From Plans to Keys: How a GMR Custom Home Gets Built
A custom home is a sequence, and knowing the sequence is what keeps it from being stressful. Here is the path a GMR-built home follows in coastal Georgia and the Lowcountry, and what you should expect at each phase.
1. Plans, engineering & permits
Your architectural plans get structural engineering for the coastal wind zone, then go to the local building department for permitting. Timelines vary by jurisdiction — each city and county office moves at its own pace — and GMR manages the submission and responds to plan-review comments.
2. Site & foundation
Clearing, grading, and the foundation your lot requires — slab, crawlspace, or elevated piers in flood zones. Foundation anchors are set here that the framing’s continuous load path will tie into: this is where a wind-zone home’s strength actually starts.
3. Structural framing & dried-in
The phase we’re known for. Floor systems, walls, roof structure, hurricane strapping, and sheathing — then the framing inspection, then dried-in: the house weathertight and ready for trades. On a GMR home the builder and the framer are the same company, which means no finger-pointing at the most important phase of the build.
4. Trades & inspections
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing rough-ins, insulation, and the inspection sequence that goes with them. GMR schedules and supervises the trades and walks every inspection.
5. Finish & walkthrough
Drywall, trim and millwork, cabinets, floors, exterior siding and porches — through the final inspection, certificate of occupancy, and your walkthrough. You get straight answers the whole way; that’s the same transparency promise we make builders.