Town of Somerset new home coming to gorgeous lot one block to Somerset swimming pool.
Cool contemporary new home with a butterfly roof coming to Town of Somerset
Check out our Metro Model Contemporary Home
Watch this video walk-through of this Town of Somerset new home we’re in the planning stages of building:
Renovation to Bethesda Home:
We’re really proud of the fact that three of our design and build
projects have been nominated for the prestigious
Montgomery County Builders Association Home of the Year Awards.
These nominations are based on design quality and building
craftsmanship and execution of architectural details.
The first project that is nominated is a one story addition to a home on Arrowood
Road in Bethesda. The home backs to the Burning Tree Country Club Golf Course.
You can see a photo below of the kitchen. To see really nice cabinet photos click here
Country Casual Bethesda Home Addition Nominated For MCBA Award
Another project nominated is a large addition and whole house renovation of a
log home originally constructed in the 1920s.
Kinda strange, but this home is also on a golf course – Manor Country Club
Golf Course. The views are outstanding and after our addition and renovation
project the owners are now able to enjoy views from about every room in the
home – Imagine views of the beautiful pond at the 11th hole, gently rolling
hills and nothing but green as your cooking dinner and entertaining your
guests gazing through a 20 foot tall wall-o-glass in the kitchen-family
room. It’s really quite a view! Take a look at the second photo below.
Click here for more pictures of this amazing addition.
Many of you came to visit us at this home in October when we had
an open house event and gave tours. We had over 200 people at the
open house and we’re planning another event sometime in the spring
since we promised we’d show the home again to about 20 people
that missed the tour of this really unique and interesting project.
Rockville Home Addition With Killer Golf Course Views
And the last project nominated (not on a golf course)
is a new custom designed Arts and Crafts home in
North Arlington. Here are more photos of this home
This is another project that lots of you stopped by to visit
when we had a two day open house event a few months ago.
Are you beginning to see that not only do the homeowners
enjoy their homes, but I think I get as much fun out of showing them
off as the owners do?
So much fun in fact that (as you may have heard) we’re
building a few model homes around town and should be
breaking ground in the coming weeks on a few (more on that later).
Stay tuned for more breathtaking photos of these award nominated
projects.
And for any of you that missed our open houses and have called asking
to get on our VIP private tour list of homes currently under construction
(new home in Falls Church, new homes in Bethesda, additions in Bethesda,
additions in Silver Spring, new home in McLean).
just enter your name and email below.
Arlington Arts and Crafts Custom Home Nominated For Award
Family room kitchen home addition blends with the 1920s Rockville Log Home
Kitchen family room addition interior view looking out to the 10th hole of Manor Country Club
New Kitchen with high ceilings and original back wall of log home
Prime views of Manor Country Club Golf Course
We’re almost complete with out addition and renovation of a 1920s log home.
See more project photos of this major home addition and renovation here
The home is located
on the 10th hole of Manor Country Club in Rockville, Maryland.
This Whole House Renovation project was very challenging from a design perspective as well as a
construction perspective.
I first met our future clients at an open house they attended at another award winning project of
ours in Rockville. During our first conversation, the owners described how they had a very unique
home. They told us that house was a log house originally built in the 1920s with additions added
on over the years. And adding to the unique nature of the project, the home was located on the
10th hole of Manor Country Club in Rockville.
They went on to tell us about there long journey to find an architect that was up to the challenge
of creating a design that would blend with the existing 1920s log home architecture. And the
risk was high since the project would be highly visibly to every one that played on the golf course.
So their challenge was finding someone that could create a design that they’d be proud of and that so many
others would see while they were playing the golf course.
Not only were the owners a bit worn out trying to find an architect, but they also needed a builder
capable of handling the engineering required to modify a log home with huge timber walls and roofs.
Luckily, the project that they met me on was equally challenging, and they were impressed enough with
our work that they retained us to help them solve their design and construction problem.
So our primary design goal was to blend their new addition design into the existing architecture of the
1920s log house. And along the way, we wanted to create as many walls of glass to capture the breathtaking
views of the “back nine” at Manor Country Club as we could.
So we added a two story master suite and bedroom above as a wing on the left side of the house
and a one story family room and kitchen addition on the rear. The master suite addition also had a
new screen porch attached to it and the family room – kitchen addition had a new
single car garage built underneath. We also designed a beautiful stone patio with a bar-b-que grill
and a decorative water fountain outside of the family room – kitchen addition.
To capture the absolutely phenomenal views of the golf course we had to create some new, larger
openings in some existing log walls. We also designed a 20 foot tall bank of glass in the kitchen- family
room addition to create dramatic views of the golf course.
One of the challenges for us was finding a craftsmen that had experience patching log walls and
filling the joints between each log so it looked perfect. Since we removed so many huge bearing
interior log walls and inserted steel beams to hold up the structure, finding the right person
was critical to making the job look great. Luckily, we didn’t have to search too far because the
owners had been using an old craftsmen for years on their house. So he was happy to help us
out and I think he enjoyed the challenge dealing with more than the maintenance work he had been
doing in the past at the home.
We many structural challenges working with the log home that we had to overcome. And the design
we created creatively compliments the old style log house while bringing in a sense of modern architecture.
See more project photos of this major home addition and renovation here
Features:
Traditional style architecture
Carderock stone
Woodmode cabinets
5 inch clear cherry wood floors custom stain color
Custom architectural millwork
Master suite on first floor
Expansive 360-degree views
Hardiplank vertical siding with battens
Pella Windows
The closer you make the home renovation project to a new home the lower the price
On your next large scale home remodeling project or major home
addition, follow these tips to save lots of time and money.
On a large remodeling or renovation job, the key is making existing
conditions of the work area as close to a new home as possible.
So if the home is empty; no animals, no kids, no people and no furniture,
in other words, as close to the condition the builder would face when
building a brand new home, the vendors and subcontractors will price
the job with lower prices.
This is because the hassle factor has been
reduced.
The vendors and subcontractors don’t have to work around the furniture and worry about
ruining it, they don’t have to worry about keeping dogs and cats in the
house when the workmen go in and out of the doors. They don’t have
to worry so much about safety of the little kids, they don’t have to make
sure the utitlities are on at the end of each day – the water, the electricity ,
the heating and cooling.
So when we can get this type of condition, we explain
to the vendor that they will be able to work faster and have fewer interruptions.
Plus the construction workers are always trying to be friendly to the homeowners and visa versa,
the homeowners want to be friendly to the workers. So what happens is that “hello”
in the morning can turn into a 30 minute chat about what the worker thought about
the Washington Redskins or Obamas State of the Union or about the pipe burst
at the Shady Grove Red Line Metro Station. And the cumulative impact is that the job
ends up taking longer.
Now you might say what about the cost of moving out and fining a place to stay?
Well you can rent a pod for I think $80 per month. Also, through good planning the
home builder may be able to set aside certain areas in your home that are not being worked on
and block those areas off by building temporary protective walls to move some furniture
and store it during the duration of the job.
Also, we have temporary homes that we put our clients in that we rent back to the
client for $1500 or so per month. These homes are in Bethesda, Chevy Chase,
McLean and Arlington (call and reserve these way ahead of time).
We have seen jobs that we estimated 10 months to complete but
where the client moved out and we saved 4 months of time.
So when you net out the 4 months of interest savings on a construction loan and the lower unit
prices from the vendors, against the cost of moving out, we’ve actually seen savings
of $3000 or more.
Plus lots of these homes that are being renovated were built prior to 1978 and have lead paint.
So if you have little kids you really don’t want them exposed to the dust particles and it’s
just a lot more pleasant not living on a “construction site” for 5 months.
I always joke and tell our clients that they’ll live longer if they don’t live on site!
So when you think about that, this tip is really priceless!
Thinking of selling our home? Call 301-370-6463 – – We Buy Homes.
We are now reserving construction starts slots for summer and fall 2010.
Don’t miss out on these low interest rates. Email me at [email protected]
to get on our schedule.
Check out our answer here:
But we haven’t had a project like this one for many years!
Take a Look at the original home here:
Original Log Home Bedroom
We met the owners, Dr. and Mrs. Mennitt, of this Rockville log home over a year ago at an open
house we held in Rockville.
The owners had a very unique property right off the 11th hole of Manor Country Club in
Rockville Maryland.
Not many homes are located off the 11th hole of Manor Country Club…but what
made the property a real “one-of-a-kind” is the fact that it is a log home built
in the 1920s.
We started creating a design in the spring 2009 and finally started construction of a two major additions
and a complete renovation of the home in September 2009.
One primary addition is a kitchen-breakfast room-terrace addition off the rear of the home.
The other major expansion is the two story addition on the side and rear of the home.
The master suite and screen porch is on the lower level and the upper level has another
large bedroom.
As the project moves on we’ll report back to you with progress photos and
interviews.
View of Kitchen-Breakfast Room-Terrace addition
Original Log Home Bedroom + Foundation of new addition
Across the board (with the exeption of of a few vendors like appliances ) our vendors are reporting that their labor and material costs are relatively low. The pricing we have been getting for direct costs of new custom homes & large additions to homes in the Washington DC area have remained low for a few years now. However, we are noticing vendors getting slightly busier than they’ve been in the last year or two.
Here’s one of our excellent vendors, Glen Embry, of Metcalf HVAC, explaining what he thinks of the current market:
Ever meet a stuffy architect? Think they’re easy to work with?
Think the home design process would be fun with one of those “big-name” architects?
Life is too short.
Our home design process is smooth, easy & fun.
No limits on how much design for your home.
No limits on how much time on your design.
Every design detail explored.
No ego on our side. We just want create the best
design for your home.
Watch one of our home design meetings here:
Take a look at the award winning finished product:
Award Winning Architectural Details Log Home Addition Renovation
Interior Design Architectural Detailing Goes Into Our Projects
Click here to look at more project photos of this award winning log home renovation addition here.
Another reason it’s a great time to build your custom home —
home prices are low and work quality is high. Here is an electrical
contractor who works in the Montgomery County Maryland,
Fairfax County Virginia, N.W. Washington D.C. area and works
on new homes for area home builders: