The gap between what a word implies and what it delivers is where budgets quietly break. Learn these terms once, and you can hold any builder — including us — to what they actually mean.
Term
What the market usually means
What it means at Icon
Fixed-price
A number on the contract page — wrapped in allowances, exclusions, and TBDs that quietly turn it into cost-plus.
A locked dollar amount tied to a complete specification. The price holds barring a plan adjustment you authorize.
Allowances
A line item with a ceiling and no specifics. The real cost surfaces later, at the showroom.
We minimize allowances by design — and when one is truly needed, the brand, SKU, and install assumptions are fixed in writing before you sign.
Change orders
Confusing pricing, ad-hoc markups, signatures collected after the work is already done.
We call them Plan Adjustments — priced in writing and signed by you before a single trade begins.
Cost-plus
An open-ended “we’ll bill what it costs, plus our fee.” Your budget is a hope, not a number.
We price the work before you sign, so you are never financing the unknown.
Spec / specification
A vague list that leaves room to substitute down once you’ve committed.
A complete, itemized specification. What we draw is what we build.
Warranty
One year on workmanship — and then the relationship quietly ends.
A Lifetime Partnership. The 45-day, 11-month, and annual cadence is the floor, not the program — for as long as you live in the home.
Transparency / open book
An “open book” promise that means nothing in practice, or a closeout-only reveal you can no longer act on.
Real-time visibility from day one — schedule, daily photos, every approved selection and Plan Adjustment.
Punch list
A bulk sign-off at the very end, with items quietly dropped along the way.
Opened day one, closed item-by-item, each with a dated completion. You initial every closed line — no bulk sign-offs.