“We’re not trying to be the builders ourselves,” he said. “We’re trying to enable builders to simplify their front-end process, and bridge that gap between customers, homeowners and builders that want to do custom, making a much, much simpler, easy process for everyone involved.”

“Home building is not simple, so we saw it as a kind of hybrid model. Since we did not want to pick every little thing, we avoided some upfront costs, but we’ll have chosen enough that makes it unique to us and will not end up with a house that looks just like everyone else’s on the block,” said Dayn Sommer, who built his Durham home using Atmos, in a statement.

The startup aims to give buyers more options as the nation faces a persistent housing shortage and during a time when mortgage interest rates have more than doubled since last year. Atmos claims it can also help builders by providing them with ready-to-go buyers as opposed to building on spec (without committed customers) in an uncertain market. It also says it can help land developers by allowing them to go direct-to-consumer.

“Home-building tech startup Atmos has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding to continue its mission of helping Charlotteans and residents in other North Carolina cities design custom homes.Description goes here”