Why More Homebuyers Are Choosing Custom: A Conversation with Lighthouse Custom Homes
For many homebuyers, the thought of building a custom home can feel overwhelming. That’s where Lighthouse Custom Homes comes in, aiming to simplify the process and deliver a personalized, guided experience from start to finish.
“People definitely can feel overwhelmed,” says Sarah Aves, Area Sales Manager of Lighthouse. “That’s why our whole thing is trying to make that process a little more simplified—making sure that they understand everything that we’re including and having that step-by-step guide to help people not feel so overwhelmed.”
A big part of easing anxiety comes down to familiarity and relationships.
“It comes down to getting to know our client,” Aves says. “Coming into the showhome, being able to see our home quality before diving into the process . . . getting an expectation of what we do and what’s included. Then, introducing our client to who they’re working with and learning more about Lighthouse and who we are as a company and what we care about. I think that eases people’s minds a bit. And then obviously budgetary numbers.”
Co-founder Andrea Deydey adds that the perception of a daunting, complex custom home process isn’t necessarily accurate.
“The rumour out there that it is a daunting and scary process is only because they haven’t really met us,” says Deydey. “We’ve done it so many times. We’ve worked with so many people. It’s all about getting to know the client, making sure they trust us. And the only way that they can trust us is if we’re asking the right questions and advising them to make their life and their home catered to them.”
“It’s not scary—it’s exciting,” adds Deydey.
Timelines and Expectations
How long does the custom home journey typically take?
“It depends on the person for sure,” says Aves. “Also depends if they have a lot or not. If someone already has land, then typically I would say a year and a half, eighteen months for the full process.”
“The way I speak to clients the easy part is to tell them it’s really in two parts,” Deydey explains. “One part is the pre-construction and planning, the second is the physical construction—shovel in the ground to possession. We’re anywhere from 10 to 12 months.
Design and pre-construction planning, however, can vary.
“The uncertain part comes into play with how custom are we talking here,” says Deydey. “If we’re modifying a plan we’ve touched in the past, that can be two to four months of design, pricing, contract, and financial prep. If somebody’s totally starting from scratch, it extends that design time by a couple months.”
Custom vs. Curated: Two Paths to Homeownership
Lighthouse offers clients two main paths: starting from a base plan or designing completely from scratch.
“We have base plans for people to look at,” says Aves. “So they can either tweak one of those plans if it suits them and their family, or we can just start from complete scratch.”
“And even those base plans act as a guiding piece,” adds Deydey. “75% of our clients go custom, and 25% pick either a base plan or a very minor tweak.”
The benefits of custom speak for themselves, especially for clients who’ve already explored the resale market.
“Most of our clients that come in have been shopping on the market for a while, can’t find something that they want or they like, and so then that’s when they start looking down the custom route and we can achieve every wish that they want,” Aves says.
Comparing Cost: Custom vs. Resale
When it comes to price, Deydey offers a practical comparison.
“Let’s say you have a budget of $2 million and you go in the open market and look at all homes that are $2 million. Then you come to us, and your house is $2 million. You could be buying a house in Watermark, let’s say, that’s resale of $2 million. It has everything floor plan-wise that you like but the bathroom is bright pink, it’s dated, the master ensuite is slate tile from 2008.”
“For the same $2 million, you can build a very similar house with exactly the colours and tastes that you want—for 2025 or 2026 design standards. You prolong the resale value of your home.”
“And right now, because there’s a high demand for housing, resale actually can be more expensive than building custom for an exact apples-to-apples,” Aves adds.
Full Involvement, Seamless Communication
Clients stay involved every step of the way, without feeling overwhelmed.
“They don’t have to do the work, but they are definitely kept up to date and we involve them on all decisions,” says Aves. “Even after we’ve finalized the plans, they go into their selections. We have walkthroughs throughout construction.”
Deydey highlights the use of Buildertrend software to help streamline the experience.
“We have clients living in Phoenix and California. They can go on and see daily photos from the job site. They can see pictures of every stage of construction, ask questions in the portal, see financial summaries. Our site supervisors even provide commentary—‘Here’s a picture from today, the cribs are working on footings’.Nothing is off the table.”
Who’s Building Custom Homes?
Lighthouse works with a diverse range of clients, united by major life milestones.
“We have a lot of young families that are moving up in their life,” Aves says. “And we also have a lot of downsizers that are planning for retirement—doing bungalows and things like that.”
Deydey elaborates: “The pattern is people going through a substantial life change—pregnancy, kids graduating, retirement, newcomers to Canada. Our demographic is quite varied.”
“But the one thing that every client has in common is that it’s a milestone—whether their family is growing or their family is leaving.”
Planning for the Future
With a custom home timeline of around 18 months, clients have the freedom to plan ahead.
“It’s not like a rush job where you sold a house and now you’ve got to find another in two months,” says Deydey. “They’re planning for it.”
She points to recent clients who chose a specific community where family already lives. “They planned and financially prepared to wait to pay for exactly what they want. If you’re going to live in this house for 20 years, you don’t want to have an impulse buy.”
Looking Ahead: Alpine Park and Beyond
Lighthouse is also expanding its footprint in Alpine Park with both curated and custom options.
“All the other builders are only offering the curated path—base plans, minor modifications,” says Aves. “We’re offering that too. But we also offer full and true custom, which no other builder in Alpine Park does.”
“That’s really appealing to a lot of people,” Deydey adds.
As Lighthouse continues to grow, one thing remains the same: a commitment to personal connection, transparency, and helping people bring their dream homes to life—one milestone at a time.
Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 and 2024 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and only Canadian. He also made the RETHINK’s global list as a Top Retail Expert 2024 and 2025.
