Dwell Custom Construction

Do you work for this business? Unlock this free profile to update company info and see who's viewing your profile.

• By Richard Dean Van R.

  July 15, 2025

  Craig Barton told me before I signed a contract with him that he charges a fee equal to 15 percent of the construction expenses incurred. With Craig's estimate of the costs to build my home, and disregarding his fees and sales taxes, the total of that estimate was $1,120,700. His asking fee of $168,000 equaled 14.99% of the total construction cost in the estimate, disregarding all sales taxes, and was very consistent with what he told me. However, the ACTUAL total of the costs to build my home were much lower--not counting sales taxes or Craig's fees--the total of the costs Craig billed to me with his 10 construction draws were much lower--$862,933--Craig's fees of $168,000 equaled 19.47% of $862,933. So, Craig Barton overestimated the cost of building my home by coming up with a figure of $1,120,700, and then he used that higher estimated cost to arrive at his fee of $168,000, which he then put into the contract, which guaranteed his fee of $168,000 no matter how much lower the actual construction expenses turned out to be. Craig benefited greatly at my expense, by overestimating both the construction costs and his fee of $168,000 (which was based on his estimate of $1,120,700), and by then setting that $168,000 fee in stone in a construction contract. I thought that the costs to build my home (disregarding Craig's fee) were going to be higher, since I thought he must know what he's doing when he made the estimate. I do not regard his initial statement to me, "I only charge 15%", as a true statement. Also, my contract with Craig stated the home would be built in 8-10 months. Truly, Craig could have completed the construction in 9 months, and not a moment more than that. He started the construction on 5/1/2024 and completed it on 3/20/2025, a period of 10 months and 20 days. There was a red flag early on in the construction, but I ignored it. On 6/20/2024, the carpenter billed Craig for the installation of the Tyveck Protec membrane paper that was put on the surface of my home's exposed exterior plywood sheathing. On 10/09/2024, that same carpenter invoiced Craig for the completion of the siding installation on my home's exterior wall surfaces. So, from the completion of the installation of the Tyveck paper wrap on 06/20/2024 to the day the siding installation was complete, amounted to three months and 19 days. So, for about three months, the Tyveck paper membrane was exposed to the outside air and sun. It should not have taken three months and 19 days for the siding installation to have been completed. This is a red flag that something wasn't right. Also, Craig needs to learn that when he pays $0 of the construction costs (and his customer pays 100% of it) he is not the only person who has a say in the construction of the home--the person paying for it has a big say as to what goes on and when.

  Read more