About the firm
Founded in 2001 by architect Owen Alder and contractor Daniel Stone. An integrated design + build practice with a deliberately small roster — so the architect who drew the home is the same one who walks the site at frame stage.
Owen Alder and Daniel Stone met in 1996 on a Sun Valley remodel where Owen was the architect and Daniel was the framing sub. They watched the same scenario play out twice in eighteen months — a homeowner caught between an architect who had moved on and a contractor making judgment calls the design did not anticipate — and decided there was a better way to build a custom home.
In 2001 they opened Alder & Stone in a small office on Park Avenue in Park City with a single operating premise: the architect who drew the home would be on site the day it was framed, the contractor who built it would be in the design meeting the day the kitchen was finalized, and the homeowner would speak to the same two people across the entire 18-to-24-month project.
Twenty-four years later that premise is unchanged. The firm has delivered 87 finished homes across Park City, Deer Valley, Heber Valley, and the broader Wasatch Back, with a deliberately small roster of active builds — never more than six at a time, never more than two at the same stage of construction. The math is built around what two senior partners can personally oversee without handing the file to a project assistant.
Alder & Stone does not subcontract design to outside architects, does not run sales territory outside the Wasatch Back, and does not take a builder referral fee from the lots we help buyers find. The firm has won twelve industry awards across NAHB, Mountain Living, and Utah Style & Design — but the recognition that matters most is the families who refer the next neighbor.
87
Homes delivered
across Park City, Deer Valley, Heber Valley
1.2M
Sq ft built
custom new build + whole-home renovation
24 yrs
In the Wasatch Back
founded 2001 by Owen Alder and Daniel Stone
12
Industry awards
NAHB, Mountain Living, Utah Style & Design
Operating principles
A boutique design + build practice only works if its principles are non-negotiable. These are ours.
Owen attends every site walk through framing. Daniel attends every design meeting through finishes. The gap between the drawing and the build never opens up.
Never more than six concurrent builds, never more than two at the same construction stage. Each homeowner gets a partner's calendar, not a coordinator's.
You see the trade quotes. You see the markup. You see the change-order math before approving. Custom homes have surprises; the budget conversation should not.
When we walk lots with you we do not earn a referral fee from the listing agent or seller. Our incentive is the project, not the parcel.
We build in Park City, Deer Valley, Heber Valley, Midway, Kamas, and Oakley — and that is all. The crew lives here, the trades are local, and the firm sees the homes after delivery.
Standard one-year warranty plus an 11-month walk-back. We address settling, first-winter items, and mechanical training at no charge. The relationship doesn't end at hand-off.
The team
Principal Architect / Founder
Twenty-four years designing mountain homes in the Wasatch. AIA, registered in Utah and Idaho. Co-founded the firm in 2001 after eight years with a Sun Valley practice.
Project Lead / Founder
On-site every Wednesday across every active build. Construction Management degree from Utah State, NAHB Master Builder, second-generation Park City contractor.
Construction Manager
Runs daily site operations across our active builds. Joined the firm in 2014 after seven years at a Sundance-resort construction lead. LEED AP.
Interiors Lead
Selects, sources, and stages every finish across our active homes. Pratt Institute interior design, joined Alder & Stone in 2018 from a Manhattan residential practice.
Our 6-step process
A predictable sequence built across 87 finished homes. Each phase has a defined deliverable, a published timeline, and an open-book budget update. Custom homes don't have to be the chaos story you've heard.
Schedule a consultationDiscovery
Weeks 1–4
First-meeting walk-through of your program: how you live, who lives there, the budget you can actually defend. We listen more than we pitch.
Land
Months 1–3
Lot analysis if you have one, scout-and-acquire if you don't. Soils, slope, view corridors, septic, well, easements, HOA review.
Design
Months 3–8
Architect-led schematic, design development, construction documents. Three revision rounds built in. Renders before you commit.
Permitting
Months 7–10
Park City and Wasatch County submittal, engineering review, agency back-and-forth. We carry the file so you don't take the call.
Build
Months 10–22
Single superintendent on site daily, weekly homeowner walks, transparent open-book budget. The construction phase is the part most builders hide.
Move-in
Month 22+
Walk-through punch list, one-year warranty walk, mechanical training. You hold the keys; we stay close for the first heating season.
Homeowner voices
We ask permission to publish testimonials only after the one-year warranty walk — once the home has lived through a full Wasatch winter and the first guests have stayed.
We interviewed five builders. Owen was the only one who walked the lot before quoting. Two years later we live in the home he sketched on the back of a napkin that morning.
K. & M. Holloway
The weekly walks were not theater. Daniel and Marisol caught two errors we would have missed at hand-off — and made the GC fix them on the spot. That alone paid for the project management fee.
R. & L. Chen
We had a complicated lot and an HOA that was making it harder. Alder & Stone walked us through what could be permitted, what couldn't, and saved us from spending eighteen months on a design that would never pass.
J. Mendel
Tell us about your project
Most clients book a 60-minute working session with Owen before signing. We expect you to interview us.
