Pricing
How pricing works
No prices on this page. The house sets them, and this is how we get to the number.
What decides the price
A lake house is priced from its frame, its plan and its distance to the water, not by the square foot.
How sound the frame and roof are
How far the plan moves
Windows, millwork and cabinetry, stock or custom
Heating and insulation
Permits and shoreland rules
What the design fee covers
Design is paid work, with a defined scope and a price agreed in writing first. It ends with drawings you own.
The site walk and survey
Sketches and drawings
A scope the estimate is built from
What the estimate includes, and what it doesn't
It is written from the drawings. It lists the scope, allowances for what you haven't chosen, and the weeks the work will take.
Included: labor, materials, named allowances, supervision, permits we pull
Not included: furniture, landscaping, what you choose to add later, anything hidden we haven't found
How and when you pay
A deposit and stages tied to finished work, in the agreement, within Wisconsin's rules. Nothing is due for work not yet done.
A deposit set out in the contract
Stages tied to finished work
If the job changes
A change is priced in writing, with what it adds to the weeks, before it's built.
A written change order
Your approval first
When you get the number
After the design, not before. A number from a phone call or a sketch would be a guess.
Before any build work begins
In writing
A figure in a general guide can be two to six times off for the same job. We'd rather show our work.
Allowances
Who chooses the materials
We list an allowance for anything you haven't picked yet, such as tile, lighting or plumbing fixtures, and we show you where each choice stands against it. If you choose more, the difference goes in a change order. If you choose less, it comes off.
Build windows
Ask what a design fee would cover for your house
Tell us about the house and when you're there.