Driftwood Musings

Choosing a Builder and Lot Clearing

We didn't know any builders in the Destin area so we asked everyone that we thought might know a builder and then checked them out. Our architect also had a few recommendations and we interviewed them plus others that we had heard about or who seemed to have a good reputation in the area. One of the things that surprised us is that homeowners were very happy to open their homes and let us look. The builders were always eager to show us homes that they had built and ones that were under construction so we got a tour of many beautiful homes.

We ended up choosing three builders to give us a proposal. Since our home is a cost plus fixed fee contract, we knew that cost was not the only consideration. The cost will largely depend on the choices that we make so we wanted a builder that we liked, had a good relationship with the clients that we met, was financially strong, had great finish work, would be on the job a lot and solicited bids from multiple sub-contractors.

We signed a contract with Frank Janssen Construction Management. Frank is a retired Air Force Officer and has been building homes for about ten years. The homes that he showed us were beautiful, we like him, and he will park an office trailer on our lot and be on site every day.

Frank wasted no time getting started. He has applied for building permits which can take up to six weeks to be issued and has started preparing the lot for building. We were sad that some trees had to be removed but the tree survey showed 82 trees bigger that 12 inches in diameter so we still have lots left and we needed a spot to build our home.

The company that is clearing the lot has been working a week and made great progress.