In 2017 my wife and I found a builder to construct our retirement dream home. At the time we lived…read moreon the East coast, so we'd be doing a remote build. Our plan was to do this in two phases - Build my shop with an ADU now so we'd have a place to stay when we visited and that we'd live in later while our house was being built. Second, after we both retied and sold our Maryland home, we build our dream home. We worked with this first builder for nearly a year before parting ways over significant cost overruns on the shop/ADU - something we hadn't even started to build. While we lost time, and a good chunk of money on architectural work this turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Enter Evergreen Homes NW. After a few more months of research, we found Evergreen Homes. Before we even contacted them, we tracked down people who they've built for and met them to get honest feedback. We liked what we heard and reached out to Chis Sundstrom on Memorial Day 2018 to leave a message, not expecting a response that day. We were wrong. Chris called us back within the hour and spent a good amount of time getting to know us. A few weeks later we flew out to meet him and get the ball rolling.
Chris met us on our property and was happy to build what we'd originally planned but offered a few alternatives that would save us money. After a lot of discussion on what we wanted, he sketched out a house with an attached shop on a yellow pad while sitting with us on a log on our property. He incorporated everything we wanted and quite a few things we had not even thought about. Chris encouraged us to skip the two phases we initially planned and do this once - just build the house now and you won't need the ADU, and you'll save a lot of money! We honestly hadn't thought of this as we had cash on hand for the shop/ADU but wouldn't have the money for the house until we sold our home in Maryland, which we wouldn't do until 2020. Chris worked with us and found a way to make it happen!
The plan that started on a yellow pad was developed over the coming months by his daughter Tama. There were dozens of iterations before we got exactly what we wanted. We were living in Maryland throughout the entire design and build process, yet Chris, Sterling, Linda, Tama, and Lisa made it feel like we were just down the street. Through their outstanding communication, doing a long-distance build was not an issue.
Sterling Sobszak was our construction foreman and was wonderful in managing the team of craftsman who built our home. He spent a good amount of time with us during an early visit to understand what was important to us. Sterling called me often with updates, or to discuss challenges, or to offer enhancements that I might be interested in. During each interaction it was clear that he really did have our best interests at heart. He then went out of his way to ensure every detail we wanted was simply perfect.
Most homeowners probably don't give a second thought to the work done by the framers as their work gets covered up. During a visit, I inspected their work with a framing square, level, and tape measure - we were blown away with the accuracy of their work - floors that are truly level, plumb walls, and square corners! The finish work is equally impressive. We have natural wood doors, windows, and mill-work so you cannot mask mistakes with caulk. From excavation to final finish - everything is amazing, and we greatly appreciate the hard work all the trades put into building our dream home. You can tell they care!
We have been in our home now for four and a half years and we still love it. It occurred to me the other day that we haven't had any real issues with our home. In talking with neighbors who used different builders, they've made multiple callbacks for a variety of issues - some very serious. We've only had one, and it cropped up our second year in the house. The cedar that was used to clad our porch columns developed streaks from the nails used to attach it.
When I contacted Evergreen, Sterling came out and saw what was wrong. The contractor who did the work mistakenly used the wrong nails - interior vs. stainless steel. Evergreen promptly replaced all the cedar and ensured it was attached with the correct fasteners. This was no small job, but they took responsibility for the mistake and made it right. I'm sure they could have given me the run-around, but Evergreen took ownership for the mistake. There was no hassle, no debate, they just resolved the issue.
Thank you, Evergreen Homes NW, for crafting our dream home! We have a beautiful custom home that meets our needs and lifestyle perfectly. We wanted a builder who really delivered outstanding design, quality, craftsmanship, attention to detail, and value. Evergreen has exceeded our expectations on each of our five criteria. The quality of the materials that went into our home matches the quality of the work.
