After a long series of “Design/Build Contractor vs. Architect,” “Fall 2012 vs. Spring 2013,” “Design/Build Contractor A. vs. Design/Build Contractor B.”, etc. debates, we’ve made a decision to hire Rob Whitten of Whitten Architects.

We like Rob’s work and — more importantly — we liked Rob.  He showed up on time.  He went through our pre-work in painful detail and asked great questions.  Explained why the house should sit closer to one side of the field versus the other.  He had the same enthusiasm for our site and our new neighborhood that we do.

Tonight we sat at our kitchen table with Rob, talked about expectations, money and a timeline.  We’re both on vacation at the end of the month and then the project will start in earnest.  With any luck, we might even push to get power and a driveway to the site before snow flies.

And if that wasn’t enough, we received this note a few hours ago from one of the design/build contractors that was part of the initial process :

“I think you’ve made a great choice, truly. It is an exceptional lot and one very special  opportunity. Rob is in another league of capacity and expertise, his work is stunning.  I would be thrilled and actually more comfortable working with you and Rob as a team on the project if that comes to be. I have been fretting about how our modest design department could meet the challenge of scale and time frame.  Our capacity as builders is much greater.

I owe Rob a call and will express our interest in helping with pricing as the design develops if the need arises.”

So there you have it.  House comes off the market until next Spring.  And with any luck, work will then start on the new house.