Most construction projects split design and building between two companies. Brightstar does both. One team draws it, prices it and builds it — so what gets designed is what actually gets built, at a number you saw coming.
The traditional route splits your project in two. You hire an architect, wait for drawings, then take those drawings out to builders for pricing. Often the bids come back above what you expected, and the redesign starts — paid for a second time. When something on site does not match the plans, the architect and the builder each point at the other.
Design-build removes the seam. One company is responsible for the drawings and the construction, on a single contract. Costs are understood while the design is still on paper, when changing them is cheap. And when a question comes up mid-build, the person who drew it and the person building it work for the same firm.
A house designed around your lot and how you actually live, then built by the team that drew it. The plan and the price move together from the start, so the design you approve is the one that gets built.
Renovations are where the design-bid-build split hurts most, because nobody knows what is behind the wall until it opens. With design and construction in one team, the drawings get adjusted and repriced on the spot instead of triggering a change-order argument.
Commercial work runs on dates. A single contract for design and construction removes the weeks normally lost sending drawings out to bid, and keeps one firm answerable for the schedule.
Permits, county inspections and HOA submissions are part of the job, not your problem. Because the same team drew the plans, corrections requested by the county get turned around without going back to a third party.
A coastal custom home in St. Augustine — drawn and built by the same team, on one contract.
What design-build actually looks like from your side, from the first conversation to the keys.
We sit down and listen. What is driving the project, what matters most, and what your budget realistically needs to be to get there.
Our in-house team develops the drawings while pricing them as they go. You approve a design you already know the cost of — instead of finding out after it goes out to bid.
We handle every permit submission, county inspection and HOA approval. Corrections come back to the same team that drew the plans.
Construction begins and Rob is accountable on site. Regular updates keep you in the loop, and we walk the finished project together.
Most people have not hired a design-build firm before and want to know how it differs from the way projects normally run. These are the questions we get asked most.
On the traditional route you hire an architect, wait for a finished set of drawings, then take those drawings out to builders for pricing. Design-build puts both under one contract with one company. The practical difference is that pricing happens alongside the drawing rather than after it, and nobody can point at the other party when something on site does not match the plans.
It removes two specific costs: the markup a builder adds when managing an outside architect’s drawings, and the redesign fee when bids come back over budget and the plans have to be reworked. What a given project costs still depends entirely on its size, site and finishes — we will not quote a number before we understand yours.
Yes. Some clients arrive with a full permitted set, some with a folder of photos. We will build from drawings you already own, and we will tell you honestly if something in them is going to be a problem on your site before you commit to it.
On a renovation especially, something usually does. Because the designers and the builders are the same firm, the drawings get revised and repriced in-house rather than becoming a dispute between two companies you hired separately. You get told what changed, what it costs and what your options are.
Yes, completely. Permit submissions, county inspections and HOA architectural review are part of the job. When the county asks for a correction it goes back to the same team that produced the drawings, which is usually faster than routing it through a third party.
New custom homes, remodels and additions, and commercial build-outs. We work across St. Johns, Duval and Putnam counties — St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, Nocatee, World Golf Village, Jacksonville, Palatka, Hastings and Elkton.
Tell us what you are planning — a new home, a renovation, or a commercial space. The first conversation costs nothing and you will get an honest read on what it takes.
Design and construction from the same firm, on a single agreement. No handoff between an architect and a builder, and no markup on outside drawings.
Rob Laurence is personally accountable from the first meeting to the final walkthrough. You are not passed between a design office and a site team.
Florida CBC1257676, BBB accredited since 2019, and more than 30 years building across Northeast Florida.
