REA Homes Proven Building Process

The REA Homes proven building process ensures that our clients can transform their existing home into the home of their dreams. We understand that not every home project will be a good fit for our niche expertise.

We specialize in substantial and complex home projects – custom homes, whole home renovations, lower-level finishes, and home addition projects in the St. Louis area, but mostly near the 270 Corridor in areas like Town & Country, Des Peres, Frontenac, and Ladue. Our mission is to help our clients transform, expand, and modernize their existing living spaces to achieve more comfortable, efficient, and healthier homes.

We select custom and renovation projects with complex needs that demand deep knowledge and experience, to efficiently solve problems, and come up with creative building solutions that keep our clients’ vision alive and well.

Our Proven Process

Step 1 MUTUAL CONNECTION

Start your search by finding a builder. We are a phone call away and are looking to select clients who share our mutual goal of building a home that offers true luxury and comfort.

•  PHONE CALL
•  NO CHARGE HOME VISIT
•  INITIAL IDEA COLLABORATION
•  BUDGET ALIGNMENT

We begin with a consultation to understand your project goals and budget. We’ll discuss your dream space and explore the possibilities. We are a boutique builder who works with select clients. We work with clients who desire luxurious homes or renovated spaces that suit their family's lifestyle, combined with healthier, more comfortable, high-performing homes. You can trust that we will be transparent about your vision and budget expectations to make sure that we are a good fit for your project from the start. If our values don’t align, we’ll let you know and do our best to refer you to a builder that can better serve you. No matter what, always start your home remodel or custom home search with a builder before paying for design plans.

Step 2 COLLABORATION & COMMITMENT

Share your vision with our vetted partners so we can make your dreams a reality within your budget.

•  VISION & DESIGN
•  PLANNING
•  RISK MITIGATION
•  GUARDIANS OF THE BUDGET

When a client shares their vision, we want all parties to have a voice at the table. Effective planning helps align the client’s vision and budget with what is realistically possible. Our creative partners help bring your vision into an initial set of design plans that allow us to start the bidding, budgeting, and preliminary selection process.

Once we are aligned on the high-level vision of your future home and budget range, we will enter into a two-part contract with our clients. Phase 1 involves a modest investment to cover the due diligence process and includes all the pre-construction activities, including meetings with the owner's architect, interior designer, civil engineer, city officials, subdivision trustees, and visits to showrooms with the client to make preliminary selections that allow us to create a highly detailed budget based on preliminary selections and architectural drawings. We collaborate on the joint development of a budget for construction. After bidding and budgeting are approved by the client, we proceed to Phase 2, Construction Services. This two-phase approach allows us to bring in trusted partners to collaborate and understand your vision based on your needs and location.

Step 3 BIDDING

Personalized showroom selections, vetted trade partners, and transparent pricing all lead to a high-value outcome for our clients.

•  PRELIMINARY CLIENT INVESTMENT
•  SHOWROOM SELECTIONS
•  TRUSTED TRADE PARTNERS
•  COST PLUS PRICING

During bidding, we will be selecting preliminary showroom finishes based on the initial design plans so that we can create a budget that you can “take to the bank.” (~90% accurate). Simultaneously, we are uniting our vetted trade partners who provide competitive budget estimates, workforce planning, and materials to deliver a higher quality finished product at a great value. As the builder, our main focus throughout the process is to be the guardians of the budget. We follow the Cost-Plus pricing model, which provides our clientswith a more transparent price that reflects the current building market plus our builder's fee. We receive special contractor rates because of the $ volume of our homes and long term relationships we have with suppliers. The outcome is that we pass on these savings to our customers. Transparency in materials, trade partners, and costs means guaranteed quality, and the end result will be a higher-value custom home or renovation than if you chose a fixed price builder.

Step 4 BUDGETING

A budget presentation does not have to be scary or shocking. Our team collaborates with you to help provide value-engineered solutions to keep your goals and priorities in check with your budget.

•  PRESENT BUDGET
•  VALUE ENGINEERING
•  REVIEW UPDATED BUDGET
•  CLIENT APPROVAL

The budget process is iterative, and our clients shouldn’t feel like they are locked into a final set of plans and budget. At the Budget stage, we collaborate on high-priority and high-ticket line items where we can value-engineer alternative solutions to keep the vision and budget in line. Decades of building experience in the St. Louis luxury homes market allow us to innovate and come up with creative solutions for your projects. Our clients have a chance to re-prioritize their list of needs and wants and lean on our team to help guide their decision-making to the best possible outcome. Once there is full alignment on budget details between our clients, we move forward with phase 2 of our agreement.

Step 5 PRE-CONSTRUCTION

Implement our newly refined budget that maximizes what is possible within the final architect plan. Give final sign-off on the plan and budget so we can prepare the paperwork and permits.

•  FINALIZE ARCHITECT PLANS
•  VALUE ENGINEER
•  FINALIZE PLAN & BUDGET
•  PERMIT SET READY

During the Pre-Construction stage, it’s very normal to have adjustments to the final architectural drawing – this is an opportunity to implement our value engineering ideas into your final design to stay within budget. Once you have given final approval on the architect's plans and budget, we initiate the lender appraisal process and bring in a third-party disbursing company that is in charge of safe and timely payment disbursement from the client to the builder. We are simultaneously working with our trade partners to make your plans ‘permit set ready’ – taking your bid set ready plans from ~90% to 100% ready for city/municipality review and approval. REA Homes can minimize permitting delays because we are using best building practices to build beyond the minimum building codes and standards to ensure better quality, more efficient homes.

Step 6 CONSTRUCTION

We prep the lot or existing home for construction, demolish what is old, and build new. Constant communication and walkthroughs are essential to our process to avoid issues at final inspection.

•  CONSISTENT WALKTHROUGHS
•  PREP
•  DEMOLITION
•  BUILD

Construction is our favorite stage, but we don’t do it alone. We are in weekly (sometimes daily) contact with our clients from start to finish with our clients. Consistent walkthroughs keep our clients abreast of what is happening throughout the project. We stay ahead of showroom selections to finalize decisions and place orders for a timely arrival at the home site.

We always encourage our clients to speak up if they have questions or concerns. Ultimately, it minimizes the work that is needed during final inspection and walkthrough, so our clients are more satisfied when it is time to wrap up the construction process and move into their new or existing home.

It’s important to note that although it can be easier to communicate with clients when living in the home, we always recommend that our clients find an alternate housing option during a substantial renovation because, no matter the precautions taken, it will be a loud and dusty environment, with limited access to water and electricity at certain times. On top of living in a construction site, it is also creating timeline inefficiencies and can often result in a higher cost from trade partners who will have to work around you. What we have found over time is that the money people think they are saving by living in it is typically negated by higher costs and creates unnecessary hassles in their everyday lives.

Step 7 COMPLETION

Move in and experience your updated living space. It’s normal to have tweaks after the move-in, so an additional walk-through to fine-tune our work to the client’s liking is how we finish strong and leave the customer feeling truly comfortable.

•  FINAL INSPECTION
•  MOVE-IN READY
•  FINISH STRONG
•  TRUE COMFORT

Moving into your new home (or back into your renovated home) should be a pleasant experience. Our key to finishing strong happens throughout the project – constant communication. Our final inspections are more of a formality for our clients. When a job is done, and the client is moving back in, it is normal to have adjustments and small changes. We normally follow up with an additional walk-through to fine-tune everything to the client’s liking. It’s important to us that our clients feel fully satisfied with the work we have done. For us, finishing strong means wrapping up the project with a nice red bow and in a timely fashion so our customers can experience true comfort in their new home.