In Business: Berge Construction Explores Designing A Home

Building your dream home doesn’t need to be stressful. The owner of Berge Construction, Matt Berge, said he takes his clients through a three-step process. The first step includes the lot visits, the design development and the product selection. He uses a software called Chief Architect to show clients how a house layout can potentially look.

“We can do a preliminary walkthrough; now, it’s not going to look like the home that they build because I guarantee you, they’re going to change and tweak a lot of their designs,” Matt Berge said. “But what we can do is paying around with colors, they’re not quite sure what they want. What’s a shingle color with a sighting color. We can actually start playing with it that right here in front of them.”

Berge said the second step and the first question clients always ask about is pricing. Berge said pricing is always the most difficult question to answer right off the bat because there are many factors that need to be taken into account.

“I don’t know what the soil conditions are, I don’t know the challenges of the site. I’m looking at septic systems, I’m looking at wells, I’m looking at putting a driveway in, is there tree clearing, is there existing infrastructure on the site?” Berge said.

Berge said it is important for him to know what his clients are envisioning for their home.

“The customization of the home or making their home their own is huge,” Berge said.

Berge said he works with clients step-by-step when it comes to picking the interior finishes.

“I work at the client’s pace, it’s not a, ‘hey, you got to pick a color out right now’ type thing. It’s really kind of just understanding what that look is going to be. We are not chiselling anything into stone,” Berge said. “What we’re doing is we’re developing an idea so we can put an accurate price to the home.”

The third and final step is the building process. Berge said this step can take months depending on the complexity of house. He said communication is crucial to ensure that the clients are making good informed decisions when it comes to their home.