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Clients always ask us about what their choices are when it comes to countertop materials. Well, when it comes to bathroom countertops there’s no limit to how creative you can be, because most countertops are custom-designed for each installation. There are hundreds of colors, patterns, and materials to choose from, but not all of them work well in the bathroom where water and condensation are a constant concern. Your best choices are marble, granite, ceramic or porcelain tiles, solid surface materials and cultured marble.

Cultured Marble is the most common and least expensive countertop material, by a considerable margin and is available in many colors. A nice feature with cultured marble tops is that the top and the sink bowl are one piece. This is called a top with an integral bowl.

Ceramic & Porcelain Tile are very versatile materials that you can use on your countertop to create a specific style or look. Contemporary, retro, traditional, rustic, country, and everything in-between is possible when working with ceramic tile. The only drawback to using tile is the grout lines, because nobody wants to invest the time and energy necessary to keep grout clean, especially in the bathroom. And don’t be fooled – tile grout requires regular maintenance and lots of elbow grease. On the flip side, the tile itself is easy to clean. Cost is between $50 to $80 per linear foot, installed. Plain-colored tiles cost from $2 to $40 per tile with hand-painted tiles running from $5 to $75.

Corian and Solid Surfacing is made of either a pure acrylic product or a polyester-acrylic mix. The most widely available and widely known 100 percent synthetic countertop material is Corian by Dupont, but other manufacturers including Wilsonart, Formica and Avenite also make it in a wide range of colors and textures. Some of the materials are solid colors, but most have flecks that give it a textured look that resembles real stone (that will run the cost up). Cost is between $75 to $150 a linear foot, installed.

Granite slabs are the most expensive of all countertop surfaces, but this is one product that holds its weight. The expense of granite will vary greatly, depending on the type, quality and availability of granite that you select, as well as the finished edge that you choose. If you just can’t resist the look of granite and your purse is stretched, try going for granite tiles. Cost is between $75 to $200 a linear foot, installed.

Composite Stone is the hot new surface when it comes to tops and a big rival to granite. It is a stone-synthetic composite made of about 90 percent quartz particles and 10 percent acrylic or epoxy binder. Some of the composites look like natural stone, but not one that you could identify. Others are so close to real granite that you’re left wondering if it’s real or not? Since the composites are man-made materials, they do not have the unexpected variation of granite or marble and they do not need to be sealed. The four major choices – Silestone, Okite, CaesarStone and DuPont’s Zodiaq – all use the same process. The only differences between them for the end users are the colors and textures offered. Taken together, the four companies offer more than 130 countertop choices. Cost is between $110 to $250 a linear foot, installed.

The first sustainable solar community development in South Africa was one of 15 projects worldwide selected for presentation at the UN Global Warming Conference in Kyoto, Japan. It was chosen as an example of how developing nations can grow and prosper while minimizing emissions of greenhouse gases, and is known as a “no regrets” project because it created sustainable economic growth and stable, healthy communities while costing no more to implement than a conventional development.

The Solar Village development addresses the physical as well as the social and economic needs of the people. The community plan employed a participatory design process where future residents took an active role in community design. The plan incorporates cluster housing, shared garden space, footpaths and parks, and a town center. The town center accommodates the central business district, churches, schools, and public buildings, as well as a community soccer field. The town center is within easy walking distance of all 200 homes in the development. The homes are naturally heated and cooled and maintain comfort and good indoor air quality year round with no mechanical systems of any kind. All waste is composted, and gray water is used for irrigation.

Rather than using outside contractors, future residents were trained and hired to build the homes using housing subsidy money from the South African Government. This provided a relatively large infusion of cash that served to jump-start the local economy. To date, over 200 homes have been built in Kimberly and Cape Town, and a new Solar Village is being started in Ugie. Projects such as these provide economic opportunity and a large degree of self-reliance through the use of solar and natural energy flows and sustainable community design.

* Homes are comfortable year round with no mechanical systems or energy costs
* Homes are healthy and safe
* Homes are clustered in groups of six to share gardens, compost, and gray water
* Household sewage is composted on site and used in the gardens
* Gray water is filtered on site and used to irrigate the gardens
* The Town Center is within easy walking distance of all the homes
* The Town Center has: A village green and soccer field, a common village house for multipurpose activities, churches, schools, and shops and markets surrounding the village green

The homes are clustered in groups of six around a cul-de-sac. The six-home cluster facilitates the natural organization of a community unit and was a result of extensive discussions with community representatives. Each cluster shares a common garden area. The homes face the street and have good solar orientation toward the north (Southern Hemisphere).

The cul-de-sac street layout:

* Encourages community organization in natural, manageable groups
* Reduces the total road area when compared to a grid pattern
* Lowers cost
* Results in less disturbed land

At the center of the Solar Village is the village square. The village square is a large grassy area the size of a soccer field which serves as a gathering place for the whole village. To the south of the village square is the community center: a large, open building that can be used for meetings, events, entertainment, worship, training workshops, and community office space. On the other side of the green is space for one or more churches or places of worship. The concept of the village square is to create a focal point that helps give the village an identity. Creating and maintaining a strong sense of community is vital to the success of the village and the prosperity of the people.

The homes themselves are designed to replace the tin and mud shacks in which more than half of the people currently live. Since the majority of people in this community are unemployed and could not qualify for a mortgage, the basic home costs no more than the subsidy. The home is 570 square feet and contains two bedrooms, a kitchen, bath, and living room. The direct gain passive solar heating system provides 100% of the heating. Shading, coupled with good ventilation and thermal mass, keeps the home cool in the hot summer months. Cooking is done in a solar oven built into the north-facing wall. Passive solar heating and the solar oven helps reduce the need for traditional kerosene heaters and cook stoves, which emit dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Optional passive solar water heating and PV systems are also available.

The insulation, mass, and solar window area were optimized using Energy-10 Version 1.2 energy analysis software, an 8760 hourly simulation program. Since hourly weather data is not currently available for South Africa, ASHRAE design data (maximum and minimum temperature and RH) were used for the location and compared to U.S. cities with the same latitude (north latitude) and the same design conditions. The closest match to Cape Town was San Francisco, CA. As a result, the winter and summer months on the plots are reversed for South Africa. The base house was run changing one building element per run. Changes were made exploring variations in wall insulation, roof insulation, thermal mass, and window size and type. The objective was to achieve comfortable indoor conditions (minimum 60° F [16° C] in winter and maximum 80° F [27° C] in summer) without a mechanical system and at the lowest first cost.

The resulting design is as follows:

* Walls are brick outside, 3-inch EPS foam and brick inside
* Roof is a structural panel of corrugated aluminum, 3-inch (72mm) EPS foam, 0.5-inch (13mm) OSB and 0.5-inch (13mm) gypsum board Slab on grade
* 542-foot (5812m) single-glazed north window
* 16-inch (406mm) north roof overhang

Additional features include:

* Local materials used in construction insofar as practicable. Candidate materials include soil cement blocks and bricks made on site and rammed earth.
* Well-ventilated for indoor air quality
* Passive solar heating. All homes are oriented to the north and have large windows on the north side. The homes remain warm all winter with no supplemental heat.
* Natural cooling. Homes are well shaded in the summer with a combination of overhangs, arbors, trees, and other shade devices. Most of the lots around the houses are shaded in the summer to create cool islands around the homes. All rooms have flow-through ventilation to capture the summer breezes, so the homes remain comfortable all summer.
* The house plan is easily expandable to adapt to growing family needs.

Optional features include:

* Solar water heating
* Through-the-wall solar cookers
* Waterless composting toilets and urinals

As the primary source of food, the gardens in the Solar Village play a very important role in the self-reliance and prosperity of the community. Because six families can agree and work more cooperatively than 600, the cluster concept divides the community gardens into groups of six homes that share one community garden. The cluster groups can then agree on shared crops, livestock, and composting.

Composting is an important component, not only of the productivity of the garden but also for the waste management system. Waterless composting toilets turn human waste into compost that returns to the soil to enrich the growing crops. The compost from the composting toilets can not be used directly on food crops, so it must first go through the outdoor compost pile. By recycling all organic waste through composting, the villagers will build very rich and productive gardens. As the yields increase, many villagers may start growing commercial crops to generate income. This system also dramatically reduces the per-household potable water requirements. Replacing the flush toilet with waterless composting toilets eliminates the need to use potable water to water the gardens. Thus, the central water purification plant size and associated costs are dramatically reduced.

Over 200 homes have now been through a full winter and summer cycle. The indoor comfort was as predicted, although a few houses that were not sited properly showed some overheating in the summer. This pointed out to the builder the importance of orientation. The Kutlanong community in Kimberly was developed as a sustainable community and has considerably improved the quality of life for its residents.

One of the most sustainable aspects of the project has been economic development. In most other subsidy projects, a builder/developer from outside the community comes in and builds the homes. By hiring members of the community and training them to build the houses, $3,100 per house went directly into the community. This represents an overall infusion of approximately $625,000, which in time could result in $1,875,000 in total economic activity for the community. The traditional approach would have resulted in zero economic benefit for the community. We have also eliminated most heating and cooking costs and created a much healthier indoor environment. The effect on the residents is obvious. They are healthier, they are gaining weight, crime is low, and local businesses are strong. This project demonstrates how solar energy and sustainable community development can not only improve the quality of life for people in developing countries but also for needy people worldwide.

By John Spears

Regardless of a home’s size or style, all construction follows a consistent pattern and pace. Excavation and foundation work will be followed by the framing phase, which will be followed by rough mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work. As soon as those stages are complete, insulation will be installed. These steps follow each other quickly and are easy to see. The progress is exciting!

But when our focus shifts to the interior finishes of your new home, the pace seems to slow down and daily progress is more difficult to follow. To the homeowner, it might seem that we are losing focus or paying less attention to the project. In fact, the opposite is true. The apparent pace of work has slowed because finishing work is much more detailed than the previous stages. We much be more focused and pay more attention to the finishing details.

For example, cutting, building, and fastening the pieces of a complex crown molding profile along the ceiling-wall joint of an upscale kitchen requires several hours of painstaking work by a skilled finish carpenter. Likewise, finishing newly built walls to a smooth, uniform surface is a process that takes multiple cycles of application, drying, sanding, and cleaning to accomplish properly.

There also are more products to install. The number of cabinets, faucets, light fixtures, door handles, and outlet and switch covers in a modern new house continues to increase as homes become larger and more luxurious. To get some sense of that task, count the number of outlets and switch covers in your kitchen and family room alone (or in the whole house, if you’re more ambitious), each of which must be installed by hand before you can move in.

Finally, finish work signals the last stage of the building process. Both we and our homeowners are anxious to finish the job after several weeks of anticipation and hard work, not counting the time spent planning before construction began. It is hard for homeowners to remain patient when the work appears to be moving slowly.

By the very nature of its exacting, hand-applied work, the finishing phase of homebuilding is necessarily slow. That does not mean that the work is being neglected! During this final part of your home construction, remember that we remain focused on the highest quality installation and application of your home’s interior finishes.

By building an addition, you can make your home more livable, while increasing its value. It also allows you to stay in a home and neighborhood you like without incurring the expenses and inconvenience of moving. But before you start, there are many things you should know.

Find out about building restrictions

While you are still in the thinking stage for your home addition, find out from city hall if there are any local zoning ordinances that could affect your project, such as lot setbacks (i.e. the minimum distance required from the adjacent property lines or public right of way to the outermost portion of the structure) and height restrictions.

Additions come in all shapes and sizes

Home additions are becoming increasingly popular across the U.S. to accommodate aging parents (and, unfortunately, in-laws), or even as rental units to generate a monthly income. These additions can include a bedroom, bathroom, sitting room and a private entrance, although the most popular home additions involve adding an extra room onto an exterior wall. Sun rooms, garages and extra bedrooms are common additions, as well as living rooms, dining rooms and home offices.

You may want to consider building up instead of losing lawn and garden space, or building a two-story addition that will accommodate an office or bedroom on top of the garage to maximize space. Other additions, such as carports, porches and decks often require less disruption of your home, yet will still increase its functionality and value.

If you’re adding indoor space, make sure a heating and air conditioning (HVAC) professional is brought in to assess the increased demand on the present system.

Continuity works best

Something to think about with a home addition (and something we specialize in) is consistency – within your own home and with the neighborhood. First, you want your addition to “fit in” with the rest of the house, both inside and out. That is, you don’t want the addition to look like an “add-on,” either structurally or in terms of decor. Similarly, a huge addition to a house in a modest neighborhood will surely give you more space, but when it comes time to sell you may not get the return on your investment you were hoping for, as those who can afford a bigger house will likely look in a more expensive neighborhood.

Consider the costs

When planning your addition, remember that the less impact there is on your present structure, the more cost-effective the addition will be. For example, moving plumbing walls, radically altering the floor plan and making changes to the roof line will all increase your costs significantly.

Assess impact for heating and air conditioning

We will bring in subcontractors for specialized jobs, like electrical and plumbing. If you’re adding indoor space, we’ll make sure that a heating and air conditioning (HVAC) professional is brought in to assess the increased demand that the addition will place on the present system.

In building and renovation, few rules hold true all the time. However, a number of useful notions lead to predictable outcomes most of the time. Unfortunately, many of these notions are forgotten when we concentrate on making ideal decisions throughout the course of the work. We lose sight of how each decision relates to the bigger project picture.

The following is a list of some commonsense ideas that almost always have a positive impact on a construction endeavor.

Maintain the Right Attitude

• Building anything is an act of joy and optimism. It’s also a learning experience. Anxiety is a normal part of that experience, but anxiety must not control the outcome of the work.
• The only adversarial relationship that is productive on a building project is the one that everyone should have with the artistic, technical, and financial challenges that the work itself presents.
• Excellent people make mistakes. Expect that they will continue to do so.
• Building a house is not an industrial process. It is hand labor, at a site, involving dozens of components that have to work and fit together as well as possible. Expectations for the quality of the work should reflect these characteristics.

Choosing an architect and builder

• When selecting a professional with whom to work, the first criterion should be character; the second, competence; the third, dedication.
• Clients are in the difficult business position of dealing with people who know more about design and construction than they do. In this vulnerable situation, the best strategy is to choose professionals of unquestionable integrity.
• To secure the greatest benefit from the knowledge that consultants and builders posses, allow them to do their work in the manner that their training and experience have shown will be most effective.
• Clients who receive the best service are those from whom trust is ample, enthusiasm is overt, information is complete, and payment is prompt.

About Project Costs

• Accurate cost estimates are based on facts; inaccurate estimates are usually the result of guessing. Financial risk in building is reduced by developing as much specific design information as possible before construction begins.
• The complexity of both design and construction work is often underestimated.
• Many people believe that they know a good deal about architectural design. What they do not realize is how much more they need to know to do design well, with distinction, refinement, and grace.
• Architects have the patience to plan. Builders have the savvy to improvise. Improvisation, however, is not a substitute for planning. The purpose of planning is to achieve predictable results. The purpose of improvising is to maintain work progress.
• For construction to be done efficiently, most design decisions need to be made in advance of building. If made during construction, these decisions can interrupt the work flow and increase its cost. Late design decisions are also more difficult to incorporate into the rest of the design.
• A construction project involves people with wide variations in skill, experience, intelligence, and desire. Effective project management optimizes the conditions that allow people to perform at their best.
• Frequent, candid communication is vital to minimize construction problems.
• Good people care. The end result usually shows why.

Energy efficiency plays a central role in building any new home. Building a “green” home, however, requires energy efficiency and much more. “Green building” means taking a comprehensive approach to energy and resource efficiencies from design through construction and operation of the house. Certain components of a home’s construction contribute greatly to the success of such an approach.

Windows, doors, and skylights, in particular, have a critical impact on a home’s ability to conserve energy, reduce moisture intrusion, and keep utility costs low. Like the vent pipes in a roof, they are penetrations in the home’s structural envelope, only much larger and more widely distributed.

The average new house, in fact, has more than 20 windows and doors, each a potential avenue for outside air and water. In the past, windows and doors were not much better than open holes in the wall. They were designed to bring usable daylight into the home, provide views to the outside, and allow passive (or non-mechanical) ventilation in warm and humid climates. In order to keep their homes reasonably comfortable in cold seasons, our ancestors kept windows and doors to a minimum.

Fortunately, today’s windows and doors are designed to enhance a home’s energy performance. Through still relied upon for passive ventilation and views, windows and glass doors are now insulated in both their frame and glass design. High tech window construction and specially treated glass can reduce glare, unwanted solar heat gain and damaging ultraviolet radiation, which can fade rugs and upholstery. Windows and skylights can also be designed to increase passive (free!) solar heating, reducing the amount of costly energy needed by the furnace.

Energy-conscious home owners can now choose among a variety of options in order to precisely match windows and doors to the seasonal climate conditions of their home’s location. To optimize the seasonal climate conditions of their home’s location. To optimize the overall thermal performance of the house, windows and doors can also be selected according to which side of the house they will be installed. For example, south and west-facing windows can let in more solar energy than north and east-facing windows.

In addition to enhanced glazing options, new wood-based window and door frame materials are engineered to resist warping, thus minimizing the small gaps between the window or door and the wall that may develop over time. In better quality vinyl window and glass door frames, the hollow cavities are increasingly insulated to boost their effectiveness.

As professional builders concerned about the performance of your new home, we take care to select the best windows and doors for your new home. We also take care to find knowledgeable suppliers and trained subcontractors to ensure not only high quality products but also proper installation that will maintain the design performance values of the window and door products used.

Windows, doors, and skylights play an important role in any home’s appearance and overall performance. In a green-built home, they are critical elements in a range of integrated design and construction approaches that help reduce a home’s energy use and operating costs while increasing indoor comfort and air quality.

Should you?

To buy all the parts that make up your automobile, you might have to spend upwards of four times the cost. And then you would still have to put them all together! Custom building a house is not quite as bad as that, but it still costs more than a ready-made builder’s product. So why build a custom home?

If you answer “Yes” to any of the following questions, you are a good candidate for considering a custom home.

• Have you looked for a ready-made home, but have been unable to find one which fulfills your desires and preferences, your family’s needs, and/or your aesthetic sense?
• Do you have very particular and specific desires about what you want in a home? When you look at existing homes, do you seem to want to change everything about them?
• Do you have unusual requirements for a home, such as special-purpose rooms, a particular layout, built in major fixtures or systems, accessibility, an accessory dwelling, or out-buildings?
• Would you like to make use of alternative energy sources, ecologically sound or non-toxic building materials, or any other fixtures, methods, or materials which are not generally found in ready-made homes?
• Have you been unable to find a home which works for you in the right location or neighborhood?
• Do you wish for a home with particular views, water frontage, zoning, or type of trees or vegetation, and have been unable to find an existing home that has them?
• Are you in love with a particular piece of vacant land?
• Are you already the owner of a particular piece of vacant land?
• Do you own, or are thinking of buying, a divisible lot, with an existing home on one part? If so, you might build a custom home on the vacant part, and the sell the existing home.
• Do you own, or are thinking of buying, a lot in a good neighborhood with an existing home in such disrepair that it should be torn down?
• Do you own, or are thinking of buying, a piece of land with a mobile home? If so, you might build a custom home while still living in the mobile, and then sell the mobile.
• Do you want to make sure that your new home is structurally sound and has been built under newer building code requirements, such as those which afford precautions for earthquakes, slides, floods, fire, or hurricanes?

There are many more questions to ask yourself, those are just some of the reasons why you would build a custom home.

Bottom line – If you’re looking at existing homes and you can’t find that perfect dream home – it’s time to think about a custom home.

No two homes are the same, and every client is unique.

Our missing is to build a home for each of our clients that fits each family’s wants and needs. We work with our on-staff architect to carefully consider a client’s specific needs; the number of people in the household, the gender and age of every family member, and even their particular preferences and interests. We try to capture the essence of how you live now and make an educated guess about how you’ll live in your new house for years to come.

This “lifestyle profile” approach helps determine everything about your new house, from the simplest and most obvious, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, to less common features such as personal and public entertainment areas, specialized storage space, and even the home’s physical location and architectural style. We’re dedicated to determining the specifics of your new home.

Before we meet with prospective clients, we encourage them to spend some time thinking about their current lifestyle, paying particular attention to how it might change in the future.

Plan with an eye to the future: In addition to a simple count (Don’t forget the pets!) of those living under your roof, consider how each person in the family uses the house now and is likely to use it in the near future.

• A couple without children, for instance, might consider at least two secondary bedrooms (in addition to the master suite) that can serve as a home office, guest room, or a hobby space – or eventually, children’s bedrooms.
• A young family might look for a home in which the secondary bedrooms are located on the opposite side of the house or on a different level. This plan will not only accommodate aging kids but can also serve different uses, such as a guest or game room, once the children leave the nest.
• If regular visitors are a part of your lifestyle, you might consider a separate suite above the garage that could double as a hobby space or home office.

Mobility and Special Needs: Regardless of your age or current physical condition, remember that a temporary or chronic impairment might limit your ability to get around your house in the future. If bedrooms are on the second floor, even a pulled muscle can keep you from climbing stairs. A main-level “flex” space (especially one with semi-private access to a bathroom offers a comfortable alternative to a couch or cot in times of a temporary disability. This setup easily converts to a permanent bedroom on the lower level when stairs are best left to younger members of the household. Floor coverings, cabinet and counter heights, and appliance locations can be tastefully altered to make them easy to navigate regardless of your physical state. Consider, too, ease of access to and around the house from the outside. You might consider at-grade entrances and solid, hard surfaces such as continuous walkways instead of paving stones.

Interests outside the home: In addition to in-home needs and desires, consider outdoor activities as part of your lifestyle profile. If you prefer to take walks, run, or bike ride, ready access to a community bike or walking path might help target your choice of locations within a neighborhood. The opportunity to garden or do yard work may also be a determining factor in your search for a new home, while those who disdain mowing the lawn or repainting the house will be drawn to low maintenance materials and yard areas. Proximity to an amenity-rich community center might be a deal-maker for a young family, but less so to a time-strapped, travel-heavy professional couple.

As a builder dedicated to making housing dreams a reality, we are committed to providing homes that are best suited to the people who buy and live in them. Armed with a solid understanding of our clients’ particular wants and needs, we can pinpoint the right house and features for each one, delivering homes that suit their circumstances now and in the future.

If you are planning to have a home custom built, you may be wondering if you should find a stock plan that you like well enough and have it built as drawn. Of course you would still specify the colors, fixtures, and materials. This can be done, and it would create for you a home that is custom built, but not custom designed. What reasons might you have for also having your home custom designed?

The design of a home begins with the approximate size, location, and layout of the spaces for living, cooking, sleeping, playing, entertaining, conversing, relaxing, studying, working, washing, and so forth. How these spaces are placed will affect how you and your family live every day.

• Planning a short route from your car to your kitchen may save you more time and energy than an easy-clean bathroom counter surface.
• Each square foot of a house adds to its cost, so you should be the one to decide whether to put that square foot into the bedroom or the living room.
• If you are hunting for a stock plan for a narrow lot with a room-sized pantry and a sauna, but with only one bedroom and one bath, you may have a very long and futile hunt.

Next comes the design and placement of windows and doors, according to the way you will use the rooms.

• Windows that have been placed to take advantage of your views might have a great effect on your family’s morale.
• You may need doorways and hallways wide enough for a wheelchair, either now or at some point in the future.
• You may want different kinds of doors. Swinging, bifold, bypass, French, atrium, or pocket doors each have their own spatial and structural requirements. They are not necessarily interchangeable.
• You may want to make sure that upper-story window sills are high enough to protect children from falling.

Also, there are aesthetic considerations. If you grow tired of decorating schemes, wall treatments, fixtures or cabinets – you can change them. But, short of major remodeling, the design and overall shape of your home (both exterior and interior) is permanent. If you love the way your home looks and feels, you’re likely to feel happier when you come home.

Finally, there are the practical aspects of the home site. Many lots have characteristics which make it difficult to use a stock plan.

• If your land has a severe slope right where you’d like the house to be placed for the best views, custom design is essential. The home must be fit carefully to the land.
• Other examples are water frontage, easements, oddly-shaped lots, and areas with slide, flood, erosion, fire, wind, or earthquake risks.
• For some sites, you will need engineering work done to satisfy the building department or to ensure the durability of the house. The plan needs to take the engineering requirements into consideration, without sacrificing livability.

What if you want some changes made to a stock plan? You may want more of your own personal touches. Or you may have special needs which will require you to commission extensive redesign and redrafting. You may want to make the house accessible, enlarge the garage, whirlpool bath, separate shower, or powder room. These kinds of changes require walls to be moved, layouts to be changed, and structural support systems to be redesigned. It might make more sense to start from scratch and end up with the home you really want.