Make sure your draw schedule and constructio schedule are in sync.

At Sterling Custom Homes we have certain processes in motion to help us to continue building the best custom homes in Austin TX. When a client begins to build with us, we develop a draw schedule based on when certain projects during the construction of the home, i.e. pouring the slab, framing, roofing, etc., are going to be started and completed. When clients finance their home through a bank, an account is set up that we can draw out of to fund the different projects during the construction of the home. Once a draw is made, the financial institution sends out an inspector to the construction site to make sure the project that the draw was for has begun to be worked on.

That’s all well and good, but what happens when clients elect to fund their Austin custom homes with cash? It’s actually a similar process. Your custom home builder in Austin will instead transfer money directly from the client’s personal account. Since the bank’s money is not being drawn upon, no inspector is sent to the construction site to ensure that the project the money was drawn for is being worked on or has been completed. This is why it is very important to be careful to know your builder very well before you begin to build with them.

We currently have some clients who are funding their home with cash. They decided to hire a 3^rd party inspector to ensure that our construction schedule and draw schedule are in sync. Two weeks ago, when an inspector began to check out our build site he was very pleasantly surprised! The inspector told Cody, our Construction Manager, that it’s rare for some builders to have the two schedules in sync, especially when clients are funding their home with cash. Needless to say, the inspector was very impressed with the way we conduct our business.

It’s little things like this that you won’t be exposed to until you have already chosen your builder. That’s why it is extremely important to know your builder very well before choose from the selection of custom home builders in Austin TX.

For more information, visit us at www.sterlingcustomhomes.com, or call us at (512) 263-2214.

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Delicious!

Last night the premier custom home builder in Austin, Sterling Custom Homes, celebrated the end of its 22nd year in the custom home building business with its annual Christmas party. The Sterling Team gathered with family and friends at Gumbo’s Steak and Seafood at The Galleria in Bee Cave, TX. If you have not had the chance to go there, we highly recommend it. The food was absolutely amazing! Better than the food, though, was the opportunity for the company to spend some quality time together outside the office. We keep so busy throughout the year that it becomes difficult for us to get together and bond as a staff. The Christmas party always provides us with the opportunity to do just that.

In between ordering and receiving dinner Sterling Custom Homes’ President, Duke McDowell, stood up and addressed the staff. He congratulated them on a job well done in 2011 and expressed his gratitude for everything they do for the company. He went on to express the things he is most thankful for in his life and encouraged other members of the team to do the same. This speaks volumes for how much Duke cares about his co-workers and from the responses I heard last night, everyone holds Duke in high regards as well.

Last night made very evident the principles and values that Sterling Custom Homes is built on. We often refer to the staff as the Sterling Team, but in reality it’s much more than that; it’s the Sterling Family. We are a closely-knit group and if you have built a house with us, you are part of our family, too. If you are planning to build a custom home, we would love to make you a member of our Sterling Family. Contact us today for more information about our family at (512) 263-2214 or visit us at SterlingCustomHomes.com.

The Johnson Residence

Sterling Custom Homes is proud of our ongoing association with one of the finest waterfront communities on Lake Travis – The Reserve at Lake Travis. We remain busy with projects in this fine community, recently completing a beautiful custom home on Poco Bueno Court built to the exact specifications of our clients, the Johnson’s. This has been a fun home to build for some really neat people. The home is an engineering feat, with the pool suspended 15 feet out of the ground and a 10 car garage tucked below the house and pool! Over the years we have come to be known not only for our quality and integrity, but also for the high level of technical expertise we bring to each and every project. We’re a builder with an engineering background, not a marketing company that builds homes, which causes us to stand out among other custom home builders in Austin.

The Mahood Residence

Another project underway in The Reserve at Lake Travis is the Mahood residence on Ruffian Heights Court. A tight-knit family, each of the children had input as we developed this plan and worked through the specifications. The home sits high on the ridge above Lake Travis and will take advantage of the incredible Lake and Hill Country views from that perch. We always look forward to their visits from out of town! This is another fun project that will result in a quality home for a great family.

The Reserve sales staff is the best in the business. If you’re interested in waterfront property on Lake Travis or if you’d like to build on an interior lot, they can walk you through the process and help you find the homesite that’s right for you. Call our friend Nick Spiropoulos at 512-264-2456 for more information about the unparalleled Reserve lifestyle.

Pretty leaves cause ugly messes.

It might just be me, but it sure seems like fall lasted all of about two weeks. It’s that time of year again to start thinking about performing some winter maintenance on your homes to ensure that they maintain their quality of the best custom homes Austin Texas has ever seen. The following are some tips you can use when preparing you Sterling Custom Home for the winter.

Safety Tips – Check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Change or replace your heating system’s filter grids.  You might want to clean the vents, too.

Outdoor Tips – Clean leaves, twigs, and other debris out of your gutters. Trim branches and shrubs away from the house. Stay on top of raking and instead of bagging all the leaves, consider starting a compost pile. You can add perennials and summer plants to it as well. Check to make sure your irrigation system is drained and shut off to prevent pipe bursts due to freezes. Remove and drain garden hoses and store them in a garage or shed. Be sure to cover outdoor spigots to prevent against freezing. Retrieve outdoor furniture cushions and umbrellas and store them in a garage or shed. Cover grills with waterproof covers.

Roof and Window Tips – Replace any missing or damaged shingles or tiles. To minimize risk of injury, consider using a pair of binoculars to examine the roof before getting the ladder out and walking the roof. It might not even be necessary. To help your home keep the cold weather out, examine your window and door frames and caulk any gaps you might find.

These tips will get you started on your yearly winter maintenance. For more tips, visit the Home Maintenance area of our website.

Accounting oriented builders are always fixed on their bottom line. They constantly think, “How can we reduce our cost so we can maximize profit?” Here’s an example. A project requires six 2’ long 2×4’s. This kind of builder would see that the price of lumber for a 12’ long 2×4 is cheaper than six pieces that are 2’ long. After ordering 12’ long 2×4’s, the construction workers will be responsible to cut the 12’ piece into 6 pieces. Yes, this will save the builder some money and you some money, too. That sounds great…in theory. This approach becomes problematic when the cutter, as pobody’s nerfect, makes a mistake in cutting the 12’ piece of lumber, leaving no room for no margin of error. The money saved by not getting the pre-cut 2’ pieces does not outweigh the time lost or additional cost of new lumber.

The next type of builder is Marketing focused. These are the builders you notice through traditional advertising like magazines, newspapers, and billboards. They strive for top-of-mind awareness so you go to them first. Innately you will think that since they are advertising heavily, they must be building lots of homes, have great revenues and produce great results. These marketers sell you an idea that they are the best builder. They will also sell you the idea a home you love, but often your dreams won’t be met through implementation. That doesn’t really sound like the best builder. Always be weary of and wary of strong marketers.

The last type of builder is Construction centered. Ultimately the construction of your home is the most important part of the process. You will live with the results for the rest of your life. Don’t you want, no, deserve the best constructed home? When a builder puts construction first, they are focused on delivering and exceeding the dream you discussed with them through the planning process. Not only are they focused on the results, but also your satisfaction. You can never be completely satisfied unless the construction of your home is exactly the way you want it, something Accounting and Marketing builders could never do.

At Sterling Custom Homes, the Construction of your home and your satisfaction with our product come first. We are a construction company that specializes in the building of the best luxury custom homes in Texas. Do we have accounting and marketing departments? Yes. Those help us become a more complete, well-rounded builder. Our focus remains with taking the home of your dreams and constructing it into a reality.

It is important to understand the differences between builders and to realize what kind of builder each is. To gain a better knowledge of who we are, visit www.sterlingcustomhomes.com.

Heating element installed in outdoor living area

As the premier Austin luxury home builder, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our clients’ experience and satisfaction. Sometimes during the building process, our clients come to us with new ideas and concepts to include in their homes. We are able to incorporate these items through various allowances we provide in the budget of the home.

We are currently finishing up a home in which we have designed an elaborate outdoor living space, complete with pool and spa, disappearing glass wall, summer kitchen, fireplace, and lounge area. Our clients are moving in soon and they want to use their outdoor living space right away. With the cooler weather coming a little earlier this year, that space will need to be heated. We installed four space heaters in the tongue-and-grove ceiling to provide the outdoor lounge area with radiant heat.

Radiant heating focuses on heating people or objects in a certain area, where as convection heating warms only the air in that same area. Outdoor air constantly moves causing convection heating to be very ineffective. The heating elements we install, as seen in the above image, run on electricity instead of gas which is not only more energy efficient, but much cleaner for the environment, too. Another benefit of the elements being electric is that the panel which controls the heating of the area allows you to set the temperature of the space to a specific degree, giving the home owner the luxury of “controlling the weather.”

We always keep our clients’ comfort in mind during the planning and construction stages. This helps us build the best custom homes Austin TX has to offer.  To learn more about how we work with our clients through these stages visit us at www.SterlingCustomHomes.com or contact Gary Grambley at (512) 263-2214. We look forward to talking with you soon.

Custom Homes Austin TX

When considering different custom home builders in Austin to construct the home of your dreams, you must do your due diligence to make sure all your questions are answered before you choose. The following are some important questions to ask each builder. These questions will help you understand who, and what kind, each builder is.

How long have you been building custom homes?

How did you get into the business?

What’s an “investor-spec” system and have you ever been part of one?

What’s the difference between “fixed-price” and “cost-plus” pricing, and which method do you use?

At Sterling Custom Homes, we will be happy to answer any and all these questions in addition to any other questions you may have for us. We build the best custom homes Austin TX has to offer because we are upfront and honest with our clients. It’s our integrity as a builder that sets us apart.

Contact Gary Grambley at gary@sterlinghome.com with any questions you might have. He can’t wait to answer them for you.

Sterling installs spray foam insulation in custom homes in Austin TX.

The time is now for custom home builders in Austin to incorporate green methods into the construction of the homes they build. A recent article from Austin Business Journal made it known that Austin Energy is issuing rebates to customers who are making green upgrades to their homes.

These upgrades combined with other suggestions from Austin Energy and Texas Gas Service and the Federal tax credit of $500 for implementing green practices brings savings to almost $2,000. That’s a lot of green for just going green! This rebate program will end on December 31 so act quickly to start saving.

When you choose to build custom homes in Austin TX with Sterling Custom Homes, we present you with the latest energy efficient technologies that we could incorporate into the building of your home. We have two Certified Green Builders on staff who can answer any questions you might have about green initiatives and energy efficient building processes when you meet with us to discuss your custom home plans.

For more information about our green practices or our building process in general, please visit www.sterlingcustomhomes.com.

Topography, Trees and more effect the custom home building process.

When you are looking for a lot for custom homes in Austin, there are many things to consider. What do you see when you look at an unimproved lot? You may see some nice trees and a great Hill Country view. For me it’s more complicated than that! Many things go through my head when I first walk a lot…

What are the building setbacks?
What are the deed restrictions?
What utilities are available to this property?
Will we need a well and/or septic system?
If there is a sewer system, how deep are the taps buried?
Will we need a grinder pump?

There are many technical questions to be answered, but aside from that, here’s my thought process when I first step foot on a lot to assess it for my client:

What is the sun orientation? I always identify true west and then northwest so I can understand where the afternoon sun will be located and at what angle it will hit the lot in the hottest part of our summer.

The next consideration is topography. Many of the lots we build on have sloping terrain that needs to be incorporated into the design of the home. If the lot slopes from front to back, there may be an opportunity to design an over-under home, where you enter at the main level and go down to the secondary level of the home. If it slopes from side to side, the client may need to decide if they want steps inside the house that transition the slope, or perhaps they would like to make a cut on the property with a retaining wall that would create a level building site.

I also take notice of any trees and their location relative to the probable placement of the home. We’ve designed many homes around magnificent trees to create a beautiful, unique retreat for our clients.

I look closely at the surface soil conditions to see if I can detect any fill on the lot or any evidence of subsurface water that will have to be dealt with on the project. I also want to consider how surface water would be managed on the property.

These are just some of the thoughts going through my head as I assess the feasibility of a lot based on my clients’ needs and budget. I encourage anyone who is considering a lot purchase to get the advice of an expert who understands lot characteristics and home construction so that the “true” cost of the lot can be identified up front. I would be happy to provide you with valuable insight about the lot you are considering and how it could effect the custom home building process before you make your purchase decision.

Best Seat in the House!

Only one or two weeks out of the year are all four professional sports leagues playing and broadcasting to custom homes in Austin simultaneously. To the sports fanatic, this is the most exciting time of the year. Although there might be a lockout in the NBA right now, there is still plenty going on in the sports world, especially with the shake up in the Big 12 and other NCAA conferences, making this college football season even more intense. With the opportunity to watch all these sports from the comfort of your own home, you have to make the most out of your media and game room.

If you are a sports enthusiast you have more than likely heard the phrase, “Go big or go home.” Well when you are planning your custom media room with Sterling Custom Homes, we help you “Go big and stay home.” From HD projectors, to multi-screen walls, to wet bars, to in-wall hidden wiring for surround sound, we’ve got you covered and then some. We love sports too and we are always thinking about how we can help you optimize your media and game room for the ultimate fan experience for you and your guests.

It’s easier now more than ever to be a fan of whatever team you’d like with the sports packages available from content providers, making Multi-screen walls more popular features of the custom homes we build. We want to help you make the most out of every opportunity you have to express the extent of your “fanhood.”

At Sterling Custom Homes, we would love to talk to you about planning your media and game room as well as planning your next custom home. From selecting your lot, through move in and beyond, we want to be there for you, so contact Gary Grambley at (512) 263-2214 or at gary@sterlinghome.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

For more information and pictures of the media and game rooms we’ve built, check out our website.