Our Process
Building a custom home is one of the most complex things you’ll ever do. We’ve done it for over 17 years.
Here’s exactly how we work — and what you can expect at every stage.
ONE BUILDER. EVERY STAGE. NO SURPRISES
Most people who reach out to us have never built a custom home before. That’s not a problem — it’s actually what we’re here for.
At Bentley Built, we operate as a true design-build company. That means one team manages your project from the first conversation through to the day you move in — design, drafting, excavation, construction, and landscaping. No hand-offs between disconnected companies. No finger-pointing when something needs to be sorted. Just one accountable team with the tools and expertise to see it through.
We’ve been building in Nova Scotia since 2007. Our building standard is Net Zero Ready — tighter envelopes, better mechanical systems, lower operating costs for the life of the home, and solar-ready infrastructure. We build to this standard wherever budget allows, because in our experience the efficiency gains more than justify the investment. It’s not an upsell. It’s how we build.
If you’re ready to understand how this works, read on.
THE HONEST ANSWER ON BUDGET
Why we don’t publish prices — and why that’s actually good news for you.
We get asked this a lot, and we want to give you a straight answer.
Two homes with identical floor plans, identical finishes, and identical square footage can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars apart — depending entirely on where they’re built. A serviced lot in an established subdivision is a fundamentally different project than a rural property requiring a new well, septic system, and 400 feet of driveway. Add a sloped lot, a rocky site, or a long power run, and the numbers shift again.
Publishing a per-square-foot price wouldn’t tell you anything useful. It would either scare away the wrong people or give the wrong impression to the right ones.
What we do instead: we get enough information about your specific project — your land, your scope, your goals — and we give you a real preliminary number, fast, with the assumptions clearly laid out. That’s what the first few steps below are designed to do.
No commitment required to get there.
-
1
Start the Conversation
The first step costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
When you reach out, you’ll connect with our pre-construction team. Before we talk floor plans or finishes, we want to understand your situation: Do you own land, or are you still looking? Do you have plans, inspiration images, or just an idea? What’s your timeline?
This initial conversation — whether it happens by phone, email, or a meeting at our office in Centreville — is about making sure we’re the right fit for each other. We’ll ask the right questions, and you should too.
Already working with an architect, or coming to us with plans in hand? We build from external drawings and have done some of our best work that way. Reach out and we’ll walk you through how that fits our process.
-
2
Tell Us About Your Project
Once we know you’re serious about moving forward, we’ll walk you through a detailed project intake — lot details, house size, style, mechanical preferences, performance goals, and more.
This is where the detail matters. A modern 1,800 sq ft single-storey on a serviced lot is a different project than the same house on a sloped rural property with well, septic, and site clearing required. We need to understand both to give you an honest number.
We’ll collect this information through a structured intake process and use it to prepare your preliminary estimate. This stage is at no cost to you.
-
3
Your Preliminary Estimate
Based on your intake information, our pre-construction team prepares a high-level preliminary estimate — broken down by scope, with inclusions and exclusions clearly stated and all site assumptions made transparent.
This isn’t a final number. It’s an informed starting point, built on real data from real projects, designed to tell you whether your vision and your budget are in the same conversation.
If the numbers align, we move forward. If there’s a gap, we’ll tell you honestly — and often there are ways to close it.
This stage is still at no cost to you.
-
4
Pre-Construction Agreement
When you’re ready to move from estimate to reality, we enter into a pre-construction agreement.
This is where the serious work begins — and where Bentley Built formally engages on your behalf. The pre-construction agreement covers:
- Full drafting and design development
- On-site visits and lot assessments
- Septic and well testing (where required)
- Initial design meetings with our team
- Preliminary schedule development
A deposit is required at this stage, and it’s applied to your project. The scope of pre-construction work depends on your project — your pre-construction team will walk you through exactly what’s included before you sign anything.
The goal of pre-construction is to have every detail resolved before a single shovel hits the ground. In our experience, projects that invest properly in pre-construction finish on time, on budget, and with far fewer surprises.
-
5
Design, Permits & Final Budget
With pre-construction underway, our draftsman develops your full plans — built to Nova Scotia building code, sized correctly for our wall assemblies and mechanical systems, and reviewed with you at every stage.
Simultaneously, we’re coordinating permits, finalizing your budget, and locking in your position in our construction schedule.
By the end of this stage, you have: a complete set of plans, a fixed project price, a signed construction contract, and a confirmed start date.
-
6
Construction
This is where it comes to life.
Our construction team — carpenters, excavation crew, and trade partners — builds your home to the specifications established in pre-construction. You can be as involved or as hands-off as you want. We have clients who walk every stage of the build with us. We have clients who move in having visited the site twice — once at the start, once at the end. We’ve built for clients living in other provinces who managed the entire process remotely.
Your dedicated Project Manager is your single point of contact throughout. You’ll always know where your project stands.
-
7
Warranty Period
When your home passes its final inspections and meets our standards, it’s yours.
Your warranty coverage includes:
- One year bumper-to-bumper — we handle it, no questions asked
- Seven-year Limited Liability Warranty — structural integrity and major systems
- Manufacturer warranties — on products and materials throughout the home
We don’t disappear after possession. Our team is reachable, and we stand behind the integrity of what we build long after the paperwork is done.
Building in Nova Scotia from somewhere else? We’ve done this.
A growing number of our clients are relocating to Nova Scotia — from Alberta, Ontario, and beyond — or building a home here while still living away. If that’s you, you should know that our process is designed to work for remote clients.
The detail we put into pre-construction means the important decisions get made early and clearly, before construction begins. Your Project Manager keeps you informed throughout the build. And we’re comfortable managing a project from start to finish with a client who isn’t physically present.
If you’re planning a move to the Annapolis Valley, we’re happy to talk through timing, land considerations, and what the process looks like from a distance.