Tabernacle Homes

My wife and I recently moved into our dream home, a Bellagio story and a half (4800 sq ft on the main and second level) built by Chris Carley and Steve Trued of Tabernacle Homes. I wanted to thank both Chris, Steve, Laurie and their entire team and all the subs for all their hard work as well as their patience in working with us to create our version of their plan.

The experience -We signed with Chris and we began building in March. Despite known cost increases for steel, concrete and lumber Chris honored the 2011 build cost. Chris went out of his way to help us find a lot in a neighborhood offering estate size home lots. Best of all the lot was below market value and sold by owner instantly saving us 3% realtor commissions on the seller/developers side. By Mid March the foundation went in and we slowly watched the home progress. My wife and I might be considered a builders worse nightmare as we are slight perfectionists and we were on the job site every day without fail, camera in hand. Once the house was framed in, Steve Trued took over the build. As partners, Steve and Chris are well paired. My view is that Chris is the new business development guy and Steve is the Project Manager. Steve kept his subs on point and his presence insured that details were adhered to given the nature of high end home builds. What started out as a standard Bellagio with an oversized 42' deep/1600 sq ft garage took a turn with lots of custom upgrades. We were making changes on the fly and Steve was very good about providing estimates on the costs as well as very receptive to the changes in general. I have seen too many builders use upgrades as their profit center, so considering that "Pella" windows, hand scraped hardwood floors and so many other upgrades were standard to begin with, the changes we made definitely had positive ROI and made our home one of a kind.

Prior to closing, I had two welcome surprises. First, the conservative home appraisal came in $30k over the closing price. I was feeling pretty good that I had some instant equity. Second, I had my home inspector visit prior to close and he did an energy evaluation using a blower fan with elaborate meters as well as temperature sensing cameras to find the source of any drafts. The verdict "if the house was any tighter, you would need fresh air returns" Given the size of the house, this was important to me as my first full month energy bill came in for a very cold December and it was significantly less than my prior 3500sq ft home! Wow, money well spent on the blown in insulation upgrade that Steve recommended (it will have paid for itself in the first 12 months - great ROI)!

Thinking about building with Tabernacle. Great choice if you do not want a cookie cutter house and you want a full custom experience.

Our experience began with a viewing of two Bellagio model homes last spring that were both substantially similar to the one we are nearing completion on. We instantly fell in love with the unique plan, on design and value. Our interaction with Chris sealed the deal after we met and got to know each other. I had met with other builders in the past (4 yrs) and got nowhere near the same impression of trust and integrity that I got, and still continue to appreciate with Chris, Steve, and their entire wonderful company's staff, to this day.
Chris actually helped us to find the lot of our dreams...positioning us in a neighborhood poised for an instant equity gain that we would have never probably even heard about had it not been for Chris recommending we "take a look up there".
Our home, not unlike the reviewer's below, is a semi-custom home. That means we essentially modified a builder's existing plan with our individual requests. In our case the Bellagio plan had to incorporate a modified 3rd car garage in order to satisfy the developer's subdivision req. Modifications take time! In our case, the Contract was signed (yes, with full awareness of the aforementioned buy-out clause clearly noted and even discussed) in late April, and the permit was issued mid-July. Excavation started the next day once the permit was obtained in mid-July.
I work on engineering and heavy industrial construction projects for a living, and would comment that Tabernacle's overall schedule performance rivals what my company does on a daily basis on multi-million dollar projects.
Cost Projection Observation:
I have had price certainty, within any rational person's reasonable expectation, from day one. I found the Excel sheet described by the reviewer as quite helpful and thorough. The upgrades I assume the reviewer is talking about below might be things like tile, flooring, and finishes. The builder relies on suppliers for that information. During selections, the suppliers show you what is in your allowance, and also show you alternates. You can easily ballpark the value of the upgrade yourself during selection if you do some basic math and can calculate the square footages. Change orders on our home have been very reasonable and have been only on items that I have directly asked for. Any buyer should be aware that changes are inherent in the evolution of any build project. For example, upgrades to home audio (sub price), upgrades to tile and flooring (supplier price), appliance upgrades even vs. a generous allowance (Factory Direct price)...easy, just have a reasonable (5%) "slush fund" set aside for this.
The allowances are clearly defined on the Excel scope document…clearly and concisely listed on one page. What I observe, as expected, is a builder acting as construction manager enlisting multiple reputable subcontractors in a timely manner to complete our home. Tabernacle is working on over 16 homes last count, so they presumably have adequate backlog and solvency.
We observed subs with multiple employees WORKING OVERTIME to complete our home as promised (7-8 months from Permit).
In closing, something one must realize from day one in a custom or semi-custom home build project, is that it is a partnership between you the Owner and your Builder. When one side or the other is dishonest and not forthright (or indecisive for that matter), that partnership, built on trust, is broken.You are not building a cookie cutter tract home in a slap 'em up subdivision. Adjust your expectations accordingly, try to relax and enjoy this unique lifetime experience in the process!