Design + Build + Develop
We don't build bigger.
We build better.
Elm St Development designs and builds smaller cost and energy efficient homes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). One in-house team, from the first sketch to the final walkthrough.
The Approach
One team designs it. The same team builds it.
Most builders hand you off — an outside architect draws the plans, then a separate contractor prices and builds them, and the design intent gets diluted somewhere in between. We don't work that way. Every home starts and ends with the same team, so nothing gets lost in the handoff, because there isn't one.
That's the master builder model: a single point of responsibility who understands not just how a building should look, but how it actually gets designed, financed, permitted, coordinated, and delivered — one standard of accountability from the first sketch to the final walkthrough.
In-House Architecture
Every set is drawn in-house, from first concept through construction documents, so the design intent survives contact with the job site.
Owner-Led Construction
Licensed construction supervision on every project, with the same crew and the same point of contact from foundation to final coat.
Master Builder Approach
A master builder understands both how a home should be designed and how it can actually be built, financed, coordinated, and delivered — not just one half of the job.
Completed · Massachusetts
Most Recent Build
Our most recent completed build: a board-and-batten farmhouse on an in-fill lot, designed and built entirely in-house. Nine-foot ceilings, quartz countertops, a shiplap electric fireplace, and an energy-efficient heat-pump system — all inside a footprint that leaves room for a real yard on a lot other builders would have called too small.
Under Construction · Massachusetts
Current Build
Designed and permitted in-house first — then built by the same crew that drew it. Under construction now!
Custom & Larger-Scale Work
Small is the specialty. Large is not new to us.
Elm St Development was built on small, efficient homes — but our team's construction background isn't limited to them. This custom shingle-style home reflects the same standard of craft at a much larger scale: full custom architecture, high-end finishes, and construction managed start to finish. Whether your lot calls for 1,200 square feet or 6,000, we bring the same discipline to the drawing and the same hands to the build.
How A Project Moves
Design, permit, build, deliver — one team the whole way.
Draw to the site
We walk the lot with you and draw a plan that responds to it — orientation, neighbors, setbacks, budget — instead of starting from a stock template.
Handle the paperwork
We prepare the construction documents and manage permitting with the local building department, so nothing stalls before it starts.
Build to the drawings
Our licensed construction supervisor and crew build to the set we made ourselves, so nothing gets lost in translation between design and framing.
Close it out first
A final walk-through and a punch list closed before you move in — not after.
Full-Service Design-Build
A full architectural set and a 3D model — free, when you build with us.
Most builders send you to an outside architect first, then mark up every change that follows. We draw every home ourselves: complete construction documents and a full 3D model you walk through before we break ground. When you build with Elm St, that design work is included, not billed — it's how our homes stay modern and energy-efficient.
3D Modeling & Renderings
Every layout and sightline modeled and rendered before a single stud goes up, so what you approve is what gets built.
Complete Architectural Sets
Full construction documents, drawn and coordinated in-house, ready for permitting from day one.
Design Included, Not Billed
Architecture and 3D modeling come standard with every home we build — not a separate line item.
Transparent Pricing
Cost-plus 25% — pricing you can actually see.
We build on an open-book, cost-plus model. You see the real, itemized cost of materials, labor, and subcontractors, plus a builder's fee targeted at 25% — not a lump-sum bid with a hidden markup baked in somewhere you'll never see.
Materials & Labor
Billed at actual cost, with invoices and receipts open to you throughout the build — not an allowance list padded for margin.
Subcontractors
Every sub is billed at their actual contracted cost, passed straight through with nothing added on top.
Builder's Fee — Target 25%
Our fee for managing design, permitting, and construction — targeted at 25%, and treated as a goal and a minimum, not a starting point we build up from.
Every lot and every project is different — final pricing is always determined site by site once we know the scope, the site conditions, and the finishes you choose. 25% is our target and our minimum; it's not a number that grows once we're under contract.
Where We Build
Building in Massachusetts, Southern NH and Maine.
Elm St Development is based in Massachusetts, licensed as a Construction Supervisor in the Commonwealth, and builds across Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire, and southern Maine — tight urban infill, coastal sites, and everything between.
Massachusetts
Where every project is designed, built, and developed — spec homes, ADUs, and custom builds alike.
Southern New Hampshire
The same small-footprint and custom design-build work, built on southern New Hampshire lots.
Southern Maine
The same in-house design-build model, built on coastal and rural Maine lots.
Start A Project
Have a lot?
Let's find out what fits it.
Whether it's a single infill parcel, a backyard ADU, or a full custom build, tell us about the site and we'll tell you what we'd do with it.