Creative Construction

A Mom and Pop Design-Build Shop. Beth Williams, designer, and Michael Chandler, builder, during a recent construction site walk thru.

Chandler Design-Build was established twenty years ago on April Fools day 1987. We now build 3-4 homes per year. We have chosen to limit our growth in order to maintain the "hands-on" attention to detail in our approach to the work we do. This allows us to take on the more challenging and unique, even eccentric, home building projects that Chapel Hill, NC has to offer.

Beth Williams and Michael Chandler design almost all of the homes we build. We will be happy to develop plans for you from your lists and scrap books. We have a place in the Vision section of this website that more fully explains how we work.

Our Design-Build process enables us to use detailed records from past houses to give accurate estimates and construction schedules very early in the design process. We don't draw final working drawings until we have an accurate budget projection and are sure that the client is as comfortable with the budget and the schedule as they are with the design. Our goal is to bring every job in on budget and on time with enthusiastically satisfied home owners.

We are licensed to build homes up to one million dollars in construction cost. We are committed to the concept of building Not-So-Big houses and don't generally choose to build homes larger than 3,000 square feet. We only remodel homes we built originally. We do occasionally draw plans to be built by other builders.

Our designs have drawn national recognition. In 2005 we received first place for "Aging in Place Design for a New Custom Home" at the NAHB International Building Show. In 2006 and again in 2007 we took second place at the NAHB National Green Building Awards for "Custom Home of the Year." These homes are featured in the portfolio section of our website. Our homes have also been seen in Fine Homebuilding Magazine and Natural Home Magazine. We prefer to compete in national competitions rather than in local ones because we feel that we learn more by competing on a more diverse playing field.

Chandler Design-Build is proud to be recognized by the USDOE as an Energy Star Builder . Since joining the program our homes have averaged 50% better than code as tested by our energy star certifier (15% better than code meets energy star.) We have designed our own "Energy Star Extreme" logo and wear it proudly on our company Tee Shirts.

In November of 2006 we received the Custom Home Pacesetter Award from Custom Home Magazine for "Innovation in Business Management" for our employee profit sharing program. (We give 40% of profits to our employees.) We have twice been featured in Professional Builder Magazine as one of the Best 50 Builders to Work for in America. We are as proud of the way we treat our co-workers as we are of how we treat our customers.

The Chandler Design-Build Team

Michael Chandler graduated from Dartmouth College '78 with a degree in sculpture and later attended the New School for Democratic Management. He has been a member of NAHB's "Builder 20" Business Management Education Program for the past ten years. In addition to being a General Contractor he is a licensed Master Plumber as well as a master tile setter and cabinetmaker. He also writes on construction and related topics for Fine Homebuilding Magazine .

A long time solar and building science enthusiast he is currently Education Coordinator for the NAHB Green Building Initiative here in North Carolina. Our mission is to work within the National Association of Home Builders to bring "Green" building practices to mainstream builders. In this capacity Michael travels around the state and around the country teaching builders and developers how easy it can be to change their homes to meet green building certification standards for site design, resource efficiency, energy and water efficiency, indoor air quality, and global impact.

Michael is a long time supporter of environment causes. He has worked with the Haw River Assembly (HRA) to have a positive impact on the environment through action and education in the Haw River watershed. He served for ten years on the board of directors for the HRA and is also active with the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association.

Michael's hobbies are canoeing, reading, and playing upright and electric bass with friends (www.offtheroadband.com and Smoke Rolls Out The Door ) His 24 year old daughter recently graduated from Smith College (Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, we credit a TV free home for setting her on the right path.) He recently married Beth Williams and gained a wonderful nine-year-old stepdaughter who is a student at The Community Independent School in Chatham County. They live near Saxapahaw with a small collection of sheep and chickens.