Seven phases. Three exits.

01Phase 01 · The parcel

Before a shovel, a reading.

Send whatever exists: an architect’s set, a sketch, an address. Matt walks the parcel and the scope himself, and answers in writing.

• How longTwo business days.
• You receiveA written reading of your parcel, an order of cost, the permit path, and the review bodies your address answers to, named.
• In viewSanta Cruz Island across the channel, and common dolphins off the bow.

02Phase 02 · Feasibility

What’s under the surface, priced first.

Utility capacity, access, and whether a soils report is needed, about $7,000 when it is. The budget is built from line items, not an average per square foot.

• How longOne to four weeks.
• You receiveA line-item preliminary budget, site and utility findings, and a preliminary schedule with agency dates.
• Your exitExit one. If the numbers don’t work, it ends here, and the report, the budget and the findings are yours to take elsewhere.
• In viewGiant kelp, three divers, harbor seals, garibaldi and an octopus on the reef.

03Phase 03 · Design development

Drawn to be priced, and permitted.

Your architect carries the drawings to a standard a builder can price and an agency can permit. We review them for constructability as they are drawn, not after.

• How longFour weeks to four months.
• You receiveA permit-ready set from your architect, a budget revised against real drawings, and a written constructability review.
• Your exitExit two. The drawings are your architect’s and yours, to price with another builder if you wish.
• In viewA humpback and her calf, dolphins, a young white shark, and bat rays over the sand.

04Phase 04 · Entitlement

This coast has rules. We read them in Phase 01.

We submit the application, route plan check comments to your architect and engineer, and answer the construction side. Coastal, architectural-review and variance triggers were flagged in Phase 01, before the drawings went in.

• How longSix weeks to nine months.
• You receiveA submitted, tracked application, our answers to plan check comments in writing, and issued permits.
• Your exitExit three. Approved permits attach to the property, not to us.
• In viewThe Carpinteria Bluffs. The seal rookery below closes to people December 1 to May 31.

05Phase 05 · Preconstruction

The number stops moving here.

Trades bid the permitted set, and allowances become selections.

• How longTwo to four weeks.
• You receiveA fixed contract sum, a confirmed schedule, and an allowance schedule with dated decision deadlines.
• In viewA red-tailed hawk over the bluffs, the coast train, and the hills inland toward Montecito.

06Phase 06 · Construction

The drawing set, laid out at full size.

The permitted set becomes the building. Here it lies on the lot at full size: every wall, door and stair where it will stand, the three-car garage beside it and the fire pit out back.

• What you seeThe first-floor plan, drawn line by line.

07Phase 06 · Construction

The plan is marked on the ground.

The house is staked out. Strings pulled between batter boards mark every corner, and the footing trenches are dug to those lines.

• MeanwhileIn the County, grading from November 1 to April 15 needs erosion controls in place.

08Phase 06 · Construction

Everything above sits on this.

Form boards hold the shape. Reinforcing steel is tied inside them, and it is inspected before any concrete is poured, because afterwards nobody can see it. Then the slab is poured, and anchor bolts are set in its edge to hold the walls down.

• InspectionFoundation, before the pour.
• MeanwhileWindows, exterior doors and custom cabinets are ordered early. They can take longer to arrive than the house takes to frame.

09Phase 06 · Construction

The walls go up, and it looks like a house.

A sill plate is bolted to the slab. Studs stand on it, usually sixteen inches apart, with a doubled plate on top, and over every window and door a header carries the weight around the opening. Floor joists span the first floor, the subfloor goes down, and the second floor is framed on top of it. For the first time you can walk the rooms.

• You decideAppliance sizes, sink sizes and ceiling heights are fixed by now, because cabinets are ordered against them.

10Phase 06 · Construction

The roof takes its shape.

Trusses are set one at a time along the length of the house, then braced; the garage gets its own lower roof. Sheathing is nailed across them, and that is what turns a row of triangles into one stiff roof.

• What you seeTrusses, then roof sheathing, from one end of the house to the other.

11Phase 06 · Construction

Closed in and dry.

Sheathing covers the walls and a weather barrier wraps them. Windows are set and flashed, exterior doors are hung, and the roof gets its underlayment. From here the weather stays outside, and the work that cannot get wet can begin.

• MeanwhileRain decides when earth can move, and the dry months are for anything that must be closed in. The schedule is planned around both.

12Phase 06 · Construction

What is behind the walls.

The front walls are drawn open here so you can see into both floors. While the studs are bare, the plumber runs water and drain lines, the electrician pulls cable to every box, data cable goes to where the smart-home panel will hang, and the ducts go in overhead. Blocking, the solid wood that will hold cabinets and handrails, is nailed between the studs now.

• InspectionFraming and the rough trades, before insulation.
• You decideDoor swings decide where the switches go.

13Phase 06 · Construction

The walls close.

Insulation fills every bay, and it is inspected before it is covered. Drywall is hung, taped and finished, then given time to dry out. Outside, the plaster goes on in coats.

• InspectionInsulation, before drywall.
• You keepAt closing, as-built drawings record what is behind these walls.

14Phase 06 · Construction

The part you touch every day.

After drywall and a first coat of paint, the finish carpentry goes in: cabinets, built-ins, doors, casing, baseboard and crown. Ours are built in the shop in Carpinteria and scribed to the house on site, because no wall is flat and no floor is level. Then final paint, hardware, the roof tile and the last floor finish.

• What you seeA plaster fireplace with an oak mantel and the art TV above it, ceiling beams, the kitchen island and walk-in pantry, the oak stair, an epoxy floor in the garage. Then clay tile on the roof.

15Phase 07 · Closing

The punch walk is yours to lead.

Final inspection, then a walk-through with your list, not ours. The person who will live there writes the better list.

In view: a balcony over the door and rafter tails under the eaves; behind the house, a stone terrace, a fire pit and two curved oak benches.

• InspectionThe final.
• You keepWarranties, manuals and as-built drawings. Two years of workmanship coverage in writing, and a return visit at month twelve, called for or not.
• After you emailMatt confirms the same day and writes back within two business days with a written reading of your parcel. No follow-up sequence; the reading is yours to keep.