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~ HONESTY & INTEGRITY ~
As guiding principles in everything we do,
honesty and integrity are key ingredients for continued trusting
relationships with our customers. We treat our
customers with respect and we never try to hide anything or cut corners to
to save time or money. It's simply a case of just
"doing the right
thing" and communicating honestly and openly. It is a testament to our
service that our customers remain our friends for many years after
moving into their new homes.
We've all heard stories of homeowners who have had horrendous build experiences, with very little communication from their builder except to tell them how much extra things are going to cost!
Our research has shown that some of the biggest causes of frustration for
people building custom homes with other builders are inflated final
price, extended schedule and poor communication.
At Boss & Mennie, we know that you are putting a lot of trust in us when
you choose us to build your custom home, and we are committed to making the
experience stress free and enjoyable for you. This is how we avoid such
issues at Boss & Mennie:
1) FINAL PRICE - We don't have a standard price per square foot because every custom
home
is different. From our initial discussions, we will be able to give you an
estimated price range for your home, depending on not only the size and
style, but also the level of finishes and materials. As we get deeper into
the design process, we will narrow down the final price, to include
everything you would expect. The price will reflect allowances appropriate
for the type of finishes you expect in your home, and we will explain to you
what those allowances can buy. If any adjustments are needed, they can
easily be made at this stage. If a builder tells you that the $20,000
allowance he is providing for cabinets in your $3 million home is
sufficient, walk away quickly! This will become an expensive change order
when you later realize that $20,000 can't buy what you want in your home. We
will provide detailed specifications for your home so you will know exactly
what is included in your price before you make any major commitment.
2) SCHEDULE - We plan each project to include minimal slack
time, and with the exception of weather related delays, you can expect
progress to be made on your home every day. Our computer based scheduling
allows us to avoid any potential conflicts that could affect the "critical
path" of your project's timeline, and we take our time commitment seriously.
Our construction schedule consists of hundreds, if not thousands, of
individual tasks that need to be completed in a given sequence. At the
beginning of the project, we will provide you with a summarized version of
our schedule, so you will know exactly what will be happening and when. This
schedule will also include critical action dates for custom selections to be
made by you. Some items, such as cabinetry, may have a long lead time, so
selections may need to be made months in advance of the planned installation
date. We make it easy for you to keep on top of your selections, and our
in-house Interior Designer is available to hold your hand throughout the
selection process. For more details on our Project Management, see below.
3) COMMUNICATION - Communication is a vital ingredient in any successful relationship. It is our responsibility to establish and
maintain clear lines of communication with you at all times. Many custom builders take on too many projects to give you and your home the personal
attention you deserve, and the company owners are far removed from the action on the ground. At Boss & Mennie, we personally manage your project,
we give you our cell phone numbers, and we encourage you to contact us directly with any questions or concerns relating to any aspect of your
project.
As a further commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, Boss & Mennie is a Better Business Bureau accredited company.
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Our hands-on management style guarantees that every aspect of your new home
will be built with the highest level of quality and craftsmanship. Each
project is personally managed by Brandon Boss or Graham Mennie, and only the
best materials and highly skilled tradesmen are accepted onto our projects.
Our long working relationships with our subcontractors are based on mutual
respect. We have worked side by side with them, and we know that they consistently deliver the level of quality we demand.
So if Boss & Mennie uses only highly skilled tradesmen, why is hands-on
management so important?
Although each tradesman is highly skilled in their own area of expertise,
the Project Manager is the one person who
has an in-depth understanding of all technical details, schedules, materials, allowances
and customer wishes. Our
physical presence on-site guarantees that work is completed exactly the way
it is supposed to be first time, avoiding time consuming rework. We also
ensure that all necessary work has been completed to our strict quality
standards before the next task starts (we do trust our subcontractors, but
we always verify the quality of all work). By overseeing the work closely,
we can quickly identify any quality concern or potential risk to our
schedule and take evasive action before it becomes an issue. We also
schedule delivery of materials at the exact time they are needed, so they do
not sit around getting wet or damaged. Each of these items result in an
efficient, high quality build.
Finally, when you have questions about your project, you know you will be
talking to someone who not only knows your project in detail, but
more importantly, someone who really cares.
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When you buy or build a
Boss & Mennie home, you are choosing a home that will satisfy the most discerning of tastes. Our passion for
fine architecture and rich finishes guarantees that your home will be designed and constructed with the utmost
attention to detail, incorporating only the finest materials and professional craftsmanship from foundation to roof.
While the word "standard" is rarely used when describing a Boss & Mennie home, amenities such as theme-based movie theaters, climate controlled wine showrooms, solid wood windows and doors and state of the art home automation are just a few of the things that are "standard" to us.
It is a sad reality that many builders don't pay enough attention to the
hidden items in a home, putting more focus on the visible details that make a home
look good. Building codes are often seen as a goal that must be met to pass
building inspections, and if something can get by the Building Inspector
without him or her noticing it, then the builder gets a free pass. The harsh Florida environment always wins against poor quality
construction, and the homeowner pays the price.
Every Boss & Mennie home is built with pride and attention to detail that
you should expect in a home of such distinction, and that applies to every
aspect of the home, whether it's the center of focus in a main room or
hidden behind a wall or underground. Building codes are seen as an absolute
minimum requirement, and we always aim to exceed code requirements to build
stronger, more comfortable and more efficient homes.
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One of the traps that many architects or designers fall
into when designing a larger home, is that they really just design a small
home - but bigger - and add a bunch of extra rooms! "Isn't that what a
larger home is?" I hear you say. Technically, yes, it is a larger home, but
not one you'd want to live in. We typically build
large homes, but we design them so they really feel like somewhere you'd
want to live - not big mazes with chopped up floor plans and all the
character of an empty shoe box. We listen to our customer's needs and we use
our knowledge and creativity to design a custom home that is beautiful,
comfortable and functional. We use spaces intelligently, separating bedrooms
for privacy, and placing entertainment areas according to the way you want
to use your home. We use moldings and proportions
appropriate for the architectural style and size of the home, often using historical
precedence as a guide. Our restoration work has taught us a lot about
historical accuracy and appropriate use of proportions, and we have even had
custom moldings made for a new home to match the profile of a 1908
restoration project. We make sure that every room is interesting and unique,
but consistent in style.
A true custom design must also take into account the lot and its surroundings, considering all that nature has to offer (such as water views, trees and natural light)
and a few things that nature didn't play a part in (such as neighboring properties
and building set-backs). If a lot has a view of particular interest, such as a waterfront
location, wherever possible we will use a high lift to evaluate views from different locations
on the lot at various heights. This gives us valuable insight early in the
design process, allowing us to place rooms in
the home according to the views you want.
Custom Design By
Dorosinski, Campbell Design Associates, Inc.
3D Modeling - We don't live in a two dimensional world, so
naturally most people have trouble visualizing their home when it's
presented to them on a flat piece of paper. Have you ever looked at a home
and thought "something just doesn't look right"? Wouldn't you like to see
your home before we even start building it? Well, we haven't figured out how
to do that yet, but we have the next best thing. As a standard part of our
design process, we develop fully rotatable computer generated 3D models of
each home. Not only does this allow you to see your home in a virtual world
before we start building it, an exciting prospect for any new homeowner, but
this is also an invaluable design tool. If you see anything that you don't
like, we still have the opportunity to make the changes at the design stage,
avoiding costly and time consuming changes during construction. We can also
change colors electronically to help you make your color selections. Creating a computerized 3D model of a home is a
very complex and time consuming process, but we believe in the value of 3D
modeling so much that we include it in our design service at no additional
charge.
For more
details on our custom design process, visit our
Custom Design page.
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How
many times have you felt happy about a transaction, only to find that once you sign the dotted line you're
just another completed sale? Unfortunately, this has been the case with some
homeowners too. After meeting their builder a few times, and feeling
confident that they will be taken care of throughout their project, they
enter into a contract and then things start to go downhill. The caring
company owner doesn't seem to care so much any more, and they find that their home is being managed by a
salaried supervisor who is managing a dozen other projects at the same time.
All the detailed communication between the homeowner and builder is
lost, and the builder is never available to meet or take phone calls.
At Boss & Mennie, you can rest assured that we will never leave you in
the dark regarding your home. Even if you are out of town, our online
Customer Information Center will keep you informed of the progress of your
home, including photos to show your family and friends. If you have any
questions, you can contact Brandon Boss or Graham Mennie directly at any
time. We will give you our cell phone numbers and we encourage you to use
them! You won't have to wait for a response while we track down a supervisor
to get answers, and you will never experience a breakdown in communication
as your wishes are loosely translated and misinterpreted by the time they
reach the jobsite. We personally manage your project to ensure that your new
home is exactly what you want it to be, and that your build experience is
stress free and enjoyable.
And the service doesn't stop there! Before you move into your new Boss &
Mennie home, we will do a final walk-through with you to make sure you are
completely happy, and we will continue to follow-up with you after move-in,
including a 6 month and 12 month paint touch up. If you have any problems
after move-in, we don't just provide you with a list and expect you to call
the appropriate trades to have problems resolved - call us directly and
we'll take care of it.
We understand that building a new custom home is a large commitment, both
personally and financially. We are proud to put our names on each and every
home we build, and we truly care for the customers we build them for. We
don't take on more than we can handle, because it's important to us
that our customers experience nothing but first class attention from our
initial discussions to move-in day and beyond. If we don't exceed your
expectations, we have failed to meet our own.
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