The builderyour neighborskeep going back to.
Eight out of ten Belanger clients come back for a second project. Not would recommend. Come back. The kitchen they did not build the first time. The all season room they did not know they wanted in 1998 and do now.
Call Steve directly↗
He will tell you how tofire a builder before helets you hire one.
He has written down the questions. He will give them to you whether or not you call.
- i.
Ask for the framing lead by name.
A builder who cannot is selling a pitch, not a building.
- ii.
Ask what ages worst in his work, and what he changed.
A builder who cannot answer has not been watching.
- iii.
Ask for the change-order log from his last job.
The policy is wishes; the log is what happened.
- iv.
Ask who runs the Manual J calc.
“The HVAC sub” is the wrong answer.
Steve walked the lot in April before we broke ground in August. He knew where the light would fall in October before we did.
Four things he builds well.
Custom homes
On your lot or ours. Steve drafts in CAD. His crew builds. Steve walks the punch list with you.
Large renovations
Estate scale. Whole house. Lived in while we work, when that is what is needed. Owner on site every Monday and most Fridays.
Aging in place
Two stories now. One story later. A CAPS specialty.
Porches and rooms
All season rooms, screen porches, decks at second story height. The room the house was missing.
He builds the house you will still want when your body has changed.
A couple commissions a house in their fifties. Years later, the mother-in-law moves in. The wife, in her seventies, breaks a hip. Most houses built for healthy people in their fifties become traps when those same people are in their seventies. A Belanger house is built knowing this.
Wider doorways, planned even when no one needs them. Bathrooms framed so a grab bar can go in later without tearing out tile. A stair landing sized for a lift that may never come, and may.
Material as character,
not as finish.
Brass cold to the hand in February. The grain of the oak we mill in Howell. The tile join your finger will know.
For twenty years,
he has been giving Saturdays away.
A Saturday morning. A stranger's front yard. Pressure treated lumber. Finished by noon. No payment. No signage. The Brighton Rotary Raiders. Habitat for Humanity.
He once built a saltwater aquarium
into a living room wall.
Be ruthless
on your own behalf.
Here is how.
Ten questions to ask any builder before you sign. Including the ones we would rather you did not ask us.
- i.
Ask for the framing lead by name.
A builder who cannot is selling a pitch, not a building.
- ii.
Ask what ages worst in his work, and what he changed.
A builder who cannot answer has not been watching.
- iii.
Ask for the change-order log from his last job.
The policy is wishes; the log is what happened.
- iv.
Ask who runs the Manual J calc.
“The HVAC sub” is the wrong answer.
- v.
Ask how long his subs have been with him.
A revolving roster is a man who blames everyone but himself.
- vi.
Show up at an active jobsite at 4pm on a Friday.
The site you find is the site you will get.
- vii.
Ask what he turned down last year, and why.
A man who has refused nothing has no standards to defend.
- viii.
Ask how he protects what he is not building.
How he treats the rest of your house is how he treats the rest of you.
- ix.
Ask what he does when a sub is two days late.
The answer is who runs the job.
- x.
Ask how long he stays on the punch list after substantial completion.
Builders finish. Salesmen close.
Where he is held to standards.
Nine institutions Steve has been a member of, contributed to, or been certified by. Some renew his standing every year. Some call him at 6am on a Saturday. All have measured him.
The phone
is the brand.
810 · 227 · 6118Steve answers, most days. Leave a message if not — he'll call back the same day.