Our Services

Design​

Doug Nichols personally provides all design services for Nichols Homes.  With a degree in architecture and decades of residential, commercial, and governmental project design experience, he brings a deep understanding of how to determine client's needs.

The design of a custom home requires a good deal of listening before beginning to draw. Listening to a client’s dreams, needs, and budget forms the foundation of the process.

Listening to what the site tells us is an equally important act. Understanding site opportunities and constraints guides design and impacts project cost. Slope, solar exposure, soil type, existing foliage, utility availability, easements, view corridors and waterfront restrictions are all important considerations.

Permitting

Doug and Suzanne guide projects through the ever-more-complex permitting process and represent you to authorities having jurisdiction in the San Juan Islands.

This begins with the pre-application report and advances through progressively more detailed submittals such as certificates of water availability, septic design, storm water management plans, energy forms, geotechnical reports and waterfront restrictions.

We also coordinate the hiring and management of specialists such as land surveyors, geotechnical engineers, structural engineers and civil engineers that are often required to complete the design of a custom home.

Construction​​

If you already have a builder, we work as a team to create a cost effective design and support the construction process.

If you do not have a builder, Nichols Homes can manage construction through an "open book" construction management approach. 

Our construction management service begins with the creation of a detailed construction budget, with you at the table. We include all elements of the project and add appropriate contingencies to help cover unforeseen conditions.

We secure multiple bids for major trades, review subcontractor qualifications on your behalf, and monitor the construction schedule. As a client, you get a monthly summary and photographs of project activities so you can stay abreast of the work if you are out of the area.