Our Process · Nine Steps
How this actually goes.
Most homeowners have never run a construction project and have no idea what is supposed to happen next. That is not a knowledge gap you should have to close on your own. Here is the whole thing, in order, with what it costs at each stage.
A Matson Signature Builders project runs in three stages and nine steps: Discovery (phone call, fit check, in-home visit: all free), The Plan (drawings, selections, engineering, permits and a fixed written price: no charge to reach the proposal), and The Build (construction, walkthrough, punch list, and a job that is not closed until you say it is). Consultations, site visits and estimates are free. Timelines run from three weeks for a bathroom to eighteen months for a custom home.
Stage One · Discovery
Free, and genuinely free. There is nothing to sign and nothing to decline at the end of it.
1. Start a conversation
Call or text 623-271-4172. Fifteen or twenty minutes with Dan or Jessica about what you want to build, roughly what you want to spend, and when. You will get an honest read on whether your project and your number are in the same neighbourhood, on that first call, before anyone drives anywhere.
2. Confirm the fit
Both directions. We are a small shop that caps the number of active jobs on purpose, so we are not right for everything, and if yours is a job a good handyman should do for a third of what we would charge, we will say so and point you to one. Telling you that on day one costs us a job and saves you a month.
3. The in-home visit
Dan walks the space. Not to admire it: to look at framing, plumbing runs, panel capacity, roofline, setbacks and whatever the last contractor left behind the drywall. This is where the guesswork comes out of the number, because he is looking at your house instead of a photo of it.
Stage Two · The Plan
Where the project becomes real and the price becomes firm. Still nothing billed to get here.
4. Scope, drawings and selections
We nail down what is actually being built, produce whatever drawings the job needs, and get your selections made: cabinets, counters, tile, fixtures, lighting. Locking selections before construction is the single biggest thing that keeps a schedule honest, because a decision made three weeks late does not delay the job three weeks. It delays it however long that product takes to arrive.
5. The fixed price
A real number for a defined scope, in writing, before anything is demolished. Not a range. Not an estimate that drifts. Once it is signed the price does not move unless you change the scope, or we open a wall and find something, and in that case work stops, you see a photo of it, you get a price, and you decide before we go further.
6. Engineering, permits and the HOA
We pull permits under our license and schedule the inspections. If you are in Verrado, Vistancia, Sun City, Sun City West, Anthem or any of the newer West Valley communities, we prepare and submit the architectural review package too. Start this early. HOA review regularly takes longer than city review, and most jurisdictions want the HOA approval inside the permit submittal.
What actually happens during plan review
7. Ordering and scheduling
Long-lead items (windows, doors, cabinets, specialty fixtures) get ordered at permit, not at framing. Then you get a real schedule with real durations, not "about six weeks."
Stage Three · The Build
Dan runs it. You are not handed to a project manager you have never met.
8. Construction
Dust barriers on the openings, floor protection on the paths, and the site swept before the crew leaves, every day, not just at the end. Trades are sequenced so handoffs are planned rather than scrambled. You get photos, updates, and a direct line. If you cannot reach us, something has gone wrong and we want to hear about it.
Crew conduct is not negotiable: no smoking or vaping on the property, no alcohol or drugs, radios reasonable, and respect for your family, your neighbours and your things.
9. Walkthrough, punch list, done
We walk the whole project together, room by room. You point out anything that is not right. We show you how the new systems work, hand over manuals, warranties and paint colours, and then we finish the punch list, because the job is not closed and the final payment is not released until it is. That mechanism is in the contract on purpose. It is the reason the last ten percent actually gets done.
The project is finished when you say it is finished. Not when we are ready to leave.
From rough number to firm price
Five stages. Nothing to pay until you build.
This is the same ladder we publish to the realtors and designers who send us work. There is no different version for people who found us on Google.
The Instant Number
Before anyone picks up a phone, your client can see real Arizona ranges for the exact thing they want to build. Seven services, all published, all taken off jobs we have actually completed.
The Walk
Dan comes out and stands in the space. He looks at what is actually there (framing, plumbing runs, panel capacity, roofline, setbacks) and tells you what is possible and what it will take. You get a written recap, not a sales call.
Roughly an hour. Available before your client closes on a property, which is when it is worth the most.
Plan Review
If drawings already exist, we tell you honestly whether they are ready to build in your jurisdiction, what is missing, and what will be a problem in the field before it becomes a problem in the field.
The Firm Proposal
A real number for a defined scope, in writing. Not a range that drifts. Once it is signed the price does not move unless the scope changes or something hidden turns up, and in that case you see it and approve it before we touch it.
The more complete the information going in, the tighter the number coming out.
Build
Dan runs the job himself. You get photos, updates and a direct line the whole way through, and the final payment is held until after the walkthrough and the punch list are done.
Licensed Arizona contractor, ROC 336562.
Why nothing is billed until you build. Plenty of good builders charge for planning, and their reasoning is sound. Design is real work and a fee filters out people who were never going to build. We have gone the other way. We would rather absorb that cost and lose a few hours to someone who walks, than put a toll booth between a homeowner and an honest answer. If that changes, it will be published here before it is charged to anyone.
How long it takes
Realistic timelines
| Project | Plan & approvals | Total, start to finish |
|---|---|---|
| Bathroom remodel | 0 – 2 weeks | 3 – 6 weeks |
| Kitchen, layout unchanged | 1 – 3 weeks | 6 – 12 weeks |
| Kitchen with wall removal | 3 – 8 weeks | 3 – 5 months |
| Home addition | 8 – 16 weeks | 5 – 9 months |
| Casita / ADU | 8 – 20 weeks | 4 – 8 months |
| RV garage | 8 – 20 weeks | 5 – 10 months |
| Custom home | 3 – 6 months | 9 – 18 months |
Start Your Project
Start with a conversation.
Fifteen minutes, no script, nothing to sign. You will know by the end of it whether we are the right builder for what you have in mind.
Last updated August 2026 · Matson Signature Builders · Licensed Arizona contractor ROC 336562