Why design-build is the only sane way to build on a Marin slope
When one firm draws the plan and a separate outfit builds it, the seams between them are exactly where a hillside project unravels. A rendering that looks effortless on a screen can collide with a soil report, a tight driveway, a setback from a downhill neighbor, or a grade that the designer never had to stand on. When that happens with split responsibility, everyone points across the seam and the homeowner absorbs the cost. We close that seam by being one company: the people who walk your lot and draw the pool are the people who dig it, shoot the shell, and pour the deck.
That continuity matters more here than almost anywhere, because Tiburon and the hills above Mill Valley and Ross are full of lots that simply do not forgive a generic plan. Slope, limited access, expansive soils, and bedrock all show up regularly. Designing with those facts in hand from the first sketch means the plan we hand you is one we already know we can build, on your lot, at the price we quoted.
It also means the decisions that drive cost and longevity get made together rather than in isolation. The shell engineering, the retaining and drainage, the equipment, the finish, and the deck all influence one another on a sloped site. Planning them as a single project is how a backyard ends up feeling composed and intentional instead of like a set of separately bid parts stitched together.