About Us

Homeowners and architects alike turn to Cheney Custom Homes in Nantucket, MA, for quality, consistency, and credibility. A Cheney Custom Homes is one that is delivered on time and on budget with superior craftsmanship and reliable service. Building a new home from the ground up can be an overwhelming undertaking, but building a custom home on Nantucket comes with its own unique set of challenges. In addition to mastering the art of building on an island located 30 miles out at sea, we have developed a comprehensive management process that significantly reduces the duration of construction while remaining within a homeowner's specified budget. Cheney Custom Homes puts to rest the notion that constructing a beautiful custom home is inevitably an intimidating and costly endeavor by striving to ensure a fun and enjoyable experience for all of our clients.

Company Structure

Cheney Custom Homes employs a small group of seasoned professionals who are experts in their fields, which ensures streamlined and efficient communication at all times. Unlike many other construction companies, Cheney Custom Homes does not retain a large staff of general tradesmen. Instead, we execute fixed-price contracts with the most reputable vendors and subcontractors in their respective fields, many of whom have been doing business with us for more than a decade. This structure enables the staff of CCH to do what we do best: manage the process.

Draft blueprint of Surfside projectOur project managers, each of whom is responsible for the completion of one to three projects per year, have years of hands-on construction experience across many different trades. Allowing our PMs to focus on just a few jobs at any given time maximizes on-site production, consolidates the communication of all pertinent details, and forges trust and accountability among all parties. They work closely with our exceptional office staff, who act as the primary contacts for architects, design professionals, Town officials, tradespeople, and our clients. The office staff—consisting of our production manager and Stephen Cheney, the owner and founder of Cheney Custom Homes—is responsible for assembling all project bids and schedules, in addition to verifying that our PMs adhere to these standards throughout the duration of construction. To learn more about the individuals who comprise the CCH team, please visit the Our Team page.

Project Bids & Preconstruction

Cheney Custom Home's exceptional reputation on Nantucket Island can be attributed to many things: personalized service, detailed project scheduling, bi-weekly cost tracking reports, superior workmanship, and reliable suppliers. First and foremost, however, is our comprehensive bidding process. We realize that the construction budget is of the utmost importance to homeowners, so we take the time to do things right. The CCH team is well-known among the Nantucket building community for producing some of the most accurate and thorough fixed-price construction bids in the business—all before the first shovel hits the ground. Rather than using unit costs to produce our budgets, our office staff spends countless hours rifling through every page of drawings and specifications to garner all of the details possible to ensure that every hinge and cabinet knob is accounted for.

Detailed Schedules

Madaket Harbor full view

At Cheney Custom Homes, we live and die by schedules. Because we use many of the same subcontractors on multiple jobs each year, it is imperative to our production process that they are able to transition smoothly from one job to the next. This minimizes any unforeseen labor retention issues and maximizes our annual output. Our Gantt chart-based scheduling software makes it possible to forecast each phase of a project as far as a year in advance.

A detailed daily schedule is included in each of our bid packages, so homeowners know exactly when we plan to break ground and when they can move in. This is the same schedule we give to our vendors and subcontractors during construction, so they each know exactly when they will be needed in the field and when every material order needs to be placed for a timely arrival on the job site. At our staff’s weekly project review meetings, our Production Manager reviews each construction schedule with the respective PM to ensure we are on track and to keep the homeowners and subcontractors abreast of any changes well in advance. This helps us minimize surprises whenever possible.

Cost Tracking

Cost tracking graphOne of the primary things that set Cheney Custom Homes apart from other Nantucket contractors is our open-book billing policy. With each invoice we send to our clients, we include copies of every vendor and subcontractor bill incurred during that billing period. That way, our clients can rest assured that their money is going exactly where it is meant to go.

Also included in our bi-weekly invoices is an up-to-date profit and loss statement showing how all project expenses compare to their budgeted amounts, giving clients the flexibility to make changes and additions to their project during the course of the construction as they see fit. If we are under budget in one category, a client may choose to use those savings to add a driftwood feature wall or a home theater. We never want our homeowners to feel trapped into a decision.

Contact us to learn more about Cheney Custom Homes. We serve clients in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Nantucket Builders Association