Getting Started
To get the building process started, all you need is a basic concept for the home you envision on your lot. Travis will personally meet you at your lot for the initial meeting to discuss important matters such as house placement, orientation to the sun, breezes and most of all the view. Remember, you are designing and building a true custom home so the first step is to plan the ground work.
Everyone tends to bring something different to the table when it comes time to discuss their house plans. From magazine tear outs, partial plans, plan books, photos, even sketches on scratch paper all help to get the thoughts across the discussion table from the client to the builder.
From the initial lot meeting, brief discussion about a client's needs and wants, to a personal tour of some completed Mitchell Custom Homes, Travis can get a very close idea of what type of home his client is looking to build and even quote a "ballpark price" of the total construction cost.
Travis is always more than happy to meet potential clients for this free consultation to discuss a person's ideas for home building but most of all to get to know one another.
"It's real important that our personalities mesh well and are able to effectively communicate. Home building is a very personal and emotional experience for many people and a strong relationship needs to be formed at the very beginning of the process," says Travis.
After the first meeting, as ideas grow and things get exciting, it's time to move on to the next step. Each client has a few choices once this point has been reached.
1) If a client already has a set of house plans drawn by a local designer or architect Travis will be able to give a bid to the client complete with written specifications and a list of all allowances included.
2) Some clients come to Travis with plans found on the internet, plan books, or partially drawn plans that they have created themselves. These types of plans are a great starting point but most of them need some "clean up work" due to small errors and or incomplete information. These plans are usually close enough for Travis to price out for bidding purposes but once it's time to build the plans will need some re-work by a professional designer to meet local building codes and subdivision architectural requirements. Travis can assist in getting the house plans fine tuned to meet all necessary building criteria.
3) Most clients that come to Mitchell Custom Homes do not have any house plans and can benefit from the assistance of a builder/designer team to create them. To do this Travis works with Peggy Sampson of P.S. Designs, Inc. P-S-Designs.com
Travis will schedule a second meeting with his potential clients only this time inviting his residential plan designer, Peggy Sampson. After a walk through at the customer's land Peggy will get a feel for the property as well as an understanding of the customer's ideas for the future new home.
Move the meeting back to the Mitchell Custom Homes Design Center (1937 IH 35 North, suite 102) the meeting will continue. It normally takes a good two to three hours of round table discussion to go over and discuss all the material necessary to start the design process.
After two short weeks Peggy will have a preliminary floor plan for Travis to view and approve before it's sent on to the customer for feedback. Travis looks to see that the foot print of the home will fit on the lot correctly; the driveway will work with any slope on the lot and fit within all required setbacks. Most often Peggy's preliminary floor plans will require very few customer changes.
Once the floor plan has been fine tuned and approved by the customer Peggy will then repeat the process with the front elevation and send out two to three possible options for additional customer feedback.
After the floor plan and front elevation are final, Travis can then give the customer a very close cost estimate.
With e-mail correspondence back and forth between the client, Peggy Sampson, and Travis Mitchell, the drawings mature into a finished set of house plans including all working drawings and elevations. These plans will be complete and include all information required for architectural approval by any neighborhood where Travis Mitchell builds. At this time Travis can and will fine tune the cost estimate into a complete bid including all specifications and allowances.
After agreeing on costs and signing a basic contract, the building process is nearly ready to begin. After the terms for payment are in place the buyer can then enjoy and be a part of the building process as they watch their dream home come to reality.
Travis Mitchell Custom Homes is an approved builder with some of the most reputable lending institutions. If financing is required, Travis regularly works with the following banks and lenders:
William Ackerman of Bank of America (210) 363-0184
Britt Etheridge of Wells Fargo Bank (830) 264-4332 ext. 2010
Sally Newman of Gardner Financial (210) 264-7347
Greg Guillet of Compass Bank (210) 831-6988
Dena Vandigriff of Prosperity Bank (512) 422-2429
James Long of First State Bank (830) 626-8627
Justin Boerner of The Trust Company (830) 816-1400
Please give any or each of these lenders a call to receive a good faith estimate of terms, interest rate, and closing costs.
If a customer is to pay cash for their home, A.C. McAda/First American Title in New Braunfels, TX will draft up a simple builder's mechanics lien contract between the buyer and builder. This document will be accompanied by partial lien waivers that Travis will provide to the buyer in arrears of each cash draw. There are typically five draws on a home with the final being the last 10%. The last draw will be made to Travis only after the final walk through on the home has been performed and all punch lists have been completed. The original builder's mechanics lien will be removed from the property with an "All Bills Paid" affidavit signed by Travis and provided to the buyer along the new home keys. It's that simple.
Dena Vandigriff with Prosperity Vank has over 15 years of construction lending experience. Dena offers a competitive one-time close and construction financing. Prosperity is one of the largest Texas based banks. They cater to meet the financial needs of their customers. Contact Dena at dena.vandigriff@prosperitybanktx.com or (512) 894-0541 to see about being pre-qualified for the home of your dreams.