Cost Smart Custom Homes
If you are planning a custom home or rebuilding after the Lahaina fires, one of your biggest fears is probably this:
“What if we fall in love with a design we cannot afford to build?”
Jordan Haler, architect and design lead at WMC Design Build on Maui, sees this all the time. That is exactly why his team starts with budget reality, not wishful thinking.
As Jordan puts it, “I do not like to draw for fun. I want to actually see these projects get built.”
In this blog, we will walk through how WMC keeps custom homes cost smart without watering down the design, and how that mindset is especially important for Lahaina families and high end homeowners across Maui.
WMC is not just an architecture studio or just a contractor. They are a design build team that works budget and constructability into every decision.
Jordan sums it up this way: “What separates us is I always like to say I do not like to draw for fun. I want to actually see these projects get built so I want to try to be as realistic in design as we can so that they do not die because of budgetary reasons.”
Because design and construction live under one roof, they are constantly stress testing the design against real numbers:
They are not guessing what something might cost one day. They are actively checking.
For Lahaina families in particular, that focus is non negotiable. Many of these homeowners did not choose to build a home. They lost everything. Jordan explains:
“For Lahaina, [families] had never done this, did not choose to do this, have enough on their plate.”
That is why the design build model matters. You do not have time or money for a design that dies in the pricing phase.
Value engineering is often treated like a last minute cost cutting exercise. At WMC, it starts in schematic design.
Jordan and his team literally run the numbers on design choices so clients understand the tradeoffs.
“We analyze a lot of things throughout the design process. Not even related to specific designs. We run the numbers. What is the difference between, you know, insulation values, minimum, maximum… What is that value? 10,000 dollars, is it 500 dollars? And then making that conscious decision of like, is it worth it?”
They do the same with spatial decisions:
“We have calculated what is the difference between an 8 foot ceiling and a 9 foot ceiling, right?”
The point is not to push clients to the cheapest option. The point is to give them clear, quantified choices.
Maybe you decide a slightly higher utility bill is worth better comfort. Maybe you decide an extra foot of ceiling height is not worth the added cost across the whole house, so you focus that volume in key spaces instead.
Either way, you are deciding with real data, not gut feelings.
Everyone wants to avoid change orders. The easiest change to afford is the one that never exists.
That is where WMC’s “measure twice” mentality comes in.
Jordan says it very simply:
“It is really hard and really expensive to change something once it is done.”
So they work hard to get decisions aligned before anyone breaks ground:
“Being proactive, right? It is really hard and really expensive to change something once it is done… The best time is before you have broken ground.”
On the construction side, one of the most expensive cost drivers is schedule slip. Delays ripple through everything. WMC actively designs to avoid that:
“Really one of the biggest killers on the construction site [is] schedule, so costly delays because material did not show up or your windows, you know, egress are not egress compliant because you did not select a manufacturer and design… Always trying to prevent anybody from tearing something out. That is the most expensive change.”
Value is not only about line item savings. It is about protecting you from the hidden costs of rework and delay.
There is also a softer cost that clients feel but cannot always name:
Confusion.
You get a thick set of drawings, but you cannot quite picture the result. You are scared to ask “simple” questions. You are not sure what you are really paying for.
Jordan’s team attacks that head on with honesty and technology.
On his own style, he says:
“I am definitely very honest. I cannot lie to save my life… I am a little over communicative, but I think that is, you know, you cannot go wrong there.”
And on the tech side:
“Through technology we are able to, through BIM, be able to document [design] in 3D for them very quickly and realistically. It also allows us to keep our fees low.”
BIM (Building Information Modeling) means your home lives as a navigable 3D model, not just a stack of 2D drawings. That makes design reviews faster and clearer.
It also means fewer misunderstandings, fewer missed conflicts, and fewer revisions that rack up hours and fees.
Jordan takes a clear stance on fee integrity:
“You never want to be hit with a, you know, ‘hey, we are over our scope, please pay us some more money.’ So I think that is another thing is we want to make sure our fees never go up, or unexpectedly.”
For homeowners, that level of transparency has real value. You are not just paying for drawings. You are paying for clarity, predictability, and a team that treats your budget like their own.
It is easy to assume that focusing on budgets and numbers will kill the soul of a house. WMC is a good example of why that is not true.
For Jordan, the emotional side of architecture is very real:
“Architecture is super emotional because you do, I mean, you talk details that you would not share with even some of your friends… bathroom habits, sleeping patterns, things like that that you might not talk too often about, but are important to the design of a home.”
He has seen the difference between working on high end homes and working with people who have lost everything:
“Just the raw emotion of dealing with somebody who lost everything has been such a different shift.”
Cost smart for WMC is not cost cutting for its own sake. It is about making sure those emotional investments, those intimate conversations, actually end in a home you can walk into and call yours.
Most homeowners do not know how to identify a firm that is serious about budget realism versus one that just says “we will figure it out.”
At Social Brick, we spend a lot of time listening to how firms like WMC actually work: their processes, their tradeoffs, their values, and how they talk about budgets.
In Jordan’s words,
We want to take that same word of mouth quality and make it easier for the right clients to find architects and design build teams that will respect both their vision and their budget.
If you are planning a custom home or rebuilding in Maui or Lahaina, you should not have to choose between good design and financial sanity. You deserve both.
How can I keep my Maui custom home on budget without sacrificing design?
Work with a team that integrates design, construction, and budget early, and that runs actual numbers on things like insulation, ceiling heights, and layout choices, instead of guessing.
Late changes and rework. As Jordan says, “It is really hard and really expensive to change something once it is done,” so the best savings come from proactive decisions before you break ground.
Why does BIM help with cost control?
BIM lets your architect and builder coordinate in 3D, which catches conflicts early, speeds up decisions, and reduces misunderstandings that lead to extra fees and change orders.
Homeowners in Maui and Lahaina:
If you want a custom home that honors both your budget and your story, start by finding teams that are grounded in reality and obsessed with seeing projects built, not just drawn.
You can find and connect with firms like WMC Design Build on Social Brick, where we spotlight architects and design build teams who care about impact, cost clarity, and good design.
Architects and design build firms:
If you are doing thoughtful work and want more of the right clients to find you, join Social Brick to get SEO and AEO friendly content, interviews, and visibility that match the quality of your practice.