Builder on site working a brick custom home in Brunswick County, NC — collaboration-first construction by Northstar Custom Works

How we work

Cost-plus, so it stays your money.

The way a job is structured decides who's really in control. Here's exactly how we run ours — in plain language, no fine print.

Most builders hand you a fixed price and a fixed plan. That's fine until you want to change something — then every decision turns into a fight over a change order. We do it differently. We put you on the design team and structure the work cost-plus, so you stay in control of the budget the whole way through.

Dramatic interior framing and roof trusses on a custom home build near Southport, NC — collaboration-first construction by Northstar Custom Works
  1. 01

    Collaboration first

    Chase will build whatever you want — it just takes working together. You're part of the design team, not handed a price and a plan. We talk through what you want, what it takes, and what the trade-offs are, before anyone swings a hammer.

  2. 02

    Cost-plus by default

    Most of our jobs run cost-plus: you pay the actual cost of the work plus a flat 20% builder's fee. That's the whole arrangement. You see the real numbers, so you stay in control of your own budget instead of guessing at a bid.

  3. 03

    Upgrade without the fight

    Because it's cost-plus, changing your mind is easy. Want a nicer finish halfway through? It's not a change-order battle. It's just 20% on top of the new number. Your money, your call.

  4. 04

    Or set a hard budget

    Prefer a fixed number? We can do that too. Just know what it means: the plan gets rigid, and any change after that becomes a formal change order. It works — it's just less flexible. We'll tell you straight which path fits your project.

  5. 05

    Honest timelines

    We don't make promises the calendar can't keep. You'll get a real schedule and real updates. If something shifts, you hear about it from us — not at the end.

What cost-plus looks like in practice

Here's the kind of decision that comes up on almost every job, and how cost-plus handles it.

A real example

Say we get to windows and the plan is $20,000, but you decide you want the $40,000 package. No problem, and no fight over a change order. It's still just 20% on top of the new number.

It's your money. You should get to decide where it goes.

On a fixed-budget job, that same upgrade means reopening the contract and negotiating a change order. With cost-plus, you just decide — and the math stays simple.

Builder on site working a brick custom home in Brunswick County, NC — cost-plus collaboration by Northstar Custom Works
The bottom line

It's your money. You should get to decide where it goes. Either way we set it up, we'll be straight with you the whole time.

Want to talk it through?

Tell Chase about your project and he'll walk you through which approach fits — cost-plus or fixed. No pressure, just a straight conversation.