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A custom home starts where your household's priorities meet the property itself, and the practical work of design and construction follows from both. New Day Construction is a design-build team with a high-end focus. We can talk through the home you have in mind for Mercer Island, WA, and the plans you already hold, then help you work out which decisions will define the construction scope. Mercer Island lies in King County, one of the two counties where we build, along with Snohomish County.
Whether you are coordinating with an architect or just starting to explore your options, begin by telling us how the house should function. Where the living spaces go, how private the bedrooms feel, how you reach the front door and how the rooms open to the outside all shape the design.
The location and condition of a lot shape a build long before construction starts. Access for equipment, topography, drainage, existing structures, and utility connections all matter. On an island, every crew and every delivery arrives over the I-90 bridge, so we plan access and staging early. Depending on the property, a survey, site assessment, or engineering review may be needed to support the design.
Mercer Island also has its own residential rules. The city's single-family zones are R-8.4, R-9.6, R-12, and R-15, with a 30 ft height limit and a gross floor area cap of 40% of net lot area. Lot coverage for buildings and driveways drops as a lot gets steeper, from 40% on slopes under 15% to 20% above 50%. Front setbacks are 20 ft and rear setbacks 25 ft, while side setbacks depend on lot width. The city's zoning summary lists the details, and Title 19 of the city code governs. Check the numbers for your parcel before you fall for a floor plan.
Lots near the water or on a slope can bring extra reviews. Steep slopes, watercourses, and other critical areas can trigger a critical area review, and lakefront lots may fall under shoreline rules, which can mean a geotechnical report. Ask the city's permit staff what applies to your lot. If it belongs to an HOA, that approval is separate from the city permit.
On a ground-up build we plan for 6 to 9 months of pre-construction work (our estimate as of fall 2026). That period covers environmental studies, a survey, a check of wet conditions and slopes, and confirmation of the utility connections.
A buildable scope ties your daily routines to the way the house gets built.
Think through how the kitchen, dining area and living spaces connect, where the bedrooms go and how much storage and privacy each room needs. Daylight, accessibility and flexibility for later years count as much as style. An architect or designer can develop a plan that answers to the site and your household, or you can use our design and 3D rendering to see the layout before anything is built.
Structural systems, windows, exterior materials and interior finishes belong in one coordinated scope. Ask which selections are included in an estimate and which are allowances (a placeholder amount that can be outgrown). Kitchen cabinets show how fast finishes move the number. In our fall 2026 estimates for Seattle-area kitchens, semi-custom cabinets ran about $20K and custom cabinets $50K to $60K. Weigh appearance against maintenance and budget. The best way to compare finishes is to see the samples in person, since photos flatten color and texture. Our Bellevue showroom on the Eastside is built for that comparison.
If you already have plans, share the current drawings and tell us which architect, engineer or other professionals are involved. We confirm who coordinates each part of the work and what information is needed before construction. If the plans are preliminary, ask how decisions and responsibilities will be documented as they develop. Tight integration between design and construction is the whole point of design-build, and it is the first thing we check on any house.
Here is the sequence we follow with homeowners.
The exact sequence depends on the house and the site. Permit timing around Seattle varies a lot by city, from about six weeks to as long as three months on projects we have seen. Ask how a change to the design or selections will be priced, approved and reflected in the schedule.
This job is not on Mercer Island, and we would rather say so up front. It is in Lynnwood, in Snohomish County, and it is the closest ground-up build we can point to today.
A homeowner there first had us convert a garage into an ADU. We are now building a 1,200 sq. ft. detached DADU for the same client, and the plan is to rent out the main house along with both secondary units. A detached build starts from bare ground, so it follows the same order as a full new home, with site review, engineering and permits ahead of framing.
The project is still in progress, so we have no final cost or finished photos to show yet.
The size of the house is only one factor. Site work and access, foundations, utility connections, structural complexity, materials, permits and interior finishes all change the total. Unknown site conditions or changes after the plans are drawn may call for additional review.
A ground-up house with New Day Construction starts from $500,000 as of November 2026. The final figure depends on the lot, the plans and your selections, and we do not quote a per-square-foot price without them. For large projects we collect current bids from our foundation, electrical, plumbing, framing, roofing and window subcontractors before we set a price. We also bid the same all year. A contractor with an empty winter schedule may quote low to fill a crew, and that is a number worth questioning.
A low first bid proves nothing until the final invoice arrives. We have watched that play out on home additions. In one case a competitor's bid of about $250K grew to about $560K through new "unforeseen" work. In another, a client passed on our proposal of about $300K, and the other contractor's change orders reached about $300K with the work around half finished.
Our aim is on budget, on time. On a $100K quote, for example, the final figure should land near $103K, and a jump to $160K would need a real reason. Real reasons exist, such as scope you add or a condition nobody could see before excavation. We try to name those risks before you sign.
When you compare estimates, ask whether design, engineering, permits and allowances are listed separately, and read the fine print. A planning discussion is useful early, while a detailed estimate depends on the information available for your property and design.
The best first step is registration. Washington registers contractors with the Department of Labor & Industries under RCW 18.27. Our registration number is NEWDADC823QR, and you can check it in the L&I Contractor Verify tool along with the bond and insurance details. Do the same for every contractor on your list.
Then look at the work. Ask for relevant examples of completed projects, and find out how the contractor coordinates with your design team, keeps you posted and documents changes. Our project manager Max has extensive experience as a casework installer, which matters on a house where cabinetry and finish carpentry carry the character of every room. Quality of workmanship shows up in details like those.
New Day Construction provides a two-year craftsmanship warranty on completed work, and manufacturer warranties on installed materials and fixtures pass through to you. Before you rely on any warranty, ours included, get the written terms and confirm how they apply to your project.
Straight answers to the questions we hear before a build begins.
Ask each contractor to price the same scope, then compare the bids line by line. Check what is included, which items are allowances, and how hidden conditions are handled. Confirm active L&I registration, bond and insurance, and ask for completed work you can see. A firm that knows the island's permit process and slopes will save you weeks.
Most firms focus on a handful of offerings. We build new houses and handle kitchen, bathroom and whole-home renovation work, home additions, ADUs, DADUs and garage conversions. Siding, windows and similar work usually come as part of a bigger project. We focus on full projects and are not the right call for a small one-day fix.
It begins with the lot. We review the site, settle the design with your architect or ours, write a scope with allowances and then move into permitting. Construction starts after the permit is issued. Pre-construction alone often takes 6 to 9 months (our estimate as of fall 2026), and the build follows.
Your project goes through the City of Mercer Island, which checks zoning, height, setbacks and lot coverage for your parcel. Slopes, watercourses and lakefront lots can add critical area or shoreline review, and an HOA can add its own approval. The contractor must also be registered with Washington L&I. Permit timing varies, so ask the city's permit staff and your builder for a schedule that fits your lot.
Yes, we build all four. As of November 2026 our starting prices are $200,000 for an ADU, $100,000 for a home addition, $200,000 for a garage conversion and $100,000 for a basement remodel and finishing. Each depends on scope. In 2025 the city adopted interim rules that allow up to two ADUs per lot, and permanent rules were planned for 2026, so confirm the current version before you design.
Check registration, bond and insurance on the L&I site, then read the written warranty terms. Study completed projects, and read the reviews on each company's Google profile with an eye on how the company answers complaints. Talk to past clients if you can. A showroom visit lets you judge materials in person.
No. You can begin with the site information and goals you have. Our team can tell you which plans, surveys or professional reviews are needed to define the construction scope.
Yes. Share the drawings and introduce the professionals involved. We confirm roles, deliverables and communication for your specific project.
Timing varies with the design, site, approvals, construction scope and availability of materials. Request a project-specific schedule once the necessary information is available.
Bring the property address, any survey or drawings, the spaces you need, a budget range and your questions. If you are considering a property you have not bought yet, tell us about that stage of your planning.
Share your plans and property information with New Day Construction. Request a consultation to talk through the construction scope and next steps. You can contact us at (425) 522-5748 or [email protected], or visit the Bellevue showroom at 1850 130th Ave NE #1, Bellevue, WA 98005. More about our new house construction service, ADU builder service, home addition contractor service and whole-home remodeling is on our blog's service pages.
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