FAQ

There are numerous advantages to building a custom home in the Richmond, Virginia market. Whether you’re looking for a specific floor plan configuration, desire more distinctive materials or finishes, or want to maximize the views of your lot, the residential and interior design professionals at AR Homes® can customize one of our award-winning home designs or completely start from scratch to bring your dream home to life.

By creating a custom home that is designed for your lifestyle, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting from the onset with no hidden surprises. The process will take you through every major decision, from the orientation of your kitchen to the stone finish of your outdoor living space, and everything in between. You can ensure your space is the right balance of beauty and functionality with every nuance considered with your lifestyle and desired financial investment in mind.

Backed by a comprehensive quoting process, AR Homes® independently owned and operated building companies can efficiently price a customer’s entire home, including detailed descriptions of all items down to the model number of the door handles.

The AR Homes® Richmond (Ellington Custom Homes, LLC) team will provide a quote based on the following factors:

o Base house cost (using included standards)
o Customizations
o Estimated site conditions and soils test

With this thorough quote, you can get a comprehensive estimate of the cost of your dream home. We call it our full transparency pricing, which brings our customers peace of mind.

Prior to completing your Building Agreement, a detailed price quote will be provided and lists everything included with your home in specific detail. This will include additional features, customizations, and custom elevations. If you have any questions, you can always ask our team to help you understand your comprehensive custom home quote.

Yes! As an AR Homes® builder, our proprietary Personalized Floor Plan process allows us to fully customize our home designs to best fit your needs. Choose from our extensive portfolio of award-winning and fully customizable home designs. You can then begin to make changes such as adding a room, enlarging a kitchen, or creating a custom elevation. Best of all, each of our luxury home plans is customizable in days, rather than weeks or months.

If you already have your own floor plan or home design created AR Homes® can work with you to bring it to life. Our talented team in Richmond, Virginia can fully design, customize, and build your home, bringing your vision to life.

That’s not a problem! If you didn’t already have a plan or find one in our vast library to fit your needs, we would start from scratch and work with our in-house team through a customization process to design your dream home. Once completed, we’ll price out your custom plan.

Searching for the right design and floor plan may seem a daunting task, but AR Homes® Richmond (Ellington Custom Homes, LLC) has simplified the process. Customers can find inspiration on our website.

o Browse hundreds of floor plan designs
o Review 3D visualizations of our plans and take virtual tours of the model homes
o Explore open AR Homes® model homes (located throughout the nation)

As you explore the website and our available plans, it’s important to note what you like and dislike about home designs based on several factors including square footage, layout, features, and more.

From there, you will work with our local sales team and the residential design team, as we customize the details of your home based on your desires, whether choosing from the extensive AR Homes® collection of award-winning designs or starting their new floor plan from scratch. The residential design team will create a personalized floor plan in a matter of days. From combining elements from multiple floor plans to developing one-of-a-kind features, the possibilities are endless when it comes to your custom dream home.

A majority of the AR Homes® plans can be built in the Richmond market. This often requires a custom elevation be developed to ensure the home aligns with community standards. Ask our AR Homes® Richmond (Ellington Custom Homes, LLC) sales team for more information.

Our designers have a one-of-a-kind understanding of luxury homes, as well as a deep expertise in today’s latest finishing materials, trends, and styles.
Included in the price of your custom home, our customers spend up to 2 days with a designer at an AR Homes® Design Studio to help make design selections.

We can build on your lot, our lot, or find one together. While we’ve been active in several communities in the Richmond area, we are proud to also build on lots acquired by our customers as an “On Your Lot” builder in the Richmond real estate market. Our team has delivered homes in Ashland, Chesterfield, Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan, Richmond, and other areas.

Our team is happy to assist in finding the ideal property or community in which to build your new custom home in the Richmond, Virginia area. Our team has area expertise in addition to established relationships with a wide array of real estate professionals, helping you find the perfect piece of land to suit your needs.

Custom homes often take longer to build, as they contain unique floor plan designs with more intricacies and custom products. We typically allow 18-20 months from completion of the homebuilding agreement to the time that we hand our happy homeowners the keys to their new custom home.

We allow 6-8 months for our pre-construction process, which includes design customization, architectural and engineered drawings plan review, cabinet meeting, design studio selections, lot walk, building permit, site clearing and preparation. We find this detailed approach makes the construction process a much smoother and enjoyable time for our customers.

Finally, we allow 12 months for the construction of our luxury homes. During this time, we will provide weekly updates throughout the construction process, keeping you up to date on the progress of your home.

Depending on the stage of construction, we do allow for non-structural and/or non-permit related additions or changes to your home. Structural changes are also allowed, when practical. Additional costs might be incurred by the customer, based on when changes are made, as well as the extent of the change.

AR Homes® Richmond (Ellington Custom Homes, LLC) can build homes in two Richmond area golf course communities: Greywalls and Viniterra. Greywalls is located adjacent to The Foundry Golf Club, which is a private club. Refer to The Foundry Club website for membership details. Viniterra, on the other hand, features a golf course within the community known as The Club at Viniterra. Consult with the AR Homes, Richmond Sales Team for more information.

Many of our customers secure construction loans, which are short-term loans, usually for a period of 12-15 months. Most lenders offer a program that allows the construction loan to convert to a fixed-rate mortgage, once the home is complete. During construction of the home, the lender pays periodic draws to the builder, based on construction milestones. The borrower is typically required to make only the interest payments on a construction loan while the project is still underway.

Not every lender offers construction loan programs. At AR Homes® Richmond (Ellington Custom Homes, LLC), we are proud to have developed relationships with several area lenders that offer construction loan financing. We’ll provide contact information and recommend that you talk to at least a couple of lenders. The lender programs can vary, so talking to more than one lender may help in finding the right program for you.

AR Homes® Richmond (Ellington Custom Homes, LLC) opened our first model home in the Richmond market in April of 2019. The team has since built and opened a second model home. Both the prior and current model homes are in the premier Tuckahoe Creek community.

Since entering the Richmond market, AR Homes® Richmond (Ellington Custom Homes, LLC) has sold and delivered over 30 luxury homes in our market area, with additional sold homes currently under construction.

With a reputation for impeccable design, inspired customization options, and unparalleled customer service, AR Homes® has been the leading choice of thousands of discerning homebuyers for over 40 years. From our award-winning collection of floor plan designs to our stunning model homes and Personalized Floor Plans, we’ve refined a process that allows customers to efficiently design and build a home that is functional, beautiful, and customized in every way desired. AR Homes ® takes great pride in its leading partnerships, aligning with the finest brands in the business to ensue exceptional craftsmanship, cost effectiveness, and preferred access to leading building products. From the moment a customer begins to visualize their new home to the day they’re handed their new keys, AR Homes® provides an exceptional new-home experience.