PROJECTS
Scottsdale's Green Building Testimonial
Dear Tom,
I wanted to take a moment to thank Tom Norris Homes for permitting us to use your Green Building home that is currently under construction in Legend Trails as a training facility for our inspection staff. We appreciate the time that you took to be a part of our training program and its process.
The field classes were a great success. Our inspection staff was impressed with the construction methods that you utilized, and how these methods will reward your clients with energy savings.
These sessions being held at your home will help all of our inspection staff to better serve all or our Green Building Contractors. By allowing us to use your home for our training program, the inspection staff now has a better understanding of what is involved during a Green Building Inspection.
We look forward to working with Tom Norris Homes on future Green Building projects in Scottsdale. Well done!
Sincerely,
Robert J. Petrillo, C.B.O.
Building Inspection Supervisor
City of Scottsdale
Building a Tom Norris Home From Afar
Dear Tom and Staff:
After our recent visit to Phoenix from Omaha to check on the progress of our home construction we are compelled to write and tell you how grateful we are that we chose you for our builder.
As you know we purchased our “dirt” several years ago, and started designing our home immediately. We then made several trips over the next few years and spent many hours searching and interviewing various builders. None had your reputation and we realized it was a win for us when we toured many of your works in progress. From the beginning after only verbally giving you the go ahead on the project one evening, we received a fax from you the very next morning with preliminary designs on the home, which confirmed our confidence that we had made the right choice for our builder.
You have made our trepidation of building from a distance almost painless. Because this is a “unique” custom home, your introducing us to the Scottsdale Green Building program enabled us to agree with your recommendation to use Omni Block construction. Then as construction progressed, we decided to change from wood walls and trusses construction to all steel. We appreciated that you were able to diligently find the resources and professionals to put this “commercial” concept into the home without losing the aesthetics of the design with minimum disruption of the time frame.
We appreciate in our absence your attention to detail and your construction attitude that this is a project, when completed, will be one you will be proud of and we will be happy with. Your forethought, diligence, and constant communication via phone, e-mail, faxes and mail, including progressive pictures enables us to see and follow this progress as if we were there.
As we approach the final stages of our dream home we feel you have succeeded in your pledge to us at the beginning of the project that you would build us a beautiful, quality home.
Thank you Tom,
Jack and Kathleen
Omaha, Nebraska
Tom Norris' Personal Design Approach
To Whom it May Concern,
When we decided to build our “retirement” home, without benefit of a sub-division builder with models to choose from and fixed floor plans, we were pretty uncertain about all that was involved. We had a basic idea of the floor plan, gleaned from our previous homes and many trips to model homes, etc., but we had no real concept of how to go about getting actual plans, permits, subcontractors, etc. In addition, the lot we chose needed some special site preparation, and engineering expertise to properly place the building. We obtained the names of several custom homebuilders that worked in our area from our realtor, and asked them for estimates based on our rough plans.
One of these builders was Tom Norris. Tom’s personal approach was to carefully take us through his process of working out plans from our simple computer model. By importing our file into his professional design program, he worked out exactly what we wanted in a floor plan, including actual dimensions of all the rooms, ceiling heights, etc., and used his expertise to make sure that the house would be “buildable”, that is, meet the engineering requirements of Maricopa County. Tom made many suggestions throughout the design process that resulted in improvements to our ideas, things we never would have done without his expertise. The end results was a basic set of design drawings that were suitable for both accurate quoting and for submittal to an engineering firm for the final design drawings. This approach gave us significant confidence that we could get the house we wanted.
Tom’s approach to the quoting process was his “basic cost plus” plan, where he obtained subcontractor quotes for all aspects of the construction, and used his expertise to choose the best price/quality options for us. He charged us a fixed percentage of the total as his fee. Since he shared all bids with us, we were completely involved in the process, and knew at all times where we stood on cost and time. Most important of all was that Tom finished the job within about $1,800 of his original estimate!
The actual building process was much smoother than we ever expected. It was evident that Tom had excellent rapport with the subcontractors, knew what needed to be done and when to have it done, etc. He was always available to us for questions and personal inspections, and was able to handle all the little “glitches” that came up. The house was finished on time, and met all of our expectations. We have been living in the home for almost three years, and we have no cracks in the floor or walls, everything works, and we love the place.
It is obvious that we are extremely pleased with our Tom Norris home, and with the experience of building it with Tom himself, and with his staff. His straightforward approach, his knowledge of the building business, and his patience and concern for our needs made this possibly stressful experience both enjoyable and very successful.
Thank you Tom!
Arlene and Bob
The Tom Norris Repeat Client
Dear Tom,
Bill and I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for the hard work that you have been doing on our latest project with Tom Norris Homes. We were so nervous when you designed and built our first custom home several years’ back, as we had never built custom before. We are so much more relaxed and having so much more fun with this project the second time around.
As you know, even though we loved our first Tom Norris Home, we received an offer on it that Bill and I could not turn down. Though we loved living in it, we simply did not realize what an investment you had created for us. That is why we are back for another…not to put any pressure on you, Tom!
We love this second design even more than the first and cannot wait for you to start building it. Our friends have told us about their custom homebuilding horror stories and Bill and I feel so fortunate to have found you when we did, as we know that what you all do is a labor of love.
Though we have promised ourselves that we will stay in this house longer than two years, if you guys do too good of a job, we may be back for number three sooner than you think.
Once again, thank you for your tireless work and commitment.
Sincerest Wishes,
Marci and Bill
Open Book Cost Plus Accounting
Dear Tom,
The answer to your question is yes. We shopped around quite a bit and talked to several builders and contractors that we know. A fixed price contract was running in the 25% - 30% margin range, and it would have been marked up quite a bit more for our project in order to cover all of the unknowns involved with our hillside lot. The only way to keep the cost in budget was to do it on a cost-plus basis, where we accepted some of the risk. We were really uncomfortable at first with the cost-plus concept because we didn't have a maximum price to work with. Looking back through, it was the right decision and if we ever build again, I'm sure it will be a cost plus deal.
We began to feel more comfortable with Tom and his cost-plus accounting system after he shared his business plan with us. At the time, his emphasis was on getting established, building his references, and becoming viable in the custom-home building business. His willingness to review his business plan with us was one of the things that gave us the needed confidence that we were working with someone who was open, honest and in this for the long haul. A lot of custom-home horror stories seem to stem from unfortunate homeowners who accepted the lowest bid, only to have the builder go out of business during or right after construction. There are a lot of reasons why builders fail, but poor cash flow and bad financial planning is near the top of the list. At the end of the day, you want your builder to make a reasonable profit and have realistic business projections so they will be around to finish your project and stand behind your home, long after you have moved in. The last thing you need is a contractor who feels like he’s getting squeezed and then starts cutting corners or cooking the books. Some of our friends got burned this way. They saved $20K on their house, but they spent $400K for something they aren't really happy with. Simply said, everyone is in the business to make a profit, and it’s better to work with someone who is up front about their expectations and goes the extra mile to earn the money you pay them.
That sums up our feelings regarding Tom Norris Homes and the cost-plus accounting system. We were a little concerned at first, but being able to review and approve every single bid and subcontract gave us a lot of control over our project and provided excellent visibility as to how we were spending our money. The best part is, Amy and I wake up every morning knowing how fortunate we are to live in such a great home, and the truth is, I don't think we could have done it any other way.
Let me know if you have any more questions and thank you again for your hospitality at the Phoenix Open. If you have any more questions, or want to come see our house, just give us a call.
Best,
Steve
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