.

Matt looked at what was involved and estimated the cost of making the adjustment. With that information, they decided changing the windows was worth it.

The framing was adjusted that week and construction continued on schedule.

That’s how we think changes should work. Not as surprises and not as decisions made for you. We give you the information you need to make the call.

You should feel confident.

The goal is a contract that everyone understands and feels confident moving forward with.

By that point, you will know what we’re building, what you’ve chosen, what’s included and what it’s going to cost. You’ve had the opportunity to ask questions, compare options and make decisions about where you want to spend your money.

If you decide to change something once construction begins, that decision starts from a solid plan and a clear price, not because the original scope was unclear.

When you sign your Builder’s Agreement, there shouldn’t be any mystery.

Questions

When someone asks what “fixed price” actually means, how do you explain it in your own words?

Fixed price means you have made your selections and everything has been priced..from the structural details down to the door handles. It’s a budget that we all commit to executing.

What exactly does the signed Builder's Agreement lock in, and what can still move after someone signs?

The builders agreement defines the length of time the project will take to complete and the entire scope of work, it includes your blueprint and the estimated costs for the entire build scope of work and the payment schedule.

Once framing goes up and someone's standing in the actual room instead of looking at a drawing, what decisions usually come up that they didn't expect?

Kitchen layout and overall spacing, window height and location… once you are in the space its easy to see the views you want to capture and enjoy as well as the ones you don’t want to see.

What is a change order, in plain terms? Does it always mean the price goes up?

A change order is just a change from the original plan. You have new information that you didn;t at the time of signing the fixed price builders agreements so now you get to use that information to make a decision. Now you can see the window in your bathroom looks right into the neighbors window. You have a beautiful view of the park from the entry and a small window in that area…want to switch them? Sure. Not a problem. And at framing this is a minimal cost. An hour of framing time.

Do you have a real example from a past build, a window that got moved, a kitchen that got relaid on site, anything like that? What happened, and how did you and the client work through it?

Kora and Jamie had spent alot of time and effort on their blueprints, they knew exactly what they wanted. When we walked through at framing it became clear they wanted the window height changed..matt estimated the cost to do the adjustment and they decided it was the right decision. The windows heights were changed that week and construction continued on schedule.

Why do you think clients feel nervous about changing their mind partway through a build, and what would you tell them to ease that worry?

What does the financing side actually look like when a change order comes up? What conversations do you have with clients about their budget or lender at that point?

If someone's about to sign their Builder's Agreement and is nervous about “locking in” the wrong plan, what's the one thing you'd want them to know?

You don’t need to answer all of these. Pick whichever ones actually have something to say, it’s better to answer five honestly than force all ten.