Oct

Determining Pad Height with Stem Wall Construction

You should always verify the allowances in your lot contract for fill, clearing, permits, impact fees and site prep. A good builder will make sure to inspect your lot PRIOR to the execution of your contract to ensure that the allowances for your site specific prep costs are aligned with what is needed. It is still possible to have overages above the adjusted allowances if there are unforeseen circumstances like rock or additional fill, but for the most part doing an inspection in the beginning will eliminate any surprises in the end.

Oct

Owls, Eagles, Zoning and Flood Plain Restrictions in Cape Coral

It is good practice to check on any building restrictions that may be attached to the Cape Coral lot you are interested in prior to purchasing it. Most restrictions can be worked around, however it does take planning, time and additional dollars to complete. We have compiled a complete outline of the process of verifying lot restrictions that may be in place on lots located in Cape Coral, Florida.

Sep

An Introduction to Home Warranties

When you have a new home built, home warrants are automatic. That means that your builder will guarantee the work performed as well as several home systems. Are home warranties worth it? The answer to this question is yes. Without protection, you would be liable for the repair or replacement of some high dollar items.

Aug

10 Ideas for Making Small Laundry Spaces More Functional

Do you feel claustrophobic every time you walk into your small laundry room? Do you struggle with keeping things neat and orderly in such a small space? If you answered yes to either question, you have several viable solutions. In fact, you have multiple laundry room ideas that can make a small space more functional. Instead of feeling frustrated or even defeated, consider some of the suggestions provided.

Oct

Choosing the Right Flooring Tile

Often times in the flooring world, we interchangeably refer to ceramic and porcelain as TILE. They are both in the tile family, come in many shapes and sizes and both offer great choices. However, there are a few major differences and it is important to understand those differences before making your purchase. Continue reading ..

Sep

Pricing out a Custom Home

We get a lot of inquiries from clients about building custom homes. Many factors come into play when determining a price for a custom floor plan, but some of the main ones are outlined below.

Soft costs

Soft costs are the costs associated with the specific lot location. They include things like fill, clearing permit and impact fees. Different lots have different fill dirt costs which are determined by the finished floor elevation requirements vs the current lot elevation. Also any clearing required will also add to the costs as well. Keep in mind the removal of trees will require additional dirt to be brought in to fill in the holes left by removal of the stumps. The tree debris will also need to be hauled away as well. Permit costs and impact fees are determined by the local governing municipality and have a direct relationship to the house size and the “impact” it will have on the neighborhood.

We perform a lot inspection in order to better assess the costs associated with your lot.

FLOOR PLAN & structural engineering associated

The floor plan layout and engineering design have a direct effect on the costs associated to construct. The more complex the floor plan is, the more it will cost to construct. More complex plans require additional engineering and additional engineering usually requires a more highly skilled subcontractor to execute. Plan engineering will determine a lot of things, including the number of concrete pour cells and size of structural beams required to span across different openings. Concrete costs typically makes up 15-20% of any housing budget and therefore has a major impact on build cost. The number of courses of concrete required for your stem wall foundation or the height of your tie beam are major contributors to concrete costs.

We use our 65 years of combined construction experience to value engineer your custom plans to ensure you get a quality product without breaking the budget.

Selections and Finishes

Finishes have to do with flooring and cabinets selections as well as electrical and plumbing fixtures. As you can imagine there are an array of different options and all of which have major differences in costs. Flooring costs have the greatest swing in prices with Carpet being the most affordable and the cost of popular plank tiles being a lot more. Cabinets costs vary based on the composition of the cabinet boxes, the door styles and the cabinet options. Plumbing and light fixtures also have big swings, designer fixtures always garner a premium.

We like to have our clients either pick from one of our pre-selected finish options or sit with one of our designers to pick all their custom finishes prior to finalizing their custom home budget.

Final Thoughts

Once we have a complete understanding of the above information we can accurately price out a set of plans within a week or so. The final timeline has a lot to do with how quickly we can get your selections figured out. If you have a custom home plan you need priced out or are interested in having a set of plans created, please reach out to us and we will help you to understand the next steps.

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Sep

Site Plans, Flood Certs, & Surveys… OH MY!

There are many factors that go into play when creating certain documents that the bank requires to close your new construction home loan. Very often that one document requires different actions to take place in a sequential order with deadlines and lot expiration dates. Becoming informed will give you a little piece of mind during, what can be, a stressful process. Let’s examine what the most commonly needed documents are, and why they’re important to your loan…

Sep

Ideas to Create a Dream Master Bath

The possibilities for making your master bath more spacious, relaxing, sophisticated, or functional are endless. Whether hiring a licensed contractor to do the work or taking this on as a do-it-yourself project, virtually any look that you want can be achieved….

Sep