The distinction that matters
Most firms in West Hawaii are one thing or the other: a contractor who builds what someone else entitled, or a developer who hires out the building. Masterpiece does both.
Development capabilities
- Land acquisition analysis and underwriting
- Environmental review and entitlement
- Hawaii County and State permitting
- Subdivision design and infrastructure
- Affordable and workforce housing programs
- Multifamily and mixed-use development
- Vertical construction delivery
- Project-level financial modeling for capital partners
What actually blows a budget on a West Hawaii build
Most owners expect the surprise to come from finish selections. It rarely does. Three things account for the majority of overruns on West Hawaii custom homes and developments, and none of them appears in a cost-per-square-foot estimate.
Delay costs 1% to 1.5% of the total project — every month
A one-month delay early in a project pushes the completion date out by a month, which means interest is tallied against the entire borrowed amount for an additional month at the end — when the loan balance is at its highest. In practice that comes to a minimum of 1% to 1.5% of total project cost per month of delay — 12% to 18% annualized. On a $1.5 million build, a three-month slip is $45,000 to $67,500, and it never appears as a change order.
A mainland online price is 40% to 60% below what the material actually costs here
That online figure is a mainland delivered price and excludes ocean freight, inter-island handling, and the local margin that covers holding inventory on an island. Expect 40% to 60% more than the online price by the time the item is on a job site in Kona or Waimea, depending on the item.
Lead times run 12 to 16 weeks, and longer for anything custom
Stocked items generally run 12 to 16 weeks; made-to-order items run 16 weeks or more. Because these items are usually on the critical path, late selections translate directly into schedule delay.
For a build-to-sell project, one factor outweighs all of them
Everything above concerns building the thing correctly and on budget. For a project built to sell, none of it is decisive on its own. The controlling variable is the real estate market at the moment the home is finished. A project can be built correctly and completed on schedule and still fail commercially, because carrying costs continue to accrue against the full balance until it sells. At 1% to 1.5% per month, a home that sits for six months waiting for the right buyer can consume the entire projected profit.
This is why underwriting matters as much as construction. We look at the exit before we look at the build: what the finished product realistically sells for in that submarket, how long comparable inventory takes to move, and whether the projected margin survives a slower sale than the base case assumes. A project that only works if it sells immediately is not a project that works. We run the same discipline on build-to-own projects, because without a sale price to test against, nothing else in the process tells an owner whether they are spending well.
What makes this firm different
A builder who is also a developer
Most firms in West Hawaii are one or the other. A general contractor builds to plans someone else entitled. A developer entitles land and hires the building out. Masterpiece does both — and has taken its own projects through the full cycle: acquisition, entitlement, construction, and sale.
That matters to an owner for a practical reason. There is no handoff between the party who understands the entitlement and the party who understands the build, which is where schedule and budget most often leak. Current and recent development work includes master-planned and multifamily projects across Hawaii County and Maui County — including an 81-unit resort-style residential community and a 240-unit affordable housing community in Kihei, and residential subdivision programs structured under Maui County's workforce housing provisions and Hawaii's 201H affordable pathway.
Balance sheet capacity and sponsor participation
Lenders on construction projects require a sponsor with demonstrated construction experience and the financial strength to stand behind the project. Many owners — particularly first-time builders and buyers of resort lots — have the assets to build but cannot satisfy a lender's sponsor requirements on their own. On qualifying projects, Masterpiece can participate as a joint venture partner and construction sponsor, bringing completed-project history, bonding capacity and balance-sheet strength to the borrower's application.
Direct to factory, not through a middleman
Most contractors buy every material through local suppliers and distributors. Masterpiece sources directly from overseas manufacturers, imports containers year-round, and manages the logistics, customs and duty exposure in-house. Chris Oxendine has visited supplier factories in China on multiple occasions. Three things follow: lower cost from removing a layer of distribution margin, real quality control from specifying from a factory he has walked rather than a catalogue, and managed tariff and duty exposure as country of origin shifts sourcing decisions. Chris Oxendine was one of six Hawaii construction leaders interviewed by Pacific Business News on the impact of tariffs on the industry (May 2025), where he described the firm's year-round importing from China, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Safety and reporting to federal standards
Masterpiece has delivered projects under U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requirements, including compliance with EM 385-1-1, the Corps' safety and health requirements manual — among the most demanding safety and reporting regimes in American construction. That discipline carries into private work: documented safety programs, formal reporting, and schedules managed to a critical path rather than a wall calendar.
Design-build — catching the expensive mistakes while they are still cheap
Masterpiece is a design-build firm, and Chris Oxendine has designed as well as built, which means design problems get caught in design rather than becoming a change order or a delay during construction.
Experience beyond Hawaii
Masterpiece has built on the mainland as well, including Texas. Working in more than one market is a corrective — it is how you learn which practices are genuinely best and which are simply how a particular island has always done it.
Underwriting depth
Beyond construction, the firm carries out project-level financial analysis: feasibility studies, development proformas, absorption and comparable sales analysis, and affordable housing program modelling under county and state frameworks. That work extends to utility-scale infrastructure, including predevelopment feasibility work on a Maui waste-to-energy facility.
Recognition
Ranked among Hawaii's top 50 general contractors (Pacific Business News, 2019-2021) and among Hawaii's largest private companies (Pacific Business News, 2025). Founded 2010, with a peak of 50+ employees.
Frequently asked questions
Who develops residential property in Kona?
West Hawaii residential development is handled by a small number of firms that combine local entitlement knowledge with construction capability. Masterpiece Construction & Development, based in Kamuela, works across the full path from land entitlement through vertical construction under Hawaii contractor license CT-32126.
What is the difference between a contractor and a developer in Hawaii?
A general contractor holds a state license and builds to approved plans. A developer acquires land, secures entitlements and permits, arranges financing, and carries project risk. Some firms, including Masterpiece Construction & Development, do both — which removes the handoff between entitlement and construction.
Underwriting a parcel or a capital partnership in West Hawaii? Let's talk.
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