WHAT IF WE TOLD YOU THERE’S A WAY TO ORDER YOUR DREAM HOME FULLY ONLINE? (THERE IS.)

By Welcome Homes

A Manhattan-based tech startup, Welcome, has created a revolutionary, tech-enabled online platform to change the way people buy—and personalize—their dream home.

Welcome has combined every aspect of homebuilding into a simple, online platform. Pictured here is one of their active builds Upstate.

What if your long-existing Pinterest board—you know, the one that you’ve been adding to for years, full of inspiration for the “forever home” you promised yourself you’d someday own—could come to life in real-time? Meet Welcome, a tech-enabled homebuilding company that promises to bring you from mood-board to move-in, with just a couple of clicks. Arguably the best part: your price is guaranteed from day one. No overages, no surprises—ever.

Founded by the team of widely-known tech company DigitalOcean and boasting a full-time team of best-in-class civil engineers, architects, and designers, Welcome saw 500% growth last year, and is continuing on an impressive upward trajectory.

Welcome’s collection of modern cabins, designed for city folk who need a weekend escape: Modern Cabin 2, Modern Cabin 3, and Modern Getaway.

Welcome was born not only to address the notorious problem of low housing inventory, but also to remedy folks’ tendency to compromise and settle in certain areas when searching for a home. “There’s historically been a high preference for new homes, and that was the default choice, because existing inventory just wasn’t there,” says CEO Alec Hartman.

With upwards of 40 active build projects in the northeast alone, Welcome is spearheading the movement of new construction homes with its proprietary land-vetting technology and beautifully-designed, personalizable homes. Unlike “modular homes” or “spec builds”, Welcome’s homes are built by way of traditional, tried-and-true stick-build construction, conducted entirely on-site– which might be the only thing traditional about them.

Building an Oasis 3 Flex. All Welcome homes are built by way of traditional, stick-built, on-site construction.

“Welcome is highly focused on implementing technology advancements to standardize the building process,” says Welcome’s Land Research Manager, Douha El-Hely. “The use of AI and automation in various aspects of land vetting and homebuilding will only progress Welcome’s future in every stage in the pipeline– making the land-evaluation process take 3 seconds instead of the usual 3 hours.”

We’ve broken down the streamlined, mind-blowingly straightforward process (we were skeptical at first, too—but trust us) of building a home with Welcome.

The first step in the process is choosing your land.

Step one: Choose your property. Welcome’s interactive map boasts thousands of pre-vetted properties in desirable existing communities, letting you know exactly where you can build, and for how much. Their land-vetting tech, coupled with input from their team of civil engineers, is able to determine if land is conducive to a Welcome build– and provides an estimated build price. Factors considered include topography, municipal regulations, lot size, utility access, and more– in other words, they do all the un-fun stuff so you don’t have to.

The second step in the process is designing your home.

Step two: Design your home. Choosing from Welcome’s wide array of models—from modern, to traditional, and everything in between—you’re able to design your home in real-time using their digital design studio; for any given Welcome model exists upwards of 200,000 possible combinations of features, lifestyle-based upgrades, and more. Thus far, no two Welcome homes have been the same! If you’re having designer’s block, you can always pop into their design studio on Madison Avenue for a free consultation.

The third step in the process is making a combined offer on the land + the construction of your home.

Step three: Make an offer. The purchase process is as easy as promised. Using their online platform, make an offer to secure your new home—and a builder for it! You simply submit one offer for the property (set by the land-seller), and one offer for home construction. Welcome takes it from there, sharing your offers with their partner agents and thoroughly-vetted builders. Once your offer is accepted, your build price is guaranteed and won’t change during construction. Welcome can also assist you in securing a mortgage, if needed.

Once your offer is accepted, the only thing asked of you is to sit back, relax, and get extremely, extremely excited.

From here on out, you don’t lift a finger. Welcome administers all required permits and approvals, and handles the countless other aspects of pre-construction. The team keeps you updated every step of the way—from permit submissions and approvals, to the minute the shovel breaks ground. Once construction starts, you can track your build in real-time by simply logging into your account.

A Welcome customer takes a visit to her active Westchester build-site, where her Oasis 3 Flex model is coming to life.

So, whether you’re a Brooklynite (or not!) looking to move to the ‘burbs or seeking a weekend getaway upstate, consider building with Welcome—and be sure to invite us over.