How Well Do You Know Your Builder?

By Marcelo

For many people, building a custom home is a major life goal. You work hard, save money, and search for a contractor or builder to help you construct the house of your dreams. 

Unfortunately, there are some less-than-reputable builders and general contractors out there who might squash those dreams. I’ve heard horror stories from friends and clients about builders who took deposits and disappeared or contractors who produced shoddy work and brought the project to a screeching halt.

On the flip side, one of the best parts about being a builder, at least for me, is hearing the success stories. We love to hear how the home we built exceeded expectations and delighted our customers. Years later, these customers often come back to us for remodels and expansions, and we’re more than happy to help.

So, if you’re looking to build the home of your dreams, my question for you is:

• How well do you know your builder?
• Are you aware of their mission statement or reputation?
• Do you know their experience, background and the type of work they specialize in?
• Do you know if they will be here tomorrow to warrant and stand behind their work?
• Do you have access to past customers and provide trade references?
• Can they show you work already completed?
• Are they financially stable to complete the work?

We make sure this information is transparent to all of our clients. But for those who may not know, here are some of the most important things Oxford Builders brings to the table:

We have 35+ years of experience (Established in 1980)

Oxford Universal Design Build has over 35 years of award-winning design-build expertise. Yet, even with our long-standing reputation and experience, we refuse to rest on our laurels. Both Grove Properties and Oxford Universal work together to constantly research and analyze local market conditions. Our team of planners, engineers, architects, and general contractors work together to transform prime, raw land into valuable real estate assets. We have developed over 1,000,000 units in Miami-Dade County ranging from high end luxury single family homes, to site development and commercial mid rise projects.

We are dedicated to building sustainably

We are committed to building sustainable, well-crafted homes that work with our community and environment—not against it. As such, all Oxford new homes are now LEED certified. In addition to helping the environment, this certification ensures that the home exceeds the current city, county and State building codes—which is then verified by a third party. The result is a high quality home that’s meant to last.

Our current LEED certified build project, Bonita Avenue Construction, continues to make headway. We are currently in permitting and recently completed the mandatory design charrette, which was a meeting of the minds to ensure that the owner, architect, site superintendent, LEED for Homes Provider, HERS Rater, Green Rater, and the project’s LEED for Homes AP were all working together on the project. This team will continue to find ways to make this build project as sustainable and green as possible.

We support local charities

We have made it our mission to improve the quality of life for those we impact—especially in the local community. Through the Grove Properties Cares Program we donate proceeds from every closing to local non-profits dedicated to feeding the hungry and bringing assistance to underprivileged children. We are founding members of the Architectural Research Collaborative (ARC+), a social impact organization that seeks to empower education and research into sustainable solutions for Miami. We are also enthusiastic founding supporters ARC+ Buildgreen, a program for collaboration on green building initiatives and sustainable Architecture.

If you’d like to get to know the Oxford Build team further, contact us at any time. We’re more than happy to discuss our current qualifications and projects that will further improve the quality of life for clients and the community.