What We Build
Custom Homes Built for the Bay Area's Most Demanding Sites
Ground-up custom homes on complex urban lots and exposed hillsides — green, fire-hardened, and built to the highest standard from the foundation up.
The Difference
A Mavericks home is design intent, performance, and site — resolved as one.
Anyone can frame a house on a flat lot. The work that defines a Mavericks custom home happens where it's hard: a forty-foot grade change, a downtown infill parcel hemmed in on three sides, an exposed ridge that has to survive both wind and fire. Robin Nielsen builds where the site sets the terms.
Over thirty years, she has learned that the architect's vision, the building's long-term performance, and the realities of the ground are not separate problems. They're one problem — and the homes that endure are the ones built by a contractor who solves them together, from the first feasibility study through final commissioning.
Section 01 — Site Mastery
The hardest sites are where we do our best work.
Tight SF Lots
Twenty-five-foot frontages, zero-lot-line neighbors, and steep San Francisco grades — engineered access, shoring, and staging on parcels with no room to spare.
Sloped & Exposed Sites
Deep caissons, retaining systems, and stepped foundations that turn a difficult grade into a buildable, durable platform for the home above.
Acreage Builds
Wine-country estates and large rural parcels where utilities, water, roads, and the main residence are coordinated as a single, deliberate program.
Hardened From the Ground Up
Class A assemblies, ember-resistant detailing, and defensible-space planning built into the design — not bolted on at the end.
High-Performance Envelope
Tight, well-insulated, high-efficiency envelopes that hold comfort and cut energy use across the Bay Area's varied microclimates.
Architect & Designer Partnership
A builder who reads drawings critically, flags conflicts early, and protects the design intent all the way to the finished detail.
Section 02 — The Build Journey
Six phases, one continuous standard.
Feasibility & Site Analysis
Soils, slope, access, zoning, setbacks, and fire-hazard mapping assessed before a line is drawn — so the design is grounded in what the site will actually allow.
Design & Engineering Partnership
Working alongside your architect and engineers to pressure-test the drawings, resolve structural and systems conflicts, and lock budget and constructability early.
Permitting & Approvals
Navigating SF, Marin, Napa, and county jurisdictions — planning, building, and the design-review and environmental hurdles that come with complex sites.
Foundation & Structure
Caissons, retaining walls, and stepped foundations executed to spec, then a precise, weather-tight structural shell that sets the standard for everything that follows.
Systems & Finishes
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing coordinated with high-performance envelope work — then the millwork, stone, and finish detailing the design was built around.
Commissioning & Handover
Systems verified, performance confirmed, punch list closed, and a documented handover — the home delivered ready to live in, with nothing left unresolved.
Section 03 — Standard Equipment
Green and fire-resistant, by default.
On a Mavericks custom home these aren't upgrades. They're how the house is built.
- High-performance envelope — tight air sealing, continuous insulation, and efficient systems specified from the start.
- Fire-hardened construction — Class A roof assemblies, ignition-resistant materials, and ember-resistant detailing throughout.
- Defensible-space planning — Zone 0–2 site strategy integrated into the design, not added after the fact.
- Healthier interiors — low-emission materials, ventilation, and moisture control built into the assembly.
- Proven track record — USGBC LEED for Homes pioneer, applying that discipline to every project.
- Specified together — green and fire-hardening engineered as one system, so neither compromises the other. See Green Building & LEED and Fire-Resistant Construction.
Section 04 — Thirty Years
Thirty years building across San Francisco's urban grid and Napa Valley's wine country — the same standard, on every kind of ground.
From tight city infill to exposed hillside estates, Robin has built where the site is the hardest part of the job — and delivered homes engineered to outlast the conditions that shaped them.
Schedule a Free Consultation
Have a site, a set of drawings, or just an idea — Robin will walk the property and the program with you, and tell you straight what it will take to build.