Design and Build with Zinn Design Build

Carol Ann Zinn has been designing and building distinctive, high-quality homes, remodels, and additions since 1978. She and the Zinn Design Build team handle both the design as well as the construction, making the process easier, faster, simpler, more integrated and more cost-effective than working separately with an architect. As the oldest functioning licensed general contractor in Chapel Hill, Carol Ann brings a unique skill set and great wisdom to the design-build process.

Once you initiate your contact with Carol Ann and determine that we’re a fit, she will offer to visit your property (for a custom build) or your existing home (for a remodel or addition), most often bringing project manager Jason O’Quinn for that first visit. His expertise is an additional valuable asset offered by Zinn Design Build. A tour of our model home in Carrboro provides a superb opportunity for further sharing.

Property Visits for Custom Homes

If we are visiting your land for a custom build, we want to understand where are the sewer and water connections, or if septic and well are required, we want to review the county septic improvement permit. If the septic permit has not been issued, we will obtain that on your behalf. We want to see the topography of your property. We want to discuss where the probable driveway location will be. We want to learn what views are important to you. These factors influence not only design, but costs.

Home Visits for Custom Remodels

If you are contemplating a remodel or an addition, we will visit your home. We want to understand and anticipate any potential structural concerns from the very beginning. We want to see your taste, as expressed in your existing space. We want to make sure that anything that we do that’s new, whether it’s an addition or a renovation, harmonizes with the existing structure, unless of course you want the new work to say: I am different.

Style and Aesthetic in Custom Homes

Carol Ann does not express one aesthetic, one sole aesthetic, in her design work. As you can see from the company portfolio, the work style varies considerably depending on the goals of her clients. Carol Ann’s unique skill of channeling her clients’ desires through her refined visual sensibility is culled from many years of work, enhanced by her familiarity with unique materials that are accessed outside the standard Chapel Hill market.

Beginning the Custom Home Process

The first step for working with Zinn Design Build is a Design and Pre-Construction Services Agreement. All of ZDB’s beginning services are included in this fixed-price contract. It includes Carol Ann’s creation of the initial design concept, her supervision of the computer drafting, the structural engineering, and the surveyor who places the house plan or addition on the site plan of the property. After ZDB review of the bills, the consultant invoices are paid directly by the clients, and there is no fee tacked on.

On average, from the start of our design process until the permit application is made requires about three months. We apply for the building permit and track it assiduously until we have that in hand. The permitting process for each municipality is different, but generally we expect from the time of submittal until the time of receiving a permit to require another three months.

Once you have approved the plans for your home or your remodel or your addition, Carol Ann goes to work on the details, which make so much difference in expressing who you are. This is executed through a series of meetings at the Carrboro office as well as by email contact. Having offered this for many years, our clients find the process to be amazingly orderly, professional, and smooth. Our office is full of samples of all kinds, and if we don’t have exactly what you want, we find it, sourcing from Triangle-area suppliers, vendors in New York and California who offer more unique options, and even from Europe.

Once the many details for your home, addition or renovation project are decided, we gather material costs from our suppliers and labor costs from the small business people who are our valuable high-quality subcontractors and present the price for the project to you. We typically do our pricing for you while the municipality is reviewing your project for permitting

Even though we are known for the high level of our finished product and for our attunement to your vision, we keep your budget at the forefront of our work. Carol Ann can guide your process, advising you how to stay on course and alerting you when your desires are taking you off-track. If any adjustments need to be made, we patiently work on this with you, and once we have everything just as you want it, our construction contract is signed. And then we go to work for you!