Hi Robert,
As you know we've been in the new house for a few weeks now, and I wanted to send you a note to let you know how fantastic you've made the whole experience. Your honesty and commitment to doing what was right for us was a welcomed breath of fresh air.
As you know we engaged in conversations with multiple builders representing multiple modular companies before we met with Big Sky and Westchester. When we met with these other contractors it wasn't clear exactly what we were buying. There were times prior to our discussions, where I didn't believe we would be able to:
- Build a house at all
- Build a quality house
- Build the house Therese and I truly wanted
All of these concerns quickly vanished with Big Sky. During the design phase you were open to working with the plans we brought. Being novices to the process, you made us comfortable with the challenges associated with the plans, as well as offering solutions that preserved our architect's intent, but made the element work within the modular process. Most significantly was the reverse gable on the front of the house. Without this gable we would have had a structure that was materially different in the front elevation from our original plans. Perhaps most important to us was that you didn't attempt to change what we brought to you. Many of the other companies we talked with wanted to change window sizes, move or remove windows etc. One memorable proposal showed the windows in the elevations, but could only manage to provide us a price for half of them. When I asked if that meant the rest were included the quote changed pretty quickly.
As we moved into the construction phase, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the prices you quoted was the price we paid. I got a strong sense from the other contractors we met with that this would not have been the case. In addition, we have several friends who've built via the traditional stick construction method where the price they paid was very different from the price they were quoted.
Another aspect that I must complement you on was your incredible patience. As you know the Potter's had several chefs in the kitchen on this project. Each of us at times had our own concerns. It amazes me how available you were throughout the process. I know that I had difficulty getting some prospective contractors to call us back with quotes, yet you were available for even little questions. In addition, your input and ideas on the parts of the project I took on were very welcomed.
From time to time over the course of this project we've asked ourselves what we feel are some of our best and worst decisions. Invariably we're unanimous in the belief the hiring Big Sky was the single best decision we've made in the project. Moreover, I believe that some of the missteps we've made were because we didn't have you do more!
On behalf of my wife and the entire Potter Family thank you so much for making our project a success!
Sincerely,
Dave Potter
Also, as a side note for those who are considering Big Sky and Westchester Modular to build their project I would offer them the following advice:
- Yes, price matters, but choose a contractor you believe you can trust. You'll be dealing with them for several months. Much like any relationship if you don't have trust, it probably won't be a rewarding experience. In this respect I would rank Robert and Big Sky well above everyone we met with about the project.
- Understand what you're buying! Way too often we didn't even know who the modular company was that would be building our house when we met with other Builders. Your contractor can be great, but if he's starting with an inferior product how good can it be?
- Make an apples to apples comparison. Anderson 400 series windows were important to us. Most of the companies we talked with didn't offer Anderson as a standard. These companies made it difficult to understand what the upgrade costs would be . In addition, once we understood the cost of the options that were important to us we found that price difference became negligible.
Good Luck with your project!
