Almaden · 2025 · Custom new build · 26 weeks

A great room with the garden in it.

Lot 14 in Almaden. A 7,200 square foot lot with a hundred-year-old coast live oak at the back corner, and a family that wanted one big room to live in and a bedroom for each of three children. 2,900 square feet, two stories, the oak untouched.

The finished great room: vaulted ceiling, exposed fir, a stone fireplace and sliding doors open to the garden.

Constraints

What stood in the way.

The oak's drip line covered a third of the buildable area; no grading inside it
R-1 zoning with a 25-foot front setback that pushed the house toward the tree
A neighbor on each side, both in residence, work hours 8 to 5
A hard date: keys before the school year

The build

Three plates.

Week 3. Stem walls and slab poured, plumbing stubbed up, the first lumber delivery on the driveway.

WeekWeek 03

StageFoundation

Footings stepped around the oak's root zone, engineered with a hand-dug pier at the back corner.

Week 10. Dried in: sheathed, wrapped, windows set, underlayment on the roof. The frame went up in 21 working days.

WeekWeek 10

StageDried in

Same framing crew throughout; the great-room ridge beam was set on a single morning.

Week 26. Lights on. Driveway, walkway, lawn and the stone path to the porch were the last three weeks.

WeekWeek 26

StageKeys

Final inspection passed on the day the schedule said in March.

Result

What stands now.

A 2,900 square foot home on a schedule that was written in March and met in September. The great room's sliding wall opens onto the oak, which never lost a branch. The neighbors sent a card.

Scope: Custom new build, 2,900 sq ft
Duration: 26 weeks on site
Crew: One superintendent, same framers start to finish
Site: Protected oak, zero grading inside the drip line

“They told us week 26 in March. We got keys in week 26.”

Priya and Daniel R., owners

Your lot, your brief.

Book a site walk