Frequently Asked Questions

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About Us

  • Three things. We operate by our core values — integrity, excellence, humility, and education — and they govern how we treat clients, trade partners, and each other. We have the experience and horsepower to handle complex projects that would stall a smaller builder. And we run a client-first process built to remove surprises, designing to your budget instead of delivering bad news later. We're headquartered on Amelia Island and serve all of Northeast Florida.

  • Think in three phases. Design runs from initial concept through a set of drawings you're happy with. Permitting and approvals follow, including HOA or architectural review where it applies. Then construction. A kitchen or bath is measured in weeks of construction, a large renovation or addition in months, a custom home in a year or more — and the design and approval phases in front of that are real time, not a formality. You get a milestone schedule before we start.

  • You're involved, but not buried. Most decisions get made during planning, before the first nail — that's deliberate. Deciding early is what keeps a job on budget and on schedule. Once we're building, we're bringing you decisions on a defined rhythm rather than calling you every afternoon with a question.

  • Excellence and integrity are two of our four core values, and safety lives inside both. Our superintendents inspect work at defined checkpoints, not just when the county shows up. Trade partners work to our standards or they don't work for us. We'd rather stop and fix something at rough-in than explain it at the final walkthrough.

  • Yes. MCG Homes is a licensed Florida general contractor, license CGC1526011, and carries general liability and workers' compensation coverage. We're happy to provide certificates on request, and we hold our trade partners to the same requirement before they set foot on your job.

  • All of Northeast Florida — Nassau, Duval, and St. Johns counties — from our home base on Amelia Island. That includes Fernandina Beach, Yulee, Jacksonville, and the beaches. We know the local permitting offices, the community review boards, and the coastal building requirements that come with all of it, because we work in them every week.

Our Process

  • Nothing formal. Photos, inspiration images, a rough budget range, and a sense of your timeline are plenty for a productive first conversation. If you have plans or a survey, bring them. If you don't, we'll tell you when you'll need them.

  • We provide a free initial consultation, but we don't provide free estimates. A real number requires design development, site investigation, and trade partner pricing — that's professional work, and doing it for free would mean either guessing or charging our other clients for it. If you already have a complete set of plans from a local design professional we know, we're glad to bid the project.

  • Planning is where projects are won or lost. It's where the design gets developed, the site gets investigated, the real scope gets priced with our trade partners, and the schedule gets built. Builders who rush this hand you a low number up front and collect the difference in change orders later. We'd rather do the work once, correctly.

  • You'll have a single point of contact and a regular update rhythm, including progress photos and check-ins at each milestone. If something changes — a delay, a discovery, a cost impact — you'll hear it from us first, not from a subcontractor on site.

  • We document it, price it, and get your written approval before the work happens. No surprise line items at the end. Our budget is built and tracked in a system you have visibility into, and every change that affects cost is recorded there so you always know where you stand.

  • An in-house team: your project manager, a superintendent on site, and our design and administrative staff behind them. We self-perform where it makes sense and use long-standing local trade partners for the rest — people we've worked with for years, not the lowest bidder of the week.

  • Usually, yes. For kitchen and bath projects we set up dust containment, protect adjacent spaces, and walk you through what to expect week by week. For a large whole-home renovation, we'll tell you early and honestly if temporary relocation is the better call. That's a conversation we'd rather have in planning than in month three.

  • More than most people expect. Fastener and hardware selection, exterior finish systems, ventilation, waterproofing details, and material choices all shift when you're near the Atlantic. Products that perform fine inland fail here. Part of what you're paying a local builder for is knowing which ones.

  • We manage the process — submittals, revisions, inspections, and any HOA or architectural review that applies to your property. In reviewed communities that approval is its own project with its own timeline, and we build it into the schedule up front so it isn't a surprise halfway through.

  • That's the goal every time. Rooflines, window proportions, siding coursing, and trim details are where additions give themselves away. We design the addition to the house you already have rather than dropping a new box on the back of it.

Renovations & Additions

  • There is no honest one-size answer — cost moves with lot conditions, size, and finish level. What we will do is give you a realistic range early, built from projects we've actually completed in this market, and keep you inside it as decisions get made. We'd rather tell you an uncomfortable number in month one than a worse one in month eight.

  • Yes, and we'd like to be involved before you buy. Two lots at the same price can carry very different construction costs once you factor in elevation, flood zone, soil, tree protection, and utility access. A short review before closing has saved our clients real money more than once.

  • Storm resilience is designed in from the start, not added on. Impact-rated windows and doors, engineered roof-to-wall connections, and wind-rated assemblies that meet or exceed Florida Building Code for our wind zone. On coastal lots we address elevation and flood requirements during design, when they're still cheap to solve.

  • That's exactly how we work. We call it Budget Backwards — we start with the number you're comfortable with and design to it, rather than producing beautiful drawings you can't afford and then cutting them apart. It's a less dramatic process and a much better outcome.

New Construction

Kitchen Renovation

  • Most kitchen remodels run about 12 weeks from demo to final walkthrough, and we'll tell you exactly which stretch you'll be without a working sink or range. Many clients set up a temporary kitchen in a garage or laundry room, and we'll help you plan for it before demo day.

  • In order: moving plumbing and gas, cabinetry, and countertops. Layout changes that relocate the sink or range are where budgets move fastest. If you're weighing options, we'll show you what each choice costs before you commit, while changing your mind is still free.

  • Yes. Door style, finish, and trim details can be specified to carry through from an existing space, and we'll be straight with you when a perfect match isn't realistic — stained wood, in particular, is difficult to match across a house.

  • We help you select appliances that fit the design and the way you cook, then coordinate delivery and installation timing. Lead times matter here: a specialty range ordered late can hold up an otherwise finished kitchen for weeks. We handle that scheduling so it doesn't happen.

  • Humidity here is unforgiving, so waterproofing is not a place to economize. We use proper substrate and membrane systems behind tile, specify adequate ventilation sized to the room, and select finishes that hold up over the long haul. Most of the bathroom failures we're called to repair trace back to what someone skipped behind the tile.

  • Yes, and we do it often. Curbless showers, wider doorways, comfort-height fixtures, and blocking in the walls for future grab bars can all be built in without making the space feel clinical. Our team includes CAPS-trained expertise, so this is a design conversation rather than a medical one.

  • Demo, rough plumbing and electrical, waterproofing, tile, then finishes and fixtures. Where homeowners get surprised is what's behind the wall — old galvanized supply lines, rot at the shower pan, or framing that isn't square. We look for that during planning so the price you agree to is the price that holds.

  • Usually, without moving a wall. Curbless showers, glass instead of a curtain, floating vanities, and running the same tile from floor into the shower all buy visual space. Where a wall does need to move, we'll tell you what it costs before you fall in love with the idea.

Bathroom Renovation

  • In many cases, yes. We phase work to keep operations running, schedule the disruptive scopes after hours, and use containment to separate active work from your customers and staff. We'll tell you honestly which portions can't be worked around so you can plan for them instead of discovering them.

  • Boutique commercial across Northeast Florida — restaurants, retail, offices, and professional space, plus renovation of existing commercial buildings. We're not chasing big-box work. We're good at projects where detail and finish quality matter and where the owner is going to be in the building every day.

Commercial Construction

  • We build a detailed budget before construction starts and track it throughout, with clear documentation on every change that affects cost. You see the same numbers we do. The goal is that the final invoice contains no sentence you're reading for the first time.

  • We don't finance projects directly, but we work regularly with local lenders who handle construction and renovation lending in this market, and we're glad to make an introduction. Working with a lender who understands how draws work on a construction project makes a real difference in how smoothly your job runs.

  • Sometimes it isn't — it's just more complete. A low bid usually means allowances set too low, scope left out, or a plan to make it up in change orders. Ask both builders to show you exactly what's included. If ours is genuinely higher on the same scope, we'll tell you why, and you can decide whether that's worth it.

Finance / Investment

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