Our Commitments

The ten things that actually go wrong.

We read several hundred real reviews, complaints and forum threads from people who have built custom homes — the good and the ugly. Almost none of the failures were about craftsmanship. Here is what actually goes wrong, and exactly what we commit to doing about each one.

Why this page exists

Quality is assumed. Predictability is what you're really shopping for.

At this level, everyone claims quality, and most builders can deliver it. When clients write five-star reviews, they rarely lead with the carpentry — they lead with being told the truth, being answered on a Tuesday, and knowing where the budget stood. When they write one-star reviews, it is almost always because someone went quiet.

Sanctuary Homes is a new company, so we cannot hand you fifty finished homes. What we can do is put our operating commitments in writing, publicly, where you can hold us to them.

In writing

Ten commitments, and the failure each one prevents.

A standing weekly meeting on a fixed day, and a written update every week

Same day, every week, for the life of your build. Afterward you get it in writing: what got done, what's next, what decisions we need from you, what problems came up, and where the budget stands. Photographs attached. If we can't make the meeting, you hear why and when before you have to ask.

PreventsThe most common complaint in custom building is a builder who goes quiet, especially once something goes wrong. NAHB documents a builder whose weekly client updates “eliminated 99% of unplanned interactions” (NAHB).

An itemized bid built from real quotes — and a number that does not drift

Before you sign, we research your lot and go out to our own trades and suppliers for current pricing. You get the bid broken out by line item, with our overhead and profit shown as their own line. After you sign, that number changes only if you change something. No line on it will ever read “labor.”

PreventsThe single worst thing a client can be handed: “I cannot accurately assess labor costs; he simply provides an invoice stating ‘labor — $60k’” (r/Homebuilding).

We price real selections instead of hiding behind allowances

Every decision that can be made before contract gets made and priced from a real quote. Where an allowance is genuinely unavoidable it is set from a current real bid, never lowballed to make a contract look smaller — and if stone or windows or cabinetry is trending over it, you get a call before anything is ordered, with options at three price points.

PreventsSticker shock, the classic mechanism of a blown budget: “If allowances are too low, as they often are, owners experience sticker shock” (BuildingAdvisor). Denver clients say it plainly — “those allowances don't always line up with what you want or were expecting” (r/Denver).

Nothing proceeds on a verbal agreement

Every change is priced and signed before work starts, including the ones you ask for standing in the driveway. Every meeting gets a written recap so any misunderstanding surfaces in days, not months.

PreventsUndocumented scope, the root of most construction disputes. Experienced owners advise each other to do the builder's job for him: send “an email afterword that basically says ‘here's what we talked about, let me know if anything is different than your understanding’” (r/Homebuilding). We'll send it ourselves.

Steve is on your site, and we build two homes at a time

No salesperson hands you off to a project manager you have never met. The person who priced your home is the person on site, and the cap on concurrent projects is a written commitment, not an aspiration.

PreventsThe overextended builder whose crew gets pulled to another job, and the bait-and-switch prospects are warned about: “Don't fall for the salespeople at the volume builders” (r/Homebuilding).

Open jobsite — walk it whenever you want, with or without us there

You never need an appointment to visit your own house. We will also take you through any project we have running, at any stage, including the messy ones.

PreventsCurated access. One owner described why he chose his builder: he “welcomed us to visit any site whenever we wanted, regardless of whether he was present” (r/Homebuilding).

We welcome your third-party inspector — and recommend three inspections

Hire your own inspector. We will hold the schedule for a pre-drywall inspection, one at closing, and one around month eleven while the warranty is still open. We would rather a stranger find it than you.

PreventsThe defects that surface after the warranty closes. Owners specifically recommend “a pre-drywall inspection, as well as one at closing... another inspection around the 10 or 11-month mark” (r/Homebuilding).

Every wall photographed before drywall — and the archive is yours at closing

Full photographic documentation of every wall cavity, every run, every rough-in, indexed by room, handed over as a permanent as-built record. Ten years from now when you want to move a wall or hang something heavy, you will know exactly what is behind the drywall.

PreventsThe blind remodel. Owners who did this themselves are emphatic: “take photos of every single wall before drywall goes up. I am so glad I did that because now I know what's there” (r/Homebuilding).

You mark your own punch list, and we hold retention until it's done

We hand you the blue tape and you walk your house. Final payment is held back until both the certificate of occupancy and your punch list are complete. Nobody will pressure you to close on a house that isn't finished.

PreventsThe rushed closeout. One owner's account: “We weren't allowed to mark our own issues. Instead, the builder walked around with a clipboard, taking overly general notes” (r/Homebuilding).

We come back — at 30 days, 6 months, and 11 months, on our calendar not yours

Three scheduled walkthroughs after you move in, booked before you close, with the eleven-month visit landing while the first-year warranty is still open. You should never have to chase us. Colorado's construction defect statute gives us a formal 75-day window to inspect and offer to repair a claim — we would much rather find things before anyone needs a statute.

PreventsThe most bitter complaint in the category: “Once you have closed on the house, they don't care” (r/Homebuilding). The standard we're aiming at is the builder a client described six years on: “we had a small leak... They came over and just fixed it, and didn't even charge us” (Houzz).

Where this came from

We didn't invent these. Clients did.

Every commitment above answers something a real homeowner praised or complained about in a published review, complaint file, or forum thread. A few of the voices behind it:

“If he couldn't make it… he wrote and explained why and when we would hear back from him. He never missed on this.”

Homeowner review · Houzz

“We always knew where we were from a budget perspective.”

Homeowner review · Houzz

“A timeline that included EVERYTHING, with assigned dates. From day 1 we knew what would be happening every week.”

Homeowner review · Houzz

“And PICTURES. Take a lot of progress pictures. It's not trust and verify, it's all verify.”

Owner, after building · r/Homebuilding

Ask us these

The questions people wish they'd asked their builder.

Bring this list to us. Bring it to every builder you interview — we would genuinely rather you did. If a builder gets annoyed at any of them, you have learned something important for free.

—Is this a fixed price or an estimate? What in it is an allowance, and how was each one set?

—Can I see the full dated schedule, and the current two-week look-ahead on a job you're running now?

—How were the allowances in this contract set, and from whose bid?

—How many projects will you have running while mine is underway? Who is on my site daily?

—Can I have the contact details of every client from the last three years — not the three you'd like me to call?

—Can I visit a current job unannounced, and one that went badly?

—Walk me through the last time you got something wrong on a home. What did it cost you to fix?

—What exactly does the warranty cover, and what is your scheduled follow-up after move-in?

—Do you pay your trades within 30 days? May I ask two of them?

—What happens to my money if you become insolvent mid-build?

—Which of my wish-list items would you talk me out of, and why?

—How do you approach air-sealing, moisture management and wildfire hardening on a foothills lot?

One useful thing to know about Colorado specifically: there is no statewide general contractor license. Licensing is municipal, and jurisdictions do not necessarily recognize each other's credentials — so “licensed” means very little until you ask where, and see the certificate of insurance yourself. Ask us for ours.

Ready to start yours?

Tell us about your lot, your timeline, and how you want to live. We take on a limited number of custom homes each year.

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