Process
Lot to keys, without the gap
Eight steps. One team through all of them. Here is exactly who does what, and where most mountain builds go sideways if nobody is watching.
Start here
The calendar is the constraint
At 8,400 to 9,600 feet, the ground and the roads decide the schedule. Excavation and concrete want unfrozen ground; the reliable window runs roughly May through October. Miss it by three weeks and you don't lose three weeks — you lose until spring.
Which is why we push design, engineering and permitting into the winter. Every month you spend deciding in January is a month you are not burning in July.
Nov – Feb
Lot search, feasibility, design, engineering, budget lock.
Mar – Apr
Permitting, bids, long-lead orders, site prep planning.
May – Jul
Excavation, foundation, framing, dry-in. The critical push.
Aug – Oct
Mechanicals, envelope, exterior finishes before the weather turns.
Nov – Apr
Interior finish work continues under roof through winter.
The eight steps
Who owns what
Green is the Griffin Team. Bronze is Jacobs Construction. The steps in both colors are where the partnership actually earns its keep.
Discovery call
Free, no obligation, usually 30 minutes. Budget range, how you'll use the home, whether it needs to earn nightly-rental income, and whether Brian Head or Duck Creek is the better fit for what you actually want. If you already own land, we start at step three.
Lot search & shortlist
We pull everything listed, plus the parcels that never hit the MLS — expired listings, estate lots, owners who'd sell to the right buyer. You get a shortlist with comps, HOA rules, and a plain read on what each one will cost you to build on.
Walk the finalists together
Agent and builder, same site visit, before you write an offer. Slope, drainage, tree cover, solar aspect, where the driveway can physically go, how far power and water are, whether septic will work. This single hour is the reason this partnership exists.
Offer, negotiation & close
Offer strategy, due-diligence periods long enough to actually do diligence, and a close that doesn't strand you. We handle title, disclosures and the parts of a raw-land purchase that don't work like a house purchase.
Design & engineering
In-house design-build: floor plans developed against a real budget rather than handed over a wall to be priced later. Structural engineering for local snow load, site plan, and the drawing set the county will accept.
Permitting & approvals
Town of Brian Head, Kane and Iron County, HOA architectural review, driveway and utility permits, septic approval. We've filed these before and know which reviewer wants what.
Build
Site work, foundation, framing, dry-in, mechanicals, finishes — sequenced around the season. You track it from anywhere through a secure client portal with photo updates, schedule and budget in one place. Most of our clients live somewhere else, and we build accordingly.
Handover & what comes after
Walkthrough, punch list, warranty, and a manual for how to close the house down for a hard freeze. If it's going to be a rental, the Griffin Team can point you at management and set realistic revenue expectations. If you sell in ten years, you know who to call.
Questions we get every week
The honest answers
How long does a build take?
Plan on 12–18 months from signed plans to move-in for a typical custom cabin, driven mostly by where in the season you start. Starting design in the fall is worth more than any schedule trick.
Do I need to own the land first?
No — and it's often better if you don't. Bringing the builder into the lot search is the whole point. If you already own, we'll assess what you have and tell you straight.
Can I build if I live out of state?
Most clients do. Remote building is standard for us: online portal, scheduled video walkthroughs, and decisions batched so you're not fielding questions at random.
Will it cash-flow as a nightly rental?
In Brian Head, often. Duck Creek is a different market with different seasonality. We'll model it with real comps rather than optimism, and tell you when the numbers don't work.
What does it cost per square foot?
Mountain builds cost more than valley builds — longer utility runs, heavier structure, a shorter labor season. We give a real range at the discovery call rather than a number designed to win the job.
What about septic and water?
Varies by parcel and is the single biggest hidden cost on Cedar Mountain. It's checked during the lot walk, before you're committed — not after closing.