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Follyn Builders | Chicago and Northshore Custom Home Builders

Chicago and Northshore Custom Homes and Renovations | Luxury made simple.

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March 2, 2017 By Admin

All the BITS AND PIECES

The biggest pieces of a custom built home or a large scale renovation is often the littlest stuff. Door hardware and faucets and baseboards (Oh my!). A truly high-end luxury home caters to every detail, and every detail is yours. You are limited only by your pocketbook – some things ain’t cheap but boy they are pretty!

Not a big fan of oak treads and painted risers? Dream a little bigger and design a stainless steel staircase with open risers that spans 3 floors. A spectacular centerpiece (literally and figuratively) in this custom single family luxury home in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood (GO CUBS!)

High end plumbing fixtures can turn an ordinary master bedroom into your own personal spa.  This large scale tile and super modern plumbing fixtures combination keep this Wrigleyville custom home practical and elegant.
Custom millwork is a true indicator of a luxury custom home. This custom paneling was designed built and installed onsite by John at Follyn Builders and one of our talented team of finish carpenters.
Sometimes a finish is chosen not so much because a homeowner loves the item – but because it fits the overall feel of the house. Exterior light fixtures fit into the category of easy way to dress up the outside of your luxury custom home.
Every little detail counts. This custom home in the Lincoln Square neighborhood is solid masonry on a corer lot. It only needed a little piece of railing to fill this spot – but again it had to fit the feel of the rest of the house. As there were a lt of clean lines in this house – no curly wrought iron here.
Completely opposite to the simple wrought iron above – this house needed a little oomph on the exterior. And Follyn Builders delivered with a detailed, intricate and curly whirly wrought iron fence worthy of  New Orleans. Would this work everywhere? No it would not. Does it work here. Oh yes, it does!
Unlike the elaborate stainless steel dramatic staircase above, this house was more about clean lines and simple design. But simple does not have to mean boring! THis newel post tied in with the updated arts and crats feel in the Lincoln Square new home.

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: 2-flat to single family, chicago custom homes, new construction, new construction chicago, new construction homes, new home builder, new homes, new homes lincoln square, roscoe village new home builder

January 25, 2017 By Admin

The TRUTH about new home building

The truth about building a new home? It is not quick, it is not neat and it is not easy. It cannot be done in 48 hours or even 6 weeks. It s not a reality TV show, it is reality.

Throughout a well run home building or large scale renovation project there may be 5 or 6 different contractors all working at the same time. I was at one of our projects in Bronzeville last week and counted the following contractors at work: the interior doors were being delivered, the tiler setter was laying tile, the painters were stripping old wood work and the carpenters were working on the 3rd floor. And I was there to deliver about 20 ponds of grout in various colors. And the GC, he was walking around consulting with every one of them.

My Point? A lot happens all day, every day and that means it sometimes it looks like chaos. But a good general contractor is what keeps it all moving. A good custom home builder makes sure every job is getting done well and getting done completely.

And here is the true secret — timing maters. If you delay your final decision on your tile by a week? You set back the plumber and the trim carpenter and could add up to 3 weeks to the job as a whole. Deadlines matter.

It is a ton of decisions – from doorknobs to tile borders to cabinet doors, it is a lot of decision making. But the end product? Worth every sleepless night about hinges and anxiety attack about paint colors.

Building a new home (or renovating your exiting home) takes more time than you thought and costs more than you thought and you will love it so much more than you imagined.

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: Bronzeville new home, Chicago new homes, custom home building, Hyde Park new home, new home, new home builder, new home building, new homes

January 6, 2017 By Admin

New Year, New PROJECTS

Ok, ok I know, I fell down on the job. I owe you all the finished product pictures from the 2016 project in Andersonville. I will post as soon as I get some loaded up.

You will be amazed. I know I was, and I was there for the whole transformation. But the finished product? WOW!

Everyone is setting new years resolutions – so I am going to put one out there too. More posts, more blogging, more pictures. No guarantee on the quality of pictures, but I will post what I got.

Building custom homes is fun. Really. It is supposed to be fun. It is a lot of pressure, constant demands for decisions and choices and then almost instant regret about those choices, but it is fun. A great custom home builder will be your best friend and you will really not like them some days, but keep the faith friends. Because getting to that end result? The “OH WOW?” That is what makes it all worthwhile.

So here to a new year, new projects and lots of new OH WOW’s.

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: chicago custom homes, custom home builder, home additions, home builder, large scale home improvement, luxury homes, new homes

March 11, 2016 By Admin

Doing it right.

Ok, I am now going to unabashedly and shamelessly plug our business. Because you see, this is what you get when you hire a quality general contractor. Someone who goes around to every vent and return in your house and covers it with a furnace filter.

Why?

So dust and debris from the ongoing construction is not sucked into your vents and eventually mechanical systems. Necessary? Nope. A sign of a little something extra? You betcha.

So this is what that little something extra looks like folks. It looks a lot like all the stuff that will never be seen – not like your fabulous cabinets, amazing tile or funky wallpaper. No pictures of this stuff is posted on Houzz or Pinterest. It is not corners cut. It looks like that little bit extra during construction. Stuff nobody else will ever see, talk about or quite frankly even notice.

But you do it anyway.

When you do it right, you do it all the way.

Quality Construction
Construction is messy, insuring the cleanest, healthiest possible jobsite should be a priority for your home renovation team.
Quality Contractors
Ensuring a quality finished product means ensuring quality construction throughout the lengthy home renovation process. Quality renovation work throughout means a quality new home for you and your family.

Filed Under: blog Tagged With: 2-flat conversions, chicago builder, chicago homes, chicago north shore builder, luxury builder, luxury construction, new home builder, new homes, quality builder, quality construction, remodel, renovations

Building and Renovating Custom
Homes In Chicago and the Suburbs

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Email us at: info@follynbuilders.com

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