For anyone who has bought or built a home, you know that the process requires striking an acceptable balance between what you need, what you want, and what your budget can withstand. So, when working within your budget, you usually have to decide if your goal is more square footage or better materials and details. At Chesapeake Cottages, we choose the latter – we’ve created our designs to exemplify Quality over Quantity.
The Process
My advice to clients whom I’ve designed custom homes for over the years was always to start with a list of priorities for what they needed and wanted, from the most important to the least. We would then take that list and incorporate as many things as possible into the design while working within the constraints of Building Codes, site, and budget. And this was done with the client’s understanding that it would be almost impossible to include everything on the list.
The most successful designs always seemed to come when working with clients who realistically understood their needs, as well as working within constraints. They didn’t always push for more. Conversely, the most painful experiences were trying to meet impossible expectations with the resultant see-saw of adding more, and then “Value Engineering” out details, and quality materials for cheaper alternatives, to reduce the cost. So, the cost would go down, but so would the aesthetic appearance, durability, and environmental sensitivity of the project. Those collective experiences left me with the understanding that the basic needs that a home should provide for are relatively consistent and achievable. And that the excess is not always worth what you might have to lose to get it.
Less Quantity allows for more Quality
Those experiences also left me with the commitment to avoid the see-saw, and bring something different to the housing market – to focus on Quality first, and determine what methods to use to best deliver it. So, to put more of the budget into building a quality home, first, we decided to design a smart, off-the-shelf product. This helps minimize design costs, and the possibility of ballooning square footage during the design process, while still delivering a well-thought-out home.
We also decided to keep our Cottage designs compact but livable, so that more of the budget can go into good materials and details instead of unnecessary square footage and volume. And finally, we decided to specify prefabricated elements to shorten the construction time and make a more energy-efficient home. Our economy of scale allows us to use these quality building systems, that will keep the budget in line during construction with an efficient construction sequence. And the quality construction that they deliver will reduce maintenance and operating costs over the life of the home as well.
What are you giving up for Quality?
All of those decisions were made to achieve a higher quality construction and finished product. But what are you giving up, if you choose to build one of our Cottages? You’ll give up a fully customized design, but along with that, a long, laborious, and expensive design process to get that design. And instead, you’ll rely on our extensive design experience, choose one of our designs, and with our structural system, be able to make some interior tweaks, if necessary, to better meet your needs.
You’ll give up some flexibility to make changes to the exterior panels as you go during construction as well, but this helps to avoid a long, drawn-out, and expensive construction process, fraught with Change Orders and delays. Instead, you’ll spend some time reviewing the plans up front, and deciding on a short list of selections with your builder before construction begins. That way the build can progress smoothly and on schedule, with less chance of cost overruns.
And, while you’re giving up some space, you’re also giving up the cleaning, maintenance, and heating/cooling costs of a bigger, lower-quality house month after month. So, as we see it, choosing quality over quantity, really is worth what you have to give up to get it! And our Cottages, which exemplify Quality over Quantity, are definitely worth a look.
Our Cottages are Traditional by design