Our FCA

The Feasibility & Construction Agreement (FCA) is the foundation of every Lockie Homes project. It’s a two-phase agreement that governs both the planning process and, if you choose to move forward, the construction itself. Before you sign anything, your architect reviews it. Before we break ground, you approve a real, bid-backed budget.

Most contractors ask you to sign a construction contract before you have a complete design, a real budget, or any clear picture of what your home will actually cost. The FCA is different. It’s structured so you’re never committed to building before you’re ready.

Before You Sign, Your Architect Reviews It

Before presenting the FCA to any client, we provide a copy to their project architect. The architect needs to understand the three-way working relationship the FCA creates — between you, your architect, and Lockie Homes. This gives the architect the opportunity to review our role before you commit to anything.

Under the FCA, we work directly for you while remaining fully accountable to the architect as the designer of record. We provide costing, buildability feedback, and coordination support so the architect’s design vision stays intact and the transition from design to construction is smooth. We don’t alter the architect’s design intent without their prior knowledge and approval.

This arrangement is unusual in the industry. It’s intentional. We want the people advising you to fully understand the agreement before you sign it.

Phase 1: Feasibility

During the feasibility phase, we work alongside you and your architect to develop plans, coordinate with engineers and permit specialists, and build a line-item budget backed by real bids. You pay $95 per hour for pre-construction services, billed monthly against your initial deposit.

If at the end of feasibility you decide not to move forward, we hand you everything we’ve developed — plans, estimates, schedules — in a complete project folder. You own it. We part on good terms.

Phase 2: Construction

Once you approve the bid-backed budget, construction begins. The FCA governs how work is ordered, how changes are handled, how you’re billed, and what warranties apply from start to Certificate of Occupancy.

How Cost-Plus Pricing Works

This is a cost-plus contract. You pay the actual cost of the work, plus disclosed overhead and profit. Because this is genuinely custom construction — where every selection you make affects cost — there is no fixed lump-sum price. Instead of hiding that reality inside a number and hoping for the best, we show you everything.

The formula is straightforward:

• Direct Costs — actual labor, materials, subcontractors, and consultants
• + 10% Overhead — Lockie Homes’ operating costs for managing your project
• + 12–14% Profit Markup — applied to Direct Costs plus Overhead
• + Sales Tax

The exact profit percentage within the 12–14% range is confirmed and agreed upon in your final bid-backed budget. Together, total markup runs approximately 22–24% above direct costs.

You review every invoice. You see every subcontractor bid. Nothing is marked up in secret.

In practice, the bid-backed budget serves as your financial anchor. When scope doesn’t change, final costs track closely to the approved budget. Any change that affects cost requires your written signature before work proceeds — so you’re always in control of where the numbers go.

Overhead vs. Profit — What’s the Difference?

These are two separate line items, and the distinction matters.

Overhead (10%) covers Lockie Homes’ operating costs: scheduling, project management, billing, coordination, and the people and systems that keep your project running smoothly. It does not include any profit.

Profit Markup (12–14%) is how we earn profit on the work we do. It’s applied to Direct Costs plus Overhead, disclosed clearly in your budget — not buried inside line items.

The Bid-Backed Budget

Before construction begins, you approve a line-item budget built from real subcontractor and supplier bids — not ballpark estimates. Every major trade is bid out. You see what the framer costs, what the plumber costs, what the cabinet maker costs.

This is what “open book” means in practice: not just access to numbers, but real bids from real people who have actually priced your specific project.

If the final bid-backed budget doesn’t work for you, you don’t build. Everything developed during feasibility goes with you.

Change Orders

Any change to the scope of work requires a written change order signed by you before work proceeds. Change order work is priced at cost of materials and labor, plus 15% additional overhead, plus the contractual markup from your budget.

We won’t proceed on a change without your signature. There are no surprises at the end.

Warranties

Every Lockie Homes project includes a 2-10 Home Warranty:

• 1 year — workmanship
• 2 years — mechanical and distribution systems
• 10 years — structural integrity

The warranty transfers to you after the Certificate of Occupancy is issued.

Ready to Learn More?

The best way to understand how the FCA works for your specific project is a conversation. Reach out and we’ll walk you through it.