Custom Home Builders
in the Charleston, SC area
Icon Construction is a custom home builder and your single point of accountability offering a full-service custom process you'll enjoy, from start to finish.
You’ve worked hard and you’re planning for a new custom home build that reflects your personality and lifestyle. You're also planning for generations to come and are ready for all of those “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” ideas to be built into your new space. And you certainly don’t want to be limited by pre-existing cookie-cutter house plans.
What to Expect from Our Process
Our custom homes include designs with elevations, floor plans, roof plans, electrical plans, and the other items required to build your new home. Being a custom home builder, we also work with clients who bring their own custom home plans to the project.
This is what you can expect from the home building process when you work with us.
- Inspiration - start capturing your vision
- Drawings - working with the architect
- Design - selection of finishes, trim, flooring etc.
- Construction Kick-Off - groundbreaking
- Framing - walls are shaping your new home
- Mechanicals - placement of vents, electrical, plumbing
- Interior and Exterior - window trim, baseboards, facade, etc.
- Finishes - paint, cabinets, flooring, etc.
- Enjoy Your New Home
Along the way, you'll have access to our Icon Connect app where you'll be able to see your house's progress in real time.
Do you already own the land where you'd like to build your home? If so, great. We will assist in reviewing the land survey with you and what it reveals, let you know the dimensions of a home that will fit within your lot, and to see if the house utilities will be well/septic or city water/sewer.
Still looking for the perfect piece of land to build a custom home? We work with several realtors familiar with the requirements of a custom home build. We would be happy to put you in touch with them to help make the selection and purchasing process that much easier for you.
With your ideal piece of land in your name, there are still a few things you’ll need to be ready to build. Land Title and Construction Surveys are required and they must be recorded with the county. A land title survey will include boundary improvements, and easements.
A Construction Survey is used to stake out markers and reference points to guide the building of new structures such as your new home and roadways. Typically, a construction survey will include:
- Site plan
- Building setbacks
- Topography
- Grading plan
- Driveway location
- Proposed retaining walls
- Proposed house location
- Confirmation if house location is in a flood plain
- Utility information
- Main floor elevation
- Proposed locations for septic, basement, or pool, if applicable
We work with an experienced surveyor in the area and we’re happy to make those introductions.
The site visit is an exciting step in the custom homes building process. It allows you an opportunity to tell us even more about your new home needs and the features you’re looking for. We’ll also take the time to discuss with you the items specific to your land. For instance, we’ll discuss drainage, home orientation, utility sources, driveway and garage locations, site boundaries and more. If you want to see the sunrise in the mornings or sunsets in the evening from a specific room in the home, let us know so that we can design accordingly.
These are the items we’ll need to create the final designs for your review.
At Icon Construction, we’ve assembled a team proven to design spectacular homes that our clients love. The design process starts when we all meet to discuss the options you’re looking for in your home. We also discuss the budget we have to work with to make those things come to life. At this meeting, we encourage you to share photos, sketches, saved internet images etc. that will help us, as your custom home builder, to understand the essence of what you’re looking for. During the design process, we’ll reference these images and the notes taken during this meeting.
From there, we will schedule an initial meeting with our architect who will begin your custom home design. Once a preliminary plan is chosen, and all changes have been made, a final set of plans will be produced. This process usually takes three to four months.
We will reference these house plans throughout the actual build process. Making sure the plans are exactly as you want them is our priority at this stage.
The build process lasts anywhere from 6 months to a full year depending on the complexity of the home and the selected materials.
Permitting
During this time, a lot of things will be happening. Our first step is starting the permitting process. With permits in hand, we are ready to prepare the site.
Site Preparation
This includes clearing trees, creating a construction entrance, and installing the permit box. We’ll ask to meet you on site, too, to discuss tree clearing (or keeping) and any additional grading that may be needed.
Foundation
Once the site is prepped, it’s time to start forming your custom home’s new foundation. Once formed, and with Engineering approval, we begin pouring the foundation. The concrete is given time to cure before moving onto the next phase of the build process.
Construction
This is what you’ve been waiting for. At this stage, your new home starts to take shape with framing, roofing, siding, and windows. The exterior is looking just like the approved house plan. On the inside we’re adding doors, drywall, plumbing and electrical, wood trim, countertops and cabinets etc. Pretty soon, your house is ready for you.
Walkthrough
Throughout the entire build process, we schedule progress meeting walk-throughs with you to ensure everything is on track. At any time, we welcome your questions and feedback. There is a final walkthrough before move-in. You’ll use that time to note anything that needs to be adjusted or fixed prior to spending your first night in your new custom home.
Warranty
After the completion of your home and within 30 days of move-in, let us know if there are any items that need our attention. We find that once people are living in a home, they find small things they wouldn’t find during a final walkthrough. For instance, a cabinet door is loose, or the back door sticks.