Stonewater Services

Building a custom home can be an intimidating experience. Typically nothing else you buy costs as much, takes as long to complete, incorporates as much of your own ideas and wishes, has as many people working for you; and yet can be subject to so many unpredictable changes. The Stonewater process is designed to reduce uncertainty and enable you to achieve what you want within the desired time frame and budget.

Building a custom home is a team activity. Our management, a wide range of suppliers and specialized trades, and you the home owner have to work together to ensure the successful completion of a very special project, your own custom built home. We believe the Stonewater system is the most effective way to achieve our common objectives.

Design Process

The process begins with a consultation with our in house design team. It can take several months to develop a design that reflects both your living style and your esthetic concerns. By utilizing our in house staff, Stonewater construction management can be involved as early as possible since we sometimes can offer input regarding cost saving opportunities or house functionality that benefit you the homeowner.

Permit

Once the house design has been decided upon, the design team will develop the drawings required by the local municipal authorities to issue a permit. The time required to obtain a permit from the time of submission of drawings can be 6-12 weeks, depending on the municipality and their workload. It is worth noting that the municipal building permits department is also responsible for inspections during construction. These inspections occur at a minimum of 12 stages during the construction process. Work cannot proceed without passing these inspections.

Owners Decisions

Once plans have been submitted you will be given your Owner's Project Binder. This is a three ring binder that will get thicker as the project proceeds. At first it will contain a list of decisions that you must make with suggested deadlines from start of construction to final completion. You can then engage our interior design department whom will work with you to create your own custom interior package and help you select finishes from paint colors to appliances.

During this phase the owner will see their custom home come to life before construction commences with the use of 3D rendering tools to help identify areas that may need special attention. Stonewater believes it is easier to visualize certain features of the house with renderings. In fact we encourage the home owner to recommend changes that will make their custom home truly conform to their dreams. By engaging our in house design team at this early stage, budget and supply issues can be determined, therefore eliminating costly time delays and change orders in the future. Your Stonewater experience will be a complete design and build process!

Planning and Budgeting

Using the preliminary plans we can start talking to trades and suppliers to put together a budget and schedule. These will, of course, be refined once the plans are finalized, and your decisions on various specifications are completed. Both the schedule and the budget are living documents, since there are usually on going changes caused by a design change or unforeseen circumstances. To ensure that you are always on top of any changes Stonewater offers two ways of staying connected to the project.

Paper trail: A standard report is issued twice per month and the report will consist of the following:

Billing statement and accompanying backup, Variance report, showing budget vs. current costs and Alerts, explaining budget & schedule changes.

Web Site: Stonewater maintains a dedicated and secure Web Site for you with regularly updated detailed information on your project.

Site Preparation

A building lot in the Pender Harbour area, especially Daniel Point, can be anything but typical. There can be surprises in terms of blasting, hauling, water issues and retaining walls. This phase of construction is perhaps the one with the greatest risk for cost overrun and therefore, one needs to be conservative in estimating costs.

Site Neatness

Stonewater tries to keep sites neat. In most cases an on-site office, trash dumpster and signage are standard. It is in the nature of construction, with many trades following each other on to the site that there can be periods of time when the site is not so neat. Please feel free to point this out since it is the intention of all members of our team to be neat and to minimize waste on the site.

Interaction with trades People

Stonewater construction management encourages the homeowner to get to know the trades people who are building your house for you. Many of the trades people are not Stonewater employees although they have worked closely with our management for years and are quality, conscious leaders in their fields. We encourage you to visit your site, even without prior notification. If you see changes you would like, please speak with the site supervisor and not directly to the trades to avoid possible disruptions to the schedule. Please be careful however since there are many potentially unsafe spots for inexperienced people on a job site.

Change Orders

Stonewater management recognizes that there will be changes as the project develops. During construction there is constant communication with the homeowner, the design team and our construction management team. To ensure clear communication between homeowner, Stonewater, and trades, all changes are formally written up in a change order. At that time if directed to, Stonewater management estimates the impact of the change on the budget and the schedule. Obviously the earlier changes are brought forward the easier it is to rearrange the schedules of trades who are directly or indirectly affected by these changes.

Quality

Stonewater also has very specific quality standards and procedures, which exceed code requirements. Suppliers and trades are required to sign off on these standards to ensure that your Stonewater Custom Home is of the highest possible standard. Stonewater also engages the use of certified professionals to sign off on all building envelope areas to again protect your investment.

Completion

House completion consists of a final walk through and inspection with Stonewater management and the handing over of the complete Homeowners Manual. At this time if any deficiencies are discovered they will be addressed within 3 weeks barring any extraordinary items.

Stonewater

Stonewater Development Ltd.