Our mission is to execute the most complex projects for the most discerning clients, and to build a lifelong relationship in the process. We guide each project from beginning to end, from the purchase of a generational property to the final planting in the garden, and Alex Appolonia, our principal, is personally involved at every stage. Design, construction and landscape are delivered by one team, with complete transparency in every decision and every dollar. Our process is designed to take the risk out of purchasing, permitting and building, for residential and commercial clients alike.
Our promise
When your permit is issued, you get an exact start date.
Our excavation company is in-house, so there is no waiting in line for a site contractor.
A custom home is a large, long commitment. Most of the risk shows up long before we break ground. We built the company around removing it.
“I’ll buy the wrong land.”
Before you make an offer, we tell you what the property will support, what it will cost to build, and how long the approvals will take. Zoning, setbacks, coastal and wetland constraints, septic, utilities and ledge are all accounted for.
“It will cost double what I was told.”
We join the project while the architect is still drawing, price decisions while they are cheap to change, and build on an open-book cost-plus contract. You see every invoice, every line, every week.
“I’ll be refereeing eight vendors.”
One point of contact from excavation through finish trim. We assemble and direct the design team, and we self-perform the work where most jobs lose time: the ground, the foundation and the carpentry.
The thinking behind the way we build, the process we run on every job, and a complete project you can follow from start to finish.
The problems that sink custom projects, our exclusive carpentry crews, and the building science behind a dry, quiet, efficient house.
Read ProcessCommercial controls, a clear sequence, a report and schedule every Friday, open-book billing and care after you move in.
Read Demonstration ProjectTwo concept homes, designed, estimated, scheduled and billed end to end. Coming 2027.
ReadEach has its own agreement and its own clean close-out. You are never locked in to the next step.
For clients looking at land or an existing property who want real numbers before they commit.
The first three are delivered before you make an offer, at no cost.
We assemble the architect, engineers and surveyor, identify every approval the site needs, and drive the project to a building permit.
Fixed fee, quoted to the approvals your site requires.
Full construction management and delivery on an open-book cost-plus contract, with a published schedule and a selections calendar from day one.
Cost-plus, with the fee stated in the contract.
Why start early. A client who has seen what the land supports and watched us run the approvals arrives at construction with a realistic budget already in hand. That is the single biggest difference between a project that goes well and one that doesn’t.
Some clients want one team from the first sketch to the last walkthrough. Others arrive with an architect and interior designer they trust. We work both ways, to the same standard.
Exterior and interior design are developed together from the first concept, by a design team that works alongside the people who will build the house. You see the house before a line of the permit set is drawn, and every decision is priced as it is made.
Design-build is offered for custom homes. Private commercial projects are designed with licensed architects.
You keep the designers you have chosen, and they stay the authors of the design. We join as early as you’ll have us, price the drawings at each phase, and build what they drew.
We self-perform the site, the foundation and the carpentry, frame to finish. Our affiliated sitework company, ACRE, handles excavation and utilities, and three carpentry crews that work exclusively for Appolonia handle every framing, finish, millwork and cabinetry scope. Fewer handoffs means fewer unknowns, one standard of workmanship, and a schedule we can actually commit to.
Clearing, excavation, ledge, drainage, driveways and final grade, with our own equipment.
Water, sewer, gas and septic systems installed by a licensed underground utilities contractor.
We dig and place our own foundations, removing the biggest source of early-schedule uncertainty.
Three carpentry crews that work exclusively for Appolonia handle all exterior and interior carpentry, from framing to millwork and cabinetry, on site or in our shop.
Land → Feasibility → Approvals → Sitework → Foundation → Frame → Finish → C.O. → Landscape
Landscape is where most custom homes lose the thread: the builder leaves, a new contractor arrives, and the site is regraded around a finished house. We carry landscape design and construction under the same contract, through a dedicated landscape partner, so the site is planned with the house and built by one accountable team.
Site plan, grading, pools, hardscape, planting, lighting and outdoor living, developed alongside the house design and priced in the same budget.
ACRE sets the final grade, drainage and utilities. Our landscape partner builds the pool, hardscape, walls, terraces, plantings, irrigation and landscape lighting on top of it.
Landscape is on the construction schedule, in the Friday reports and on the same open-book requisitions, and it is part of closeout and Home Care.
Send us the listing. Looking at land or a house to rebuild? Before you make an offer, we will tell you what the property will support, what it will cost to build what you want, and how long the approvals will take. At no cost, and with no obligation to build with us.
Request a feasibility reviewAlex is a licensed Rhode Island real estate agent. We can represent you in the purchase, so the person negotiating for you is the person who will build the house.
Ledge, a long driveway, a septic redesign or a CRMC setback are real costs. We know them before you bid and use them in the negotiation.
We walk the property with your inspector, surveyor and engineer, and tell you what each finding means for the build and the budget.
The survey, site findings and budget from diligence carry straight into design and permitting. Nothing is re-learned, and the approvals clock can start the day you close.
Real estate services provided by Alex Appolonia, licensed Rhode Island real estate salesperson with Carty Realty, Narragansett, Rhode Island. Buyer representation requires a signed buyer agency agreement.
Waterfront lots under CRMC jurisdiction, flood zones, ledge, tight access, septic in critical resource areas and historic districts. These are the sites where in-house sitework and permitting experience matter most. We take on a small number of them each year, so nothing gets dropped where one missed step is expensive.
Appolonia Construction was founded by Alex Appolonia, who trained as a civil engineer and has been building trust in the construction industry since 2018.
Alex earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, then worked as a project manager for a 300-person mechanical construction contractor, leading field crews on large institutional and commercial projects. That is where he learned the controls commercial owners take for granted, and it is how every Appolonia project is run. He then spent two years in the field himself, in sitework, framing and finish carpentry, learning firsthand how high-performance homes are built: the building science of flashing, insulation, air sealing and ventilation, and what it takes to estimate them accurately.
He founded Appolonia Construction, and then ACRE, the sitework company, so that every project schedule is in his hands from breaking ground through site utilities to the final site closeout. Alex is also a real estate investor, so he looks at every property the way an owner does: what it will cost, what it will be worth, and what could go wrong. Today he is your point of contact from the first conversation to the final walkthrough.
Many of our projects begin with a referral from an architect, attorney, wealth advisor or land broker. Here is what you can count on when you send someone to us.
Short, practical notes for owners, architects and advisors.
CRMC, DEM, flood zones and the local boards, in the order they actually happen.
Read LandThe site conditions that decide what a house really costs, and how to find them before you commit.
Read ContractsWhere the risk sits in each, and why open book protects the owner on complex work.
Read ScheduleSelections, lead times and the calendar that keeps a custom build on schedule.
ReadYou pay the actual cost of the work plus a fee stated in the contract. Every cost is shown to you with its receipt or invoice, every two weeks. The budget is built line by line during design, and we track actual cost against it every week, so changes surface while there is still time to act on them.
On a custom house, a fixed price means the builder adds a cushion for every unknown and keeps whatever isn’t used. With open-book cost-plus, you pay for what the house actually costs, and you can see it.
It depends on the site. A straightforward lot may need only a building permit. Waterfront and wetland sites often need CRMC and DEM approvals as well, and those set the schedule. We map every approval your site needs, in order, before you commit.
Either. For custom homes we offer design-build, with exterior and interior design developed together under one roof, from renderings to permit set. We also build from designs by your own architect and interior designer, and we are glad to join a team already in place. The earlier we are involved, the more we can help with cost.
No. Feasibility, approvals and construction each have their own agreement. You can engage for one and stop.
Renovations where the owners are living in the house, small remodels, and repeat or spec-style builds. We take on a small number of projects each year so each one gets our full attention.
Tell us where you are: looking at land, holding a property, or working with an architect. Alex replies personally, usually within one business day.
Our past clients have allowed us to share their homes privately. View the private portfolio; Alex will send you the password on request.