Explore some of our favorite new construction transformations — from vision to reality.

Built on a Foundation of Craftsmanship

Armada Design & Build was founded in Bellevue in 2011 with a straightforward conviction: custom homes should be built the way they were designed — without shortcuts, without handoffs, and without surprises. That commitment has shaped every home we’ve constructed across the greater Seattle area, from lakefront estates in Sammamish to detached ADUs in West Seattle. Our European heritage informs an attention to detail that goes well beyond code compliance — it shows in the joinery, the trim lines, the way a door swings, and the materials that hold up a decade after move-in. We’ve built more than 700 homes and held a 10-year structural warranty on all of them. That’s not a marketing claim; it’s a business model that only works when you build right the first time.

Your Vision, Engineered Into Every Detail

Every custom home we build starts with a blank page and your priorities. Some clients arrive with a thick folder of inspiration images and a clear sense of how they live. Others know only that they want something different from what the market offers. Both are good starting points. Our design process is genuinely collaborative — we develop full architectural drawings, 2D floor plans, and 3D renderings before a single permit is submitted, so you can see your home on paper and make changes when changes are easy. We work through material selection together: roofing, cladding, window packages, flooring systems, fixture lines. Nothing gets locked in without your sign-off, and nothing surprises you at the final walkthrough because you’ve already seen it a dozen times in the design phase.

From Groundbreak to Final Walkthrough

New home construction in King County involves more moving parts than almost any other type of project — and the complexity multiplies when you add sloped terrain, shoreline buffers, or ADU structures to the mix. Armada manages all of it under one roof: site assessment, architectural and structural engineering, permit submittals across King County municipalities, all trade coordination (foundation, framing, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, insulation, drywall, finish work), and final inspections. We’ve navigated Bellevue’s 90-day permit review windows, Seattle’s Design Review process, and Sammamish’s critical areas ordinances. Our project managers have been through these processes hundreds of times and know how to keep things moving when bureaucratic friction slows other builders down. The result is a project timeline you can actually plan your life around.

No Shortcuts. Not on a Home You’ll Live in for Decades.

Quality in new construction is invisible when it’s done right and catastrophic when it isn’t. The things that matter most — thermal bridging, flashing details, structural connections, waterproofing at transitions — are buried behind walls and under floors by the time you move in. You can’t inspect them at the final walkthrough. That’s why the Armada standard exists at every stage, not just the visible finishes. We use premium framing lumber and verify dimensional tolerances. We specify commercial-grade window and door packages with proper rough opening clearances. We install weather barriers and flashing systems to manufacturer specifications, not to minimum code. Every home we build is inspected internally before any municipal inspection — because we’d rather catch a problem ourselves than have you discover it five years later. The 10-year structural warranty we provide on every home isn’t a formality. It’s accountability.

One Team. Every Trade. Zero Handoffs.

The design-build model exists because the traditional alternative — hiring an architect, then putting the design out to bid, then managing a general contractor who subs out every trade — is where most custom home projects go sideways. Costs come in over estimate because the design was never calibrated against real construction pricing. Timelines slip because no single party owns the schedule. Details get lost in handoffs. At Armada, your architect, project manager, and construction crew operate under the same contract and the same accountability structure. When the design team specifies a structural detail, the crew building it is in the same Monday morning meeting. When a subcontractor has a scheduling conflict, our project manager handles it — not you. This isn’t just more convenient; it’s demonstrably cheaper and faster for complex custom builds.

We Know How King County Builds

Building in the greater Seattle area is different from building almost anywhere else in the country. The topography creates foundation and drainage challenges that flat-country builders never encounter. The weather requires a level of envelope performance — insulation, air sealing, moisture management — that exceeds what most other markets demand. Washington’s energy code (WSEC) has some of the most stringent requirements in the nation, governing insulation R-values, window U-factors, duct leakage, and mechanical ventilation systems. And the permitting landscape is fragmented: Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Seattle, and Sammamish all have different review timelines, fee structures, and submittal requirements. We’ve been working in this environment for 15 years. We know the building departments by name, know which design details flag for plan check comments, and know how to write a permit package that moves through review without multiple correction cycles.

You’re Involved in Every Decision

Some builders prefer clients who stay out of the way. We prefer the opposite. The homes that come out best are the ones where the client is genuinely engaged — asking questions during design, walking the framed structure before drywall, weighing in on finish selections with real information rather than just approving whatever the designer recommends. We structure every project with regular site walkthroughs, written progress updates, and direct access to your project manager throughout construction. We use a client portal where you can track schedule milestones, review change orders, and access all project documentation in one place. You’re not an outside party on your own home build — you’re part of the team that delivers it.

Built to Washington’s Energy Code and Beyond

Energy performance isn’t optional in Washington State — the WSEC mandates real targets for insulation, windows, air leakage, and mechanical systems. But we regularly exceed those minimums, not because it’s required, but because the homes perform better over a 30-year ownership horizon. We incorporate high-performance building envelopes, heat pump systems, ERV ventilation, and smart home infrastructure as standard practice on most of our builds. Clients in our completed homes consistently report lower utility costs and substantially better indoor air quality compared to their previous homes. If you have sustainability goals — net-zero performance, solar readiness, EV charging, geothermal — we’ve designed and built to those targets as well and can scope those systems into your project from the start.

We’re Still Here After Move-In

The relationship with most builders ends at the final punch list. Ours doesn’t. Every home we build is backed by a 10-year structural warranty, and our team is reachable after move-in for questions, minor adjustments, and the occasional issue that only surfaces after a home goes through its first winter. We also build our homes with future flexibility in mind — mechanical chases sized for system upgrades, electrical panels spec’d for expansion, structural load paths designed to accommodate future additions. Several of our new construction clients have come back to us years later for additions or renovations, because they already know how we work. That continuity — from design through construction and into long-term ownership — is the partnership we’re offering when you build with Armada.