Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What about Built Green and Our Energy Efficient Building Practices?
Solomons Construcion is currently finishing an EnergyStar and Colorado Built Green home. Green building has been in the blood of Solomons Construction since the beginning. Alyce grew up in Sunshine Canyon and watched her father build homes from as much salvaged material as he could find. If someone had thrown something away, and it could be incorporated into one of his homes it never made it to the landfill. When David and Alyce built their first home in 1986 the architect called out 2x10 headers over all windows in the house. It was a common practice back then, but a terrible waste of lumber and an increased cost to the project as a whole. Since then, and for many years since, we have been careful in the design or our homes to take advantage of accurate engineering to reduce waste, increase energy efficiency, and reduce costs. These practices, along with our recent Built Green licensing, help Solomons build highly efficient custom homes.
How Much Will a Home or Project Cost?
This is the most important question to most of us, and the answer can be complex. Whether building a home or embarking on a remodeling project, there are many things that can impact costs, because construction materials can vary in price signigicantly. First, there are products homeowners pick out, such as plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, or flooring that can vary the project's costs. For example, you can pick a chandelier that costs $3700, or you can purchase all of the light fixtures for the entire home for the same amount. Second, there are building materials and subcontractor costs that can also vary the project's costs. We have seen the costs of OSB sheathing vary anywhere from $6.38 to $21.00 per sheet, depending on the supply of the product and how it has been affected by things such as production output or the east coast hurricane season. A good starting point for determining the cost of a remodel/addition is the website www.costvsvalue.com. For the price of an existing home, www.realtor.com is the best place to start. For the price of a home that you wish to build, a base cost per square foot can be a starting point, but can lead to a lot of disappointment when you start adding the features that you really want. The best price comparison for a house that you would like to build comes from a detailed specification list showing the finishes and fixtures you want in the home. We work with each potential customer asking detailed questions that, in turn, help us put together a specification list tailored to their specific requests and needs.
What Types of Projects Does Solomons Construction Do?
We can do anything from a simple basement finish, to a custom home that shows off all the beauty of a home in Colorado. We build both homes to be sold and presold custom homes. Click on our "current projects" link to see what we are working on at this time.
Here is a list of our recent projects.
- Build a custom home to be sold
- Build a custom home for a client
- Add an addition to a great room, change point loads and remove interior walls, move the staircase, and vault a flat kitchen ceiling to allow a complete kitchen & great room remodel
- Finish a basement, adding a wet war and theatre room & Bring a basement up to current energy efficient requirements & current regional building codes
How Many Homes /Projects Do We Have Active at a Given Time?
On the average, we usually build somewhere between 2 to 3 homes per year, with a number of remodel/addition projects also active at the same time.
Why Do You Not Build More Homes Per Year?
To be honest, we are specific about what we build. We are closely involved with the many details associated with any project and, in some cases, we do somethings ourselves so that we can get the quality that we believe should be in the project. See our tile a faux links to view just a couple of things we personally complete in many of our custom homes.