Design-build · Alder Bay & the Carrington valley
One studio designs it, prices it and builds it. We take on 8 homes a year, with the numbers said out loud from the first meeting.
01 The practice
That one fact is most of what design-build means here. Our architects draw beside our estimator, so the design that goes to permit can be built for its budget, and the ambition survives. The cantilever at Solana Point exists because it was priced at the first sketch.
We take on 8 homes a year across new homes and serious renovations. The cap is deliberate. It pays for the Friday principal walks, the same superintendent from footings to keys, and a studio that still answers the phone in year five.
02 The work
Every project page tells the parts most portfolios leave out: what the house had to do, the materials and why, the timeline as it actually ran, and how the architecture and the building worked together.
2025
Modern · Renovation & addition
Larkin Terrace, Alder Bay heights
A 1961 hillside modern, opened up and restored in cedar and mahogany. The addition reads as if the original architect simply kept drawing.
2023
Classical & heritage · New custom home
Calloway Lane, Alder Bay
A painted-brick Georgian at the head of a working pear orchard: true divided-light sashes, plaster cornices and proportions you can feel from the road.
03 The promise
01
Architect, estimator and builder under one roof and one contract, with the same superintendent from footings to keys and a principal on your site every Friday.
02
Cost-plus with a fixed fee and every invoice visible, or a fixed price from complete drawings. Allowances are set from your real selections, never teaser numbers.
03
Estimate checkpoints at 30, 60 and 90% of design. Weekly owner walks. Bad news the same week we know it, with the recovery plan attached.
04 Services
01
One team, one contract and one accountable number, from the first sketch to the keys.
02
Old houses get a vote. We open the walls before we price the work, then keep every promise the discovery lets us make.
03
Bring your architect. We'll be the builder who prices the drawings honestly, then builds them as drawn.
04
Selections made calmly and on time, and the cabinetry, stairs and paneling built by our own carpenters.
In their words
“Every Tuesday walk-through, the number and the schedule were on the first page. In eighteen months we were never once surprised.”
“They told us at the first meeting that our budget was under their minimum, and gave us three names. We built with one of them and we're very happy. Hartwell still answers when we have a question.”
Reviews & results Fictional reviews, written for this demo.
05 The process
90 minutes · no fee
Ninety minutes at the studio: your brief, your site if you have one, and real numbers in plain English. What homes like yours have actually cost, and how long they actually took.
4 to 6 weeks · fixed fee
Before design begins, we make sure the project can exist: a site walk, a zoning and utilities review, and a first budget built from your brief and our last five years of real cost data.
4 to 9 months
Schematic design, design development and construction drawings, with our estimator pricing the scheme at 30, 60 and 90% so the design and the budget never drift apart. You'll never fall in love with a house you can't afford.
3 to 5 weeks
The full line-item budget, the allowance schedule and the contract: cost-plus with a fixed fee and an open book, or a fixed price from complete drawings. We explain both until your questions run out.
10 to 20 months
The same superintendent from footings to keys, an owner walk every Tuesday, monthly open-book draws, and change orders priced and signed before the work proceeds, not after.
Move-in + 12 months
A zero-item punch list is the goal; a short, dated one is the reality. Then you and the house get a first year together, with us on call and two scheduled visits to catch what settling reveals.
06 Project fit
Build type, style, budget band and timeline: about two minutes. You'll see the past projects closest to your brief, what your first meeting would cover, and an honest answer if we're not your builder. About a third of the time we're not, and we'll say so.
In the Alder Bay region in 2026, architect-led custom homes run about $520 to $780 per square foot for construction alone. Land, site work, design fees and furniture are separate. Our new homes usually start around $1.5M of construction, and most land between $2.5M and $4M.
About $1.5M of construction for a new home and $400K for a renovation. Below that, we'll tell you plainly and name smaller builders we trust. It's not a brush-off: our team and overhead are built for larger, slower projects.
Usually two to three years in total: 4 to 6 weeks of feasibility, 4 to 9 months of design, 6 weeks to 5 months of permits, and 10 to 20 months of construction. We give you a written schedule outline early and update it at every checkpoint.
Yes. We build for outside architects as gladly as for our own studio, and we're most useful when we join during design, so pricing can guide the drawings early.
08 The journal
May 2026 · 9 min read
Per-square-foot ranges, the three budgets, and why allowances sink more projects than markets do. The talk we give at every first meeting, written down.
Tom Whitaker, Preconstruction Director
February 2026 · 8 min read
Green flags, how to compare bids, the references that actually tell you something, and the questions we hope you'll ask everyone, us included.
June Hartwell, Founder & Principal
Begin
The first meeting costs nothing and commits you to nothing: your brief, real per-square-foot numbers said out loud, and a frank answer about fit in both directions. We take on 8 homes a year, so the conversation is the whole first step.
The studio: studio@hartwellhomes.example · +1 (555) 019-2400
