About Us
Sommers Homes LLC is a family owned and operated, full-service, design-build, hands-on residential general contractor. Since inception in 2002, we have built 36 houses and completed over 50 major remodeling projects. We pride ourselves in the ability to work with a wide variety of interior and exterior styles: Transitional, Mid-Century Modern, Modern Industrial, Craftsman, Shaker, Tuscan, French Country, Formal French, Classical revival, Mediterranean, Contemporary eclectic farmhouse, Ranch and Colorado Lodge.
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We are passionate about working with clients to envision how best to design and utilize space to meet their unique goals. Nothing is more satisfying than bringing that vision to fruition through hands-on, fine craftsmanship. Uniting the design process, client relationship and hands on construction is our passion.​
We work hard to stay current with industry trends, styles, practices, products, and standards by attending trade shows, continuing education, and architectural touring and traveling. It is not unusual for us to go on a parade of homes tour while on vacation. Design ideas have come from our travels to Rome, Tuscany, New York, and Washington, D.C.
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Our core values are honesty, hard work, quality workmanship, resourcefulness, creativity, practicality, economic viability, design sensitivity, and comprehensive knowledge of the industry.
Our Story
Our company story begins early in Brian’s life in his father’s wood and metal workshops where constructing buildings and projects from wood and metal was a favorite past time. As this hobby grew into a full-time interest, Brian founded Sommers Homes LLC in 2002. We began with a focus on new home construction in the north of the river area of Kansas City, MO. Soon however, as requests and referrals came, we expanded into remodeling and basement finishes. The company grew rapidly, won a major design award, and soon had built 35 new homes and completed 24 major remodeling projects.
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The 2008 housing crash hit the Kansas City new home construction market hard – bringing an 85% reduction in the industry. After weathering the downturn, Brian and family decided to move to Colorado to be closer to an outdoor mountain sports lifestyle and a more active construction market. However, requests and referrals kept Brian and sons traveling back to the Kansas City for four years to complete various design intensive construction projects. During this time, our work has stretched from the ski towns of central Colorado, Denver, rural Missouri and Kansas City. Starting in 2018, we are focused full-time on design-build projects in central and south-central Denver.
Since relocating to Colorado, Son’s Keith and Kaleb have joined Sommers Homes full-time and have their own areas of growing experience and expertise. While we are a full-service, residential general contractor, our in-house hand-on specialties include: framing carpentry, fine woodworking and cabinetry, and ornamental iron work.
Our Process
Most people are rather apprehensive about starting a construction project. We all have heard stories of the difficulties involved. Brian likes to use an analogy comparing construction to having a baby. Its messy, somewhat unpredictable, and sometimes fraught with unforeseen difficulties, but the end goal is what makes the struggle all worthwhile. We at Sommers Homes won’t promise we can take all the messiness out of a construction project, but we have worked with close to 100 clients who have been satisfied with the result.
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Initial client meeting(s) and project envisioning: The most important thing we do at this meeting or series of meetings, is to listen, listen, listen. We listen to a client’s desires, goals and vision for a project. We want to know what concerns they have, what their experience with previous projects have been, and what problems they are trying to solve with the proposed ideas. On larger projects, this will usually be more than one meeting. At this time, we provide an initial assessment of the feasibility of a project. Sometimes there will be feasibility issues that will require a visit from a specialized subcontractor, or additional research to be done before that can be determined. Unless a job is fairly straight forward, we usually don’t provide any estimates on pricing, because there are so many variables in a client’s preferences and complications in the project.
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Schematic design and estimate: We take all the information gathered and set down at the computer to think and draw. We take all the information gathered at the initial meeting(s) and sit down at the computer to think and draw. We like to take a week or two to think through various possibilities and explore unique ideas. Usually, we create 2 to 4 options to present to a client. These options will be presented as basic conceptual drawings, not fully developed architectural plans. Sometimes these options are completely different than what the client originally envisioned. At this point, we provide a good estimate of pricing based upon a set of assumptions about the client’s design preferences.
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Full design and specification development: Once a client has chosen an option to pursue, there is considerable work to develop a full set of prints and specifications. This process will require at least 2 design meetings to develop a design profile and choices. With more complex projects, we will require a design contract to go ahead and complete this work. Usually it will take 2-6 weeks to work through all the issues involved in a full design development. At this point, we can provide a hard bid and proposal for the project based upon the design, allowances, and specifications.
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Contract: Upon signing a contract, we collect a pre-construction fee to complete all the pre-construction items, like engineering, permitting, and surveying.
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Construction: is merely the execution of a pre-construction plan. While we welcome ongoing input during construction, it is in everyone’s best interest to have everything worked out before workers are on site. We find it necessary to charge for change orders during construction because of the extra costs involved in changing plans during a project.
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Punch-list completion: Everyone is involved is making the punch-list. Blue-tape, lists, crossing items off the list, and final payment represent the end of the project.
Team Members
Brian K. Sommers – designer, carpenter, and principal.
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Brian works with clients in the pre-construction phase of a project to develop ideas, refine design, and determine the scope of a project. His hands-on skills as a craftsman have been honed by over 25 years’ experience as carpenter, woodworker, AutoCAD designer, and metal craftsman. On many projects, he is still lead carpenter and craftsman. Brian and his wife of 30+ years, Melody have 4 children. The family is passionate about mountain sports: hiking, climbing, skiing, ski mountaineering, and camping with their dog Charlie.
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Keith J. Sommers – Client relations and business manager.
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Keith has been working in the company for 3 years as a carpenter and handyman. He has recently assumed responsibility for operating the business side of construction. He is the initial contact for all interested in working with Sommers Homes LLC.
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Kaleb J. Sommers- Cabinet maker and carpenter.
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Kaleb is a thinker who knows how to envision the elements of a fine woodworking project and execute the steps with excellence and efficiency. He enjoys the precision of cabinet making and quality craftmanship.
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Susan K Sommers – designer, material sourcing, and consultant.
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Susan, sister of Brian, is involved in the design and sourcing of most design intensive projects. Her creativity, resourcefulness, knowledge of unique product sources, and economic sensitivities are unmatched in the design world. She is available for design consultations
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Brick Brian – mason, tile setter, and carpenter. Brian has done production masonry work for most of his life. He has picked up tile setting and carpentry later in his career. Nobody in the industry works harder or gets more done than Brian. He has worked closely with us for close to 8 years.
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Painter Miguel – painter, carpenter and handyman. Miguel has been in production new construction paint for most of his career. He has picked up carpentry skills while with Sommers Homes. His resourcefulness as a handyman comes naturally. He has been with us for over 10 years.
Core Values
Honesty: In an industry where mistrust runs rampant, above all we prize honesty. We want our clients to feel comfortable that they can trust us.
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Quality craftsmanship: We take pride in our work and believe it is an extension of who we are. There is nothing more satisfying than standing back at the end of a project, saying to ourselves, "that looks good".
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Strategic and thoughtful planning: The most important part of any project is the pre-construction planning. Many mistakes and cost over-runs are the result of inadequate planning. We like the design-build approach as it allows us to thoroughly envision a project start to finish before concrete runs out of the truck and the nail guns are hooked up.
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Hard work: Our family has a background in farming in Kansas where hard work was valued. We expect to work hard in construction.
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Thriftiness/Economic value: We want our clients to get a value for what they are paying us to do. The economic values came from parents/grandparents who grew up in the great depression affect the way we operate our business today. We find our prices to be more attractive.
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Client participation: We seek to take seriously the needs, tastes and vision of a client and work hard to refine their ideas to make them a reality. We aren’t threatened a client’s input – we welcome it.
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Comprehensive industry knowledge: We work hard to stay current on industry practices, products, trends, developments and standards through participation in trade shows, architectural traveling and touring, and continuing education.
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Design sensitivity: We pride ourselves in understanding and being able to work with a wide variety of interior and exterior styles, both contemporary and traditional styles including: Transitional, Mid-century modern, Modern Industrial, Contemporary eclectic farmhouse, Craftsman, Shaker, Tuscan, French Country, Formal French, Classical revival, Mediterranean, Ranch, and Lodge.
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Creativity/Resourcefulness: We aren’t afraid to try something new or different. Our most enjoyable projects have been the ones where at the beginning we scratch our head and say to the client, we are going to need to think about that.