home is where you make it

After years of building homes and custom creations and a lifetime of dreaming and creating art, I'm still inspired every day by the ideas, challenges, and opportunities to get my hands dirty. 

Living and working in Sonoma County, I'm influenced by the beauty of the people and place around me, shaping my love for openness, connection, and creativity. On every project, I aim to honor the home that has enabled me to continue creating. 

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT

My experience in building homes and building relationships with my clients has led me to believe that there is a better way of doing things.  Below I compare and contrast the traditional method of hiring a general contractor to build your home vs. an inspired method of hiring Kelly Cowan Designs as your project manager.  

Pro’s of hiring a general contractor:

Fixed bid.  In theory a fixed bid means you will know that the cost is going to remain the same throughout the project with no surprises.  This is often not exactly how it works out; most people who have built anything will tell you scary stories of things costing more and taking longer than was originally quoted.  To avoid this, it is important to have a very specific scope of work and an allowance for overages—keeping in mind that markups do apply to change orders.

One point of contact.  You as the client are dealing directly with the contractor, if you have a problem with the plumber, or something goes wrong after the fact you only need to call one guy. You also have someone who in theory should be filling in any gaps that arise such as towel bar installation. The towel bars often get overlooked, but obviously should be installed before the project can be considered complete. That being said, if not specifically listed in the scope of work then that leaves wiggle room for contractors to either get out of doing things like towel bars- or charging a change order.

Road map.  There is a well-worn path here that most people who build/remodel a house have traveled. This process can offer the client a sense of familiarity and comfort knowing that the process has been tried by many other property owners and builders before.

Con’s of hiring a contractor:

A fixed bid is a gamble by both parties, so there is incentive for a contractor to over-estimate the costs in order to not lose the bet.  Even with contractors bidding competitively against one another (the theory being that the competition keeps costs down) simply having a lower bid does not mean that you are getting a more fair/accurate price. The contractor with the low bid could be losing his shirt on the project, which is not good for him, nor is it good for the client who could be stuck in the middle of contract disputes with subs, or an unfinished project and unpaid material debts.

High cost of quality.  In order to ensure high standards it is generally true that you have to pay more. It is almost always true that you get what you pay for in the building industry.

Pro’s of hiring KCD as project manager:

Cost.  Because the client is cutting out the contractor’s overhead, contingency, and “wiggle room”  there is a potential for substantial savings.  There is still the cost of hiring the Project manager, but it is far less than the cost of the general contractor’s markup. 

Advocacy.  The project manager is acting as the property owner’s agent or advocate. There is no incentive to create change orders or increase costs.

Quality.  Just as he or she is working for economy in the project, the project manager is also working with the subcontractors to ensure that project is completed according to the homeowner’s expectations for quality of workmanship. Again, there is no incentive to cut corners.

Continuity.  In the case where the designer of the project is acting as the project manager there is the added benefit of continuity between designer and builder.  It is my opinion that this design-build situation is the very best case scenario for all involved.

Con’s of hiring a project manager:

Added work for homeowner.  Homeowner will have to contract directly with subcontractors; the degree to which they are required to interact with the "subs" will be determined by the level at which they employ the project manager, i.e. the number of hours for which they are inclined to hire the project manager.

Unbeaten path.  Currently there are not many projects outside of Kelly Cowan Designs (that I know of) that are built in this method—it is simply an uncommon way of building.

The path of using a project manager to essentially cut out the “middle man” and give the homeowner the power to be their own contractor is not common, but does offer some advantages. Especially when used in a true design-build system. I believe this is the best way to build a building for a client and builder alike.  It puts the client in control of the process and saves them money.  This uncommon way of building makes a partner out of the homeowner and design-build professional rather than (at best) a client or (at worse) an adversary.