My wife and I recently moved into our dream home, a Bellagio story and a half (4800 sq ft on the main and second level) built by Chris Carley and Steve Trued of Tabernacle Homes. I wanted to thank both Chris, Steve, Laurie and their entire team and all the subs for all their hard work as well as their patience in working with us to create our version of their plan.
The experience -We signed with Chris and we began building in March. Despite known cost increases for steel, concrete and lumber Chris honored the 2011 build cost. Chris went out of his way to help us find a lot in a neighborhood offering estate size home lots. Best of all the lot was below market value and sold by owner instantly saving us 3% realtor commissions on the seller/developers side. By Mid March the foundation went in and we slowly watched the home progress. My wife and I might be considered a builders worse nightmare as we are slight perfectionists and we were on the job site every day without fail, camera in hand. Once the house was framed in, Steve Trued took over the build. As partners, Steve and Chris are well paired. My view is that Chris is the new business development guy and Steve is the Project Manager. Steve kept his subs on point and his presence insured that details were adhered to given the nature of high end home builds. What started out as a standard Bellagio with an oversized 42' deep/1600 sq ft garage took a turn with lots of custom upgrades. We were making changes on the fly and Steve was very good about providing estimates on the costs as well as very receptive to the changes in general. I have seen too many builders use upgrades as their profit center, so considering that "Pella" windows, hand scraped hardwood floors and so many other upgrades were standard to begin with, the changes we made definitely had positive ROI and made our home one of a kind.
Prior to closing, I had two welcome surprises. First, the conservative home appraisal came in $30k over the closing price. I was feeling pretty good that I had some instant equity. Second, I had my home inspector visit prior to close and he did an energy evaluation using a blower fan with elaborate meters as well as temperature sensing cameras to find the source of any drafts. The verdict "if the house was any tighter, you would need fresh air returns" Given the size of the house, this was important to me as my first full month energy bill came in for a very cold December and it was significantly less than my prior 3500sq ft home! Wow, money well spent on the blown in insulation upgrade that Steve recommended (it will have paid for itself in the first 12 months - great ROI)!
Thinking about building with Tabernacle. Great choice if you do not want a cookie cutter house and you want a full custom experience. read more
