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When we ask clients what matters most to them in choosing a builder, one answer comes up again and again:

Trust.

We understand why.

Whether you’re building the custom home you’ve worked toward for years, creating the home you plan to retire in, or undertaking a major remodel of a house you already love, you’re placing a significant investment and a very personal part of your life in someone else’s hands.

After more than 25 years of building and remodeling homes throughout the Valley, Matt would put trust at the top of the list, too.

But his definition goes a little further.

Trust isn’t simply believing your builder will do what he says he’ll do. It’s knowing he’ll tell you when the budget doesn’t support the wish list. When an idea is possible, but probably isn’t worth the money. When the schedule changes. When there’s a problem. And even when he doesn’t have the solution quite yet.

And Matt believes that same honesty has to come from the client.

For a project to work well, we need candid conversations about budget and expectations. We need decisions when they matter. We need clients to tell us when something doesn’t feel right rather than waiting until it becomes a bigger concern.

As Matt puts it, “Trust is the foundation of a relationship. And trust requires work.”

After 25 years, we’ve learned that the work of building trust is every bit as important as the work of building the house.

Let’s Talk About Your Budget

Money can be one of the hardest conversations to have at the beginning of planning.

Matt has seen clients hesitate to share what they really want to invest in their home. And he understands why. There can be a fear that if you tell a builder your budget is $X00,000, somehow the project will magically end up costing $X00,000.

But without an honest conversation about budget, it’s difficult to know what’s realistic.

If we know what you’re comfortable investing, we can help you understand what that budget can realistically accomplish, what matters most to you, and where there may be different ways to get there.

Matt put it simply:

“I can tell them how much they can get with that money.”

That’s really the goal: to help our clients get as much of the home they want as their budget allows and to protect that investment along the way.

Sometimes that means recommending a different way to accomplish something. Other times, it means telling a client that a change is going to cost considerably more than they may realize or that we simply don’t think it’s the best place to spend their money.

Those aren’t always the easiest conversations to have.

But they’re much better conversations to have before the money is spent.

Sometimes the Best Answer Isn’t “Yes”

A client once asked Matt about raising a portion of their roof four feet. It sounded like a relatively simple change until you considered everything connected to it.

Raising the roof could affect the framing, roofing, HVAC, electrical, drywall and potentially plumbing. Suddenly, four feet carried a much bigger price tag than the client expected.

Could we build it? Yes.

But was it the best place to spend their money? That was the more important question.

Our job isn’t simply to tell clients what can be built. It’s to help them understand what a decision will cost, what else it may affect, and whether there’s a better way to accomplish what they want.

Sometimes good building means saying, “Yes, we can do that.”

And sometimes it means saying, “We can, but I wouldn’t spend your money there.”

Bad News Doesn’t Get Better With Age

There’s another side of trust that becomes especially important once construction is underway.

Things happen.

Pricing changes. A product is delayed. An existing condition is uncovered during a remodel. A mistake is made. What looked good on paper doesn’t work quite the way everyone expected once construction begins.

Matt’s approach is not particularly complicated:

Rip the Band-Aid off.

If there’s a problem, tell the client.

That doesn’t mean we’ll always have the complete solution five minutes after discovering it. There are times when we need to talk with an engineer, call a trade partner, research another material or simply step back and think through the best way forward.

We can still pick up the phone and say, “We found a problem. Here’s what we know, and we’re working on the solution.”

If the mistake is ours, we own it.

If it’s something outside anyone’s control, we explain it.

It can be tempting in construction to wait until you have every answer before starting the conversation. Matt would rather have the uncomfortable conversation early than allow a client to discover later that we knew about an issue and didn’t tell them.

After 25 years, you learn that problems are rarely improved by silence.

A Year Is a Long Time in Custom Home Construction

Trust also requires understanding that a custom home is not priced and purchased in a single afternoon.

On a new build, a year or even a year and a half can pass between an early project budget and the day a particular material is actually purchased.

A plumbing fixture package estimated today may not cost the same amount when it’s ordered months from now. Material and fuel costs move. Availability changes. We all saw an extreme version of that in 2020, when the cost of building materials increased dramatically in a relatively short period of time.

A builder can estimate carefully, plan responsibly and use the best information available at the time.

What we can’t do is control the market a year from now.

What we can control is how we communicate about it.

If pricing has changed, the client deserves to understand what changed, why it matters to the project and what options we have. Maybe we stay with the original selection. Maybe we choose an alternative. Maybe we decide this is one of those places where the extra cost is worth it.

Again, the answer isn’t always ours to make.

Our responsibility is to give the client the information they need to make the right decision for their project.

Communication Should Fit the Client

There’s no single communication formula that works for every homeowner.

Some of Matt’s favorite clients over the years have been highly analytical, the engineers and detail-oriented homeowners who want to understand exactly what’s behind the wall, why a particular detail was chosen and how the structure is going together.

Matt enjoys those conversations. He can dig into the details, explain why things are built a certain way and talk through the thinking behind a decision.

Other clients have no desire to discuss every framing connection or construction detail. They want to know that the project is moving, what’s happening next, whether there are decisions they need to make and whether we’re still where we expected to be with the budget and schedule.

That works, too.

Good communication isn’t measured by how many emails a builder sends. It’s whether the client has the information they need when they need it.

Communication has to work both ways. A client who raises concerns early, makes decisions in a timely manner and tells us when expectations aren’t being met gives us the opportunity to address them.

We shouldn’t expect clients to read our minds.

And we can’t read theirs.

So, How Do You Know If You Can Trust a Builder?

Trust is easy to talk about. It’s harder to demonstrate.

If you’re considering a custom home or major remodel and interviewing builders, pay attention to the conversations you’re having before anyone earns your business.

Does the builder ask real questions about your budget and priorities? Are they willing to explain the tradeoffs behind a recommendation, even when the answer isn’t the one you hoped to hear? And can they talk openly about what happens when a problem arises?

Pay attention to the team dynamic, too. Some of our best projects happen when the client, architect and builder are working together early, with each person bringing their expertise to the table.

You don’t need a builder who agrees with everything you say.

You need one who will tell you the truth, explain the why behind the recommendation and listen when you have something to say, too.

Matt has built enough homes to know that beautiful finishes eventually become the photographs everyone sees.

But getting there takes hundreds of conversations no one else will ever see.

The budget conversation. The phone call about a problem. The idea we encourage a client to pursue. The one we advise them to reconsider.

Those conversations are part of building the house, too.

And when the client, architect and builder can have them honestly, that’s when the best work gets done.

That’s what Built on Trust means to us.