What We Do
Our Services, Estimating & Building Process
Our Services
Harmon Builders is versatile and capable of smaller renovations such as your bathroom or custom cabinetry for your laundry room, yet completely capable of major ground-clearing home-building projects as well. Make sure to see our Portfolio for examples of our projects.
Additions
Harmon Builders is dedicated to customized building. We can seamlessly match the architecture of your existing structure or complement previous construction by tastefully blending styles.
Bathrooms
Our experienced staff can appoint anything from a simple powder room to a luxury bath worthy of a design magazine. With our in-house carpentry talent we can even design and build custom vanities to perfectly match your vision and maximize your space. We also custom craft walk in showers with spa-style fixtures and tile and glass surrounds, with materials specified to suit any decor.
Decks and Porches
We create decks and porches to meet the unique needs of your home’s outdoor space, providing versatility, maximizing the natural surroundings, and considering the entertainment functions and privacy needs of your family life.
Kitchens, Custom Cabinetry & Furniture
Paul Harmon has spent years refining the arts of creating wood cabinetry. While you are remodeling your home, we can accommodate your needs with custom built in shelving, cabinets, or furniture at your request. Harmon Builders can maximize space efficiency with custom designed furnishings, including desks, office storage, bedroom furnishings, shelving, and entertainment units. Harmon Builders is an outstanding choice for all of your fine carpentry needs.
Garages
Whether attached or stand-alone, Harmon Builders can create a new garage to complement your home with a space specific to your work space, storage, and equipment needs.
Custom Homes
Once you have your site selected, the design process can begin. A great home design that fits the desires of the client is the foremost key to a successful custom home building project. We are happy to work with any architect of your choosing; however, we retain the services of various in-house professionals who have produced some of our best work and satisfied the most demanding clients. Paul and our team of skilled draftsmen oversee the design process and take it through complete working drawings. See one of our favorite projects – a weekend family getaway and Airb-n-b retreat.
Estimating Your Project
When contemplating a construction project, budget is at the forefront of most clients’ concerns.
We start with asking a client what they realistically want to spend. Then we discuss preliminary specifications and overall project planning before drafting blueprints. Open communication with clients minimizes the time it takes to complete an estimate. We charge a small fee if in-house preliminary blueprint drafts are rendered, which will be credited to you in the overall project cost, if you choose Harmon Builders.
Our goal for the initial estimate is to furnish customers with a figure that is within a range of 10%-20% of the final project cost. Ultimately, where the final number falls in that range is dependent upon what customers select when making final choices for products and materials, and any potential impacts from alterations to design specifications that are made after the building process is underway.
Harmon Builders provides estimates for costs of construction by combining several data resources. Our research compiles over 50 years of construction data from the industry to inform our clients, including an industry-trusted database tool (D4COST) that allows us to compare and forecast expenses.
Our mission is to respond with agility to changes in the industry and make budget projections that establish an appropriately detailed cost-schedule. We offer several contract options to suit client budgeting needs, which allows our clients flexibility in the decision-making process. Contract options include: Fixed-Price, Time & Materials, and Cost-Plus Contracts.
If you need a financial professional, we recommend Steve Fennington, Relationship Manager with ACNB Bank (6910 Crestwood Blvd, Frederick, MD Office: (240) 529-1561. Steve is available to come out to your home to meet and help with customizing construction loans, refinancing, equity loans, and mortgages, fitting your immediate needs.
In today’s market it makes more sense to provide our customers with the tools they need to be involved in their home projects. We welcome your involvement and strive to maintain accessibility and transparency from conception to completion of your project.
The Building Process
Our process of building a home is no secret. We’ll be glad to tell you how we work and answer all questions you might have about renovating or building. We know it can be over-whelming to tackle a home project and we want to make it easy to work together!
Site selection
The start to any custom home project begins with site selection. Paul and Melani can work directly with you during site selection providing useful information regarding site-specific development costs, site features, and design considerations. All custom home building sites present opportunities for unique design features, and some offer challenging obstacles to overcome. Professional guidance from an experienced custom home builder or an architect/designer may simplify the selection process and reduce unnecessary expenditures.
Design process
Once you have your site selected, the design process can begin. A great home design that fits the desires of the client is the foremost key to a successful custom home building project. Our in-house design services have produced some of our best work and satisfied the most demanding clients. We use the services of talented draftsmen to oversee our designs and provide complete working drawings. If you require a professional architect, we retain the services of various professionals. We are also happy to work with your architect of choice.
Material selection and cost analysis
During the completion stage of the working drawings is when we like to begin the material selection process. Paul and Melani will walk each client through every phase of construction, guiding them through a thorough material selection process that will provide the foundation for cost estimating.
Preliminary pricing is provided during this process to determine the estimated cost to build and develop a targeted budget. You will have the opportunity to meet with some of the professionals who will be providing products and services in the completion of your home. Prior to construction you will be provided with project specific blueprints and a proposal that detail each aspect of your custom home, including the specifications of materials.
Production
The construction process is the most important stage of the project. All of the up front time invested in the design phase and during the materials selection creates a smooth functioning building environment so that you can enjoy watching your vision come to life. Paul oversees each project personally to ensure the level of quality his clients expect and deserve. Although Maryland can present a variety of weather conditions, we strive to keep projects running in a timely fashion.
Post construction
Your new custom home will be delivered after thorough inspections by finishing contractors and multiple inspections by the builder, personally. Our professional cleaning crew will follow behind the touch-up crews and complete a final polish of your new home. They assist us in monitoring the fulfillment of our finished product in the most exacting detail, so that nothing is missed prior to delivery. Upon delivery we will provide a tour of your new home, and give guidance to the operation, use, and care of the components. Over the course of the following twenty-four months our warranty provides you with timely corrective action regarding your custom home.