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By Joshua Renich, Fox & Dahlia Homes Last updated: August 2026 Everyone who calls us about a waterfront lot on Puget Sound wants to talk about the view first. That's understandable — a west-facing bluff over Commencement Bay or a beach lot on the Key Peninsula sells itself. But the conversation that actually determines whether that home gets built happens somewhere less glamorous: the Shoreline Management Act review that starts before a single stud goes up. At Fox & Dahlia, p

By Joshua Renich, Fox & Dahlia Homes Last updated: July 2026 The question comes up on almost every early client call: should we hire an architect separately and then bring in a builder, or work with a design-build firm that does both? It sounds like a logistics question. It's actually a strategy question — and the right answer depends on the specifics of your lot, your priorities, and what "getting it right" means to you. Fox & Dahlia is a design-build firm. We don't hide tha

Building a Custom Home in Gig Harbor: Lots, Permits, and What to Expect By Joshua Renich, Fox & Dahlia HomesLast updated: June 2026 Gig Harbor is one of the most rewarding places in the South Sound to build a custom home — and one of the easiest to underestimate. The views that draw people here, the wooded slopes, the waterfront, the wide peninsula lots outside city limits, are the same features that turn a build into a puzzle. The lot that looks like a bargain often carries

How Much Does a Custom Home Cost in the South Sound in 2026? By Joshua Renich, Fox & Dahlia Homes Last updated: June 2026 It's the first question almost every client asks us, and it deserves a straight answer: a custom home in the South Sound in 2026 generally runs $350 to $700 per square foot for construction, with genuinely luxury builds on demanding sites pushing past $800 a foot — before you count the land. For a well-appointed 3,500-square-foot home, that puts most proje

By Joshua Renich, Fox & Dahlia HomesLast updated: May 2026 Some of the best homesites in the Puget Sound are the ones other people gave up on. The steep lot with the water view. The wooded parcel with no road and no utilities. The narrow infill lot in a historic Tacoma neighborhood. We have spent more than three decades building on exactly these sites, and we will tell you upfront: a "difficult" lot is not the same as a bad one. But the difference between a remarkable homesit