A General Contractor Built Around Expertise, Not Margin

Most general contractors are in the business of managing margin. They take a lump-sum contract, divide the work among the lowest-bidding subcontractors, and protect the spread between what you paid and what was spent. Their incentive is not your outcome — it is the gap between your budget and their cost.

Alquimia is structured differently. We operate on a cost-plus model exclusively. Every dollar spent on your project is documented and passed through — materials, subcontractor invoices, permit fees, equipment — and you see all of it. Our fee is our fee: it covers project management, building science integration, specialist curation, and accountability for delivering a finished result that performs as designed. There is no margin hidden in a number we generated before the work started.

This model attracts a specific kind of client: one who is done with contractors who treat their project as a profit opportunity. And it attracts a specific kind of contractor: one whose reputation depends entirely on the quality of the work, not on how well they managed the spread.

What Alquimia Builds

Custom Home Builds

A custom home is the most complex construction project a client can undertake — and the one where the choice of contractor matters most. The builder who manages your custom home build will make hundreds of decisions that affect how the structure performs for the next fifty years: foundation engineering, framing tolerances, envelope airtightness, mechanical system design, and the finish quality that is visible every day you live in it.

Alquimia manages custom home builds in Houston and across Texas for clients working with architects and designers who demand a contractor capable of executing to their standards. We read structural drawings, understand building science, coordinate mechanical engineers and specialty consultants, and deliver a home that performs as precisely as it looks.

We also manage custom home builds on rural Texas land — site evaluation, county permitting, utility infrastructure, and the full scope of construction from raw land to move-in. For clients interested in prefab or modular construction, we manage manufacturer partnerships, site preparation, and integration from foundation through final systems.

 

Whole-Home Remodels

A whole-home remodel is an opportunity to rethink everything — layout, systems, building envelope, and the relationship between spaces. Done correctly, it is also an opportunity to address what the original construction got wrong: inadequate insulation, undersized mechanical systems, moisture problems that were never resolved, or a layout that was never designed for how the occupants actually live.

Alquimia manages whole-home remodels that go below the surface. We pull permits, coordinate structural modifications, upgrade mechanical and electrical systems, improve the building envelope, and deliver finishes that are architecturally coherent across the entire project. The result is a home that performs better than it did before — not just a home that looks better than it did before.

Luxury Bathroom Renovations

A bathroom is one of the most technically demanding spaces in a home: a wet environment embedded in a building assembly that must stay dry, a mechanical challenge that most contractors resolve with the minimum code exhaust fan and a hope that the waterproofing holds. Alquimia builds bathrooms where the building science is addressed before the first tile is set.

Waterproofing systems specified and installed correctly. Mechanical ventilation sized to the actual humidity load. Substrate preparation appropriate to the tile format and installation. The plumbing rough-in is engineered for the selected fixtures. The finish is the last decision, not the first.

Condo & High-Rise Renovations

Renovating a condominium is fundamentally different from renovating a single-family home — and most contractors are not equipped to handle the differences. Shared plumbing stacks, building management coordination, HOA approvals, freight elevator scheduling, neighbor impact protocols, and the structural limitations of concrete multi-family construction all require a contractor who has done this before.

Alquimia is one of the few Houston contractors who regularly manage renovation work in the city’s high-rise residential buildings. We handle the coordination so the client does not have to navigate building management, HOA boards, and subcontractor schedules simultaneously.

Passive House Construction

Passive house is the most rigorous performance standard in residential construction: a building designed and verified to require 80–90% less heating and cooling energy than a code-built structure, while delivering measurably superior indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and acoustic performance. It is not a style. It is a standard.

Alquimia is one of the few Houston-area contractors with the building science depth to execute a passive house project — or to apply passive house principles to a non-certified build. Airtight envelopes, thermal bridge elimination, high-performance windows, and mechanical ventilation designed around the building’s actual load are not aspirational for us. They are standard practice.

Building Science Integration

Every Alquimia project is built around building science — the discipline that governs how structures perform, breathe, and endure over time. This is not a specialty add-on. It is the foundation of how we specify materials, design mechanical systems, and sequence every phase of construction.

For clients who want to understand what building science means for their specific project — envelope airtightness, moisture management, thermal performance, indoor air quality, energy recovery ventilation — we provide detailed consultation as part of the preconstruction process.

The Clients and Partners Who Call Alquimia

Houston Homeowners

Discerning homeowners who are done with the contractor experience they have had before — the budget surprises, the subcontractors who do not show up, the finishes that look great on completion day, and then reveal their problems two years later. They have a vision for their home, and they want a contractor who can execute it fully and correctly, without leaving them to bridge the gap between what was promised and what was delivered.

Architects and Interior Designers

Architects and designers who need a general contractor who can execute to their standard — who reads construction documents, understands the design intent behind a specification, coordinates structural and mechanical consultants without friction, and does not value-engineer the project into something the design team would not recognize.

Alquimia is a contractor architects trust to protect their design through construction. We do not suggest cheaper alternatives that undermine the specification. We execute the specification — and if there is a condition that makes it impossible, we have that conversation before work begins, not after.

Property Investors and Developers

Investors who are renovating for sale or for long-term hold at the premium end of the Houston market, where finish quality, building system performance, and documented construction process matter to the buyer or tenant profile they are targeting.

Why Building Science Is Not Optional at Alquimia

Every Alquimia project is governed by building science. Not as a differentiator to market. As a standard of practice.

A home that looks precisely built and is not — that has an unsealed building envelope, inadequate mechanical ventilation, thermal bridges that transfer heat through the framing, and moisture that accumulates in walls that never dry — is not a luxury home. It is an expensive problem accumulating behind expensive finishes.

Building science is what separates a home that performs over time from one that looks good on move-in day. It is why we specify airtight assemblies, why we design mechanical systems based on actual loads rather than rule-of-thumb sizing, why we require blower door testing on projects where envelope performance matters, and why we do not let a subcontractor make the waterproofing decision without oversight.

The clients who understand this are the clients who call us.

The Only Pricing Model We Use — And Why

Alquimia operates exclusively on a cost-plus basis. There are no fixed-price bids. There is no lump sum. There is no hidden margin.

Every dollar spent on your project is documented: material invoices, subcontractor payments, permit fees, equipment rental, and site logistics — all pass through to you at actual cost. Our fee is separate, explicit, and covers project management, building science integration, specialist curation, and accountability across every phase.

This matters for three reasons:

Alignment.

In a lump-sum model, the contractor makes more money by spending less. Their financial incentive runs directly counter to the quality of your project. In a cost-plus model, our incentive is to bring the right specialist, use the right material, and solve the problem correctly — because our fee does not change if the better decision costs more.

Transparency.

You see every invoice. You know what the tile cost, what the plumber charged, and what the building permit required. There are no categories obscured in a total. There is no markup buried in subcontractor pricing you never see.

Trust.

The clients who call Alquimia are making a significant investment in the space where they live. They deserve to know what that investment is going toward. The cost-plus model is the only model that makes that possible.

We are not the right contractor for clients who want the lowest bid. We are the right contractor for clients who want the best result — and want to know exactly what it costs.

How Every Alquimia Project Unfolds

01 — Discovery and Scope Development

We begin with a detailed conversation about the project: what you want to accomplish, what the space currently is, and what the building conditions are. We do not produce a scope without understanding the structure — existing systems, envelope conditions, and anything that will affect what is possible. This phase ends with a clear picture of the project: what it involves, what it will cost at the cost-plus rate, and what timeline is realistic.

02 — Preconstruction

Permits, trade scheduling, material procurement, and specialist engagement. We do not begin construction until every element of the project is planned — materials are specified and ordered with adequate lead time, consultants are engaged, and the trade sequence is confirmed. The job that starts without preconstruction stalls midway.

03 — Construction

Alquimia manages the construction process directly. We are on site. We inspect work at every phase. We do not accept work that does not meet the specification, and we brief the client when field conditions necessitate decisions requiring client input. Transparency throughout, not a summary at the end.

04 — Systems and Building Science Verification

Where required: blower door testing, mechanical system commissioning, waterproofing verification, and any other performance check appropriate to the project. We do not skip verification to save time. This is where building science claims get confirmed or revised.

05 — Finish and Completion

Final trades, punch list, and a walk-through that does not end until every item is resolved. We do not consider a project complete until the client has walked the space and confirmed it.

06 — Documentation

Project documentation: as-built drawings where applicable, warranty information for systems and materials, and a record of the work that can be used for future maintenance, sale, or renovation. You own the documentation. We produce it.