Want to build on your own land? Whether you’ve already found a lot that you love or need help deciding on the perfect lot for your new custom home, Orren Pickell Building Group can help. Not only does our team build beautiful custom homes, but we can help you and/or your broker with virtually any aspect of lot selection, including:

  • Determining if a lot you’ve chosen is appropriate for your needs
  • Deciding between remodeling or teardown/rebuilding on your existing lot
  • Choosing between potential lots
  • Finding an appropriate lot

If you have questions or concerns about a lot, let us help. Our experienced team of architects, engineers and builders can provide insightful answers.

Due Diligence

No matter how you find your lot—with the help of a broker or on your own—due diligence is important to ensuring your custom dream home becomes a reality instead of a nightmare. Before you sign anything, get in touch with us at Orren Pickell Building Group. We’ll be happy to help guide you through the due diligence process, from determining lot suitability to lot sitting and finally, ordering soil tests.

Lot Suitability

The first step in our due diligence process is to ensure that your chosen lot will meet your needs. Examples of suitability concerns include:

  • Lot size and zoning: Will the lot size and lot zoning accommodate the size of home you wish to build? A 3,500 square foot ranch-style home requires a larger lot than a 3,500 square foot two-story home.
  • Height restrictions: Are there height restrictions that would prevent you from building your dream home? French Country-style homes have high rooflines, while Prairie-style homes typically don’t require as much vertical space.
  • Setbacks: What are the front and side yard setbacks? Understanding where the setbacks
    fall will help us determine the features the home can accommodate.

Lot Sitting by Orren Pickell

CEO Orren Pickell personally drafts plans to perfectly site a custom home on the ideal lot of land

If we decide that you’re able to build the home you want on the lot you’ve chosen, our next step is lot sitting, or determining how to best position your home on the lot. And if you’ve ever seen a beautiful home that looks awkward, as if it had simply been dropped into place atop the lot with a crane, you have a sense as to just how important lot siting is. Effective lot siting is part art, part science and part gut feeling, and no one does it better than our founder Orren Pickell—in fact, Orren is personally involved in the siting process for every new home we build.

Once we’ve received the topographical and tree surveys, Orren walks the site, identifying the best views, selecting views to block and pinpointing the optimal way to nestle the home onto the lot so it looks as if it has always been there. Because Orren considers the way your home will look and feel from every angle—from the first glance you’ll see when coming down your driveway and the way the home appears when being viewed from a backyard barbecue—we are able to make the most of your investment, allowing you to live the lifestyle you truly want.

Soil Testing

The final element of the due diligence process is soil testing. After your lot is under contract and you’ve signed our design agreement, your architectural team will order soil testing to be completed along with other engineering tasks. Soil testing informs us on a number of things, including what type of foundation we will use for your home, if soil conditions will require additional engineering, if groundwater issues are a concern, etc. Soil testing allows us to move forward with the design process fully informed and helps us avoid any unwelcome and expensive last-minute design changes from needing to occur during the build process.

Contact Us to Get Started with a Custom Built Home on Your Land

Want more information on building a custom home on your own lot with Orren Pickell Building Group? Already have a lot in mind and need our expert team to perform due diligence? Get in touch with us today for more information or to schedule a consultation.