Know Exactly What Happens Next

Before we schedule anything, we need answers to four questions. What do you want to do? When do you want to do it? Who is going to be signing the contract? What do you want to spend?

They look simple written down. They're the reason our projects finish when we say they will.

The fourth one makes people uncomfortable, and we understand why. Nobody wants to name a number and watch it become the price. That's not how we use it. Your budget tells us what's possible, what isn't, and whether we should be talking about a different scope before you spend a dollar on design. If we can't get clear answers to all four, we won't move forward, and we'll tell you exactly why.

We come see the space, take stock of what we're working with, and confirm that what you described on the phone matches what's actually in front of us.

We ask that every decision maker be there. If someone signing the contract can't make it, we'd rather reschedule than let a surprise surface at signing. This is also the point where we'll tell you if your timeline or budget doesn't line up with the project you want. You'll get the reason, not a runaround.

We put together a preliminary sketch, a plain-language scope of work, and an estimate built on that scope. You'll see all three at once, along with a Design Services Agreement that spells out the design parameters and what they cost.

Nothing here is a guess dressed up as a number. And if we can't deliver what we told you we'd deliver, within the parameters we set at the start, your design fee comes back to you. We can offer that because of everything that happened in steps one and two. By the time you've paid us anything, we've already asked the hard questions, stood in your house, and priced the work against a scope we wrote down.

Now the detailed work starts. We take precise measurements and photographs, draw the existing space with everything that matters in it, and then draw the space as you'll actually live in it. We spec the components that drive both cost and quality: cabinets, fixtures, windows, doors.

You'll finish this step with a complete drawing set, any engineering the project requires, a construction contract, and a preliminary schedule. Every stakeholder attends that presentation, because misunderstandings turn into change orders, and change orders turn into delays.

If you already have plans, bring them. If you have nothing but a rough idea and a folder of photos, that's fine too. Most of our clients start there.

Before a single tool comes out, we hold a Pre-Construction Meeting to walk the plans, the scope, and the schedule, and to introduce you to the 7Acre team you'll be seeing on site every day.

Day one is almost always the same: dumpster placement, site preparation, and anything else our team will need to ensure a smooth and efficient process. After that, every project writes its own story.

Before we hang drywall, we walk the project with you and look at everything that's about to disappear behind it. Framing, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, insulation.

It's your last clean look at the bones of the project, and it's the cheapest moment to move something two inches to the left.

At 98% complete, we bring you back into the space to experience it the way it's meant to be experienced. Cleaned. Punch list mostly closed. A presentation we'd be proud to put our name on.

Anything still outstanding gets written down in that meeting, along with a committed completion and sign-off date. Not "soon." A date.

We carry a one-year limited warranty on renovations, remodels, commercial upfits, and existing home modifications. New home construction and pools follow North Carolina and South Carolina statutes.

Our workmanship standard is the National Association of Home Builders' Residential Construction Performance Guidelines, Fourth Edition, so there's a published reference behind the word "quality" instead of just our opinion. Warranty requests go to warranty@7-acre.com, in writing, so nothing gets lost in a voicemail.