Now comes the part to excite your inner child. Big machines, heavy equipment, digging earth, piles of dirt. The Build process starts big, with excavators and dump trucks, even cranes, and then it finishes small, with pin nailers and caulk guns and filling holes with a fingertip.

The first couple of months, you’ll have to use your imagination. Site excavation is just a big hole. The foundation is important, but doesn’t look much like a house. Bringing in the utilities is another step that’s critical, but not terribly exciting. After those are in place, though, the build starts to resemble a house.

Your home will start to look like itself when the framing and roofing happen, usually around two months into the Build process. You’ll also see windows and exterior doors installed, although most likely the doors will be simple utility doors, and not your actual doors. (With so much material being carried into the house, there’s no sense risking damage to the doors.) The roof will be shingled and the house wrapped as soon as possible, to keep the structure dry while the rest of the work goes on.

After the structure is up and protected from the elements, the mechanicals are roughed in: wires pulled for electricity, pipes installed for plumbing, and infrastructure for the type of heating and cooling your home will have. This is an important stage, because there’s a rough-in inspection to make sure the wiring, plumbing, and building are up to code (don’t worry; they will be).

When the rough-in is complete, we’ll install insulation. With modern materials and science, this has become a big part of the construction, one that pays dividends in efficient heating/cooling for the life of the home.

At some point we turn our attention to the exterior of the home. This can happen while the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, or insulation crews are working on the interior, but there are times when that many people working at once can just get in each other’s way. So the siding might not go up until the plumbers, electricians, and HVAC people are out (for now). But when it goes up, so will decks and soffit under the eaves. At this point, your house will look a lot like the final product, at least from the outside.

Now it’s drywall. Stacks and stacks of drywall. Even if you’re installing wood, tile, or stone on the walls or ceilings, there’s almost always drywall behind it. Don’t despair at the piles of drywall; our crews can hang it up almost as fast as they can carry it in, and when it’s up you’ll really start to get a feel for what the inside of your home will look like. The drywall has to be taped and mudded, then primed and painted, all of which is done before flooring goes in. Depending on what equipment the painter uses, the subfloor might look just as painted as the ceiling, but that’s okay. It’s all going to be covered up.

Things pick up speed after the walls are done. The flooring is installed, cabinetry and countertops are put in place, and the interior trim, railings, and doors are hung. Your house will really come together fast at this point, and you’re probably ready!

After all this, you have a few days of the final mechanical work. Faucets are hooked up, outlets and switches are installed, appliances are set up – all the things you need to make your home livable. There’s one final round of inspections for the final plumbing, electrical, and building. This is also the time that we—Dotty Brothers and you—will make our own inspection of the house.

A final walk-through ensures the build is up to Dotty Brothers quality. After we perform any needed final touches, our crews pack up, clean up, and get out—so you can finally move in!

The Design/Build process can take as little as seven months, but it can be a long wait for our homeowners. Our job is to make sure that when you move in, it’s into the house of your dreams.