Assemble the property file

Every major project moves faster when the paper exists before it is needed. The survey, title information, prior permits, geotechnical reports if any exist, utility locations, and any HOA or design-review requirements belong in one place, shared with your team.

In Altadena, hillside properties add considerations—drainage, access, slope stability—that may already be documented from previous work on the property. Finding those reports early is worth real money.

Make the decidable decisions early

Construction calendars are shaped by decisions with long lead times: glazing packages, structural systems, major equipment, and finish materials that require ordering months ahead. Owners who make these decisions during pre-construction trade a few intense weeks for a build that flows.

A good builder structures this for you—a procurement plan tied to the schedule, with decision deadlines that are real rather than decorative.

Structure the budget honestly

A construction budget has three parts: the known scope, the allowances for decisions not yet made, and a contingency for what no one can see yet. Budgets that omit the third part are not optimistic—they are incomplete.

Ask your builder how allowances are set, what happens when a decision exceeds an allowance, and how change decisions are documented. The answers describe what your financial experience of the project will actually be.

Plan the human logistics

Construction is lived, not just watched. Before work begins:

  • Where will you live, and for how long is that sustainable if the schedule shifts?
  • How will site access, parking, and deliveries work on your street?
  • Who is your single point of contact, and what is the communication rhythm?
  • How will decisions be recorded so they can be found six months later?

Set the communication pattern

The best working relationships in construction are boring in the best way: a regular update, a known decision cadence, surprises raised when they are small. Establish that pattern before the first shovel, when goodwill is high and pressure is low.

Preparation does not eliminate the unexpected—no honest builder claims it would. It means the unexpected arrives into a system that can absorb it.

This article is general information, not legal, insurance, permitting, or financial advice. The film and stills on this site are brand-film visualizations of our design language — conceptual imagery, not photographs of a completed JMB project.