Introducing a limited collection of new, easy to build home designs. We know that when it comes to new home construction, there are a wide variety of client needs from very grand estate homes, to building accessory structures such as ADUs (accessory dwelling units) and detached garages, and everything in between.
At Christopherson Builders, we strive to meet all of our client’s needs. That philosophy was one of the fundamental drivers behind our decision to design the California Collection – a limited collection of homes that are versatile, efficient and present cost-effective straight-forward solutions to building a new home. The homes in this portfolio were initially conceptualized for the rebuild of communities that were broadly destroyed by wildfire. Wildfire events have been destroying tens of thousands of homes across many Northern California counties and beyond. Due to the scale of destruction, and our role in rebuilding over 100 homes to date, we have learned several key things when it comes to rebuilding:
People need simplicity, care and ease when recovering from disaster. By presenting a very structured plan for building, along with plans that are easily adaptable and customizable, we are creating a menu of homes designed to take the guess work and headache out of building anew. Simple does not mean pared down – it means we did our best to think of the things people would want first, and design accordingly.
Many locations rely on septic systems, and many existing septic systems are designed to support homes with few bedrooms. In order to design a home that could be appropriate from location to location and be useable despite the varying type and size of infrastructure available, we created the option to design the homes to be able to vary the number of bedrooms in the preferred plan. You might also notice that the bedroom count of the Carson and the Sierra says 2(3) – that means it can be built either as a 2 or a 3 bedroom, which is very important when building where there are pre-existing parameters.
Plans need to be cost effective, yet still bring the unsurpassed living experience that owning a new home provides. A new home is something special – imagine using your weekends to actually enjoy the weekend, rather than using it to fix that leaky faucet. In addition to being virtually maintenance-free, a brand new home has the latest and greatest efficiencies in materials and conveniences, such as smart thermostats, electric vehicle charging capability, durable and green building materials and more.
With help from our friends at the West Slope Foundation, we were able to deliver a consumer survey to the property owners who lost their homes in the Caldor fire, which created sweeping home loss in the area of Grizzly Flats. We received a great deal of valuable feedback, such as the desire for certain home styles (also known as elevations) and the desire to be able to opt in or out of garages. We listened and created several flexible options for building.
The Elevation. An elevation is essentially a drawing of the outside of the home. It will show many key elements of the home such as steps, doors, windows and roofs. A full set of elevations will show the building on all 4 (or more) sides. The elevation also shows the style of the home – modern, Spanish, Craftsman and so on. For the California Collection, we have several different styles, or elevations, of each home. Even if the image we show is Contemporary, the “skin” home can easily be changed to look Traditional. Changing the outside of the home is actually the easy (and fun) part.
In addition to changing the outside look of the home and the bedroom count, anyone looking at the California Collection can also change the garage – or lack thereof. Across the board, with any of our homes, Christopherson Builders always strives to be transparent in our pricing and to show true and realistic costs. We don’t tout a falsely low price to lure you in, and then add a ton of “extras”. We show you right out of the gates what a real, reliable cost to build looks like. To that end, the base pricing on our California Collection is for the home and home alone.
Why on earth would we not add a garage? Fair question. The fact is, many people don’t want them – at least, not immediately. When rebuilding especially, we have heard from the people rebuilding that they would rather place their budget in the rebuild of their home and deal with the garage later. A carport is a strong option in lieu of a garage. Or, if a garage is a must-have, we are glad to be able to give out clients a choice – of a one-car, two-car or a detached garage.
Take the Kelsey, for example. The Kelsey is a cozy 609sf one-bedroom home. It can be built as is, as a sweet cottage or ADU. Or, the Kelsey can be turned into a two-story home by choosing the detached garage, and cleverly placing the Kelsey above it with a set of stairs to link it all together. Simple, but adaptable for many different needs.
Pick your plan, pick your style, pick your garage (or not) and we’re more than halfway there. All of the California Collection homes can be finished to our client’s preferred interior design preferences. The Christopherson standard is well known for being well above “standard”. As an example, the Christopherson standard for our countertops is a wide variety of quartz and granite slabs. Due to the natural variation of stone, our clients are even able to select the specific slab that they prefer. There are just a few interior choices that are not covered in our base pricing for our homes (your window coverings and your washer and dryer for example), so our new homes are both honest and beautiful. Making a California Collection home your future home is truly as easy as it sounds.
