"Ok, we have all heard the horror stories of what a nightmare building a house can be; the time, the money, the frustrations, and all too often, sadly the disappointments. "It will stress your life, strain your marriage or drive you to bankruptcy." The unfortunate part is this should not be the case. Building a house should be exciting, enjoyable, and often accompanies a joyous occasion such as an expanding or new family, a new job, or a planning for the future.We trepidatiously began down this road in the summer of 2008. It was overwhelming. Where to build, what style, how big? The questions were endless, but none where more important than who was to be the builder.
This one decision will single handedly determine your building experience. We met with or interviewed 4 different builders, all of whom were polite, knowledgeable, and capable of making the building process sound achievable. However, one stood out from the others. Muirfield Homes by Alan Chesier would never go so far as to call the process easy. They used terms like, "you will get out of it what you put into it", "this is a partnership between us and you, with the same desired end result", or "we can do anything you want, but it will cost time and money". This kind of straight forward talk was refreshing to hear.
There were decisions that would need to be made and they would be happy to do this for us, as this is what they do for a living, or we could micro manage the process as much as we wanted, however as we had never attempted anything like this before this, in their experience, would result in delays and costing overruns. Armed with this knowledge we began talking with people who had built with them previously. To a person they all spoke of the positive experience building a house with Muirfield had been. Their descriptions were not some made up fantasy land of "oh it was so easy and effortless". Their praise was much higher using words such as "honest, fair, straightforward, hand-holding". Even when things had not gone as planned it was emphasized that Muirfield had always made it right. With this our decision was made. Immediately after signing with Muirfield we had a meeting with all of their staff who would be involved with the creation of our home. They asked us for our goals and then laid out a clear plan to get there. There were no hidden costs. Everything down to the penny was shown in advance of the charge and usually a lower cost alternative was given. The decisions were always ours to make with full knowledge of any penalties clearly documented. This meant that at the end there were absolutely no surprises and no added stress. Now it would be foolish to say that it was six months of no problems. Any project would come with challenges and in building a house you would expect no difference. However these problems would not consume my daily thoughts. There was no need to go to the site everyday or try to find what had been done. I knew that everyday there was someone from Muirfield at the site overseeing all work, and I knew they were there for me. While I did my job they were there doing theirs. They were my eyes and ears, they were my representative. Never once did I question that their loyalty was to me. They were charged with making my dream reality and it was a responsibility they took to heart. Building a house is a process, a string of decisions that create a warm and safe shelter out of what was once exposed emptiness. For the most part we all begin this process with little knowledge and virtually no experience, and somehow hope that we will obtain a dream. The only way this is possible is to have someone guide you down the path, and to me there is no better shepherd than Muirfield Homes. They did not build us a house. They gave us a place where we laugh, watch it snow, gather to celebrate holidays; where my daughter will take her first steps. They gave us a place to be a family, and as such I now consider them as well. They gave us a home."