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.
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
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 rob@paramountconstruction.net
to get on our schedule.
Do Want A Custom Home That Reflects Your Lifestyle? Not Some Cookie-Cutter House
Plan You Can Find In A Magazine, But A Design That Truly Reflects Your Lifestyle? Check
Us Out – World Class Architecture Designed For You. This home has 9 foot ceilings, wood
floors, luxxury bath great yard – 13ksf Award Winning Architect and Builder Paramount Construction
Homes Starting at $425,000 on your lot – call 301-370-6463
s 9 foot ceilings, wood floor granite tops great design Several new homes under construction
– call 301-370-6463 for home tours go here for our homes for sale
Or if you already have a lot and you need an award winning architect to create a set of custom home plans click here
Wheeeew…it’s over – – we had over 200 guests visit our Bethesda Open House yesterday!
I want to thank everyone for attending and I hope you liked what you saw.
First, I want to announce the winner of the Flip Mino Camera Drawing – the winner is…
…Mary H. (we’ll be contacting you today and sending out the
camera) – Congratulations!
Second, I apologize for not being able to meet with everyone individually and answer your
questions.
So I wanted to give you a quick FAQ below to answer some of the
most common questions and least technical (which I’ll answer in future emails – like,
does the $6500 tax credit apply to building a new home, can you really get tens of thousands
of dollars in tax credits with a tear-down and how do you obtain a “Green” LEED rated home?).
Here you go:
Q: Did we create the architectural design and perform the construction of the new home on Berkley Street?
A: Yes. We are architects and builders. Kevin is our on-staff, full-time architect.
Q: Is the home for sale or did we build it for an owner?
A: The home is not for sale, the home was built for the owner.
Q: Was the home design from our Paramount Portfolio Plan Book or was it custom designed?
A: When the owners were checking our references, they visited and met the owners of
our Belmont Model and fell in love with that home. However, given the owners unique needs
and wants and given the unique characteristics of the lot on Berkley, we created a custom design for
the owners.
Q: Do we charge a premium for creating a custom design vs building a home plan from our Paramount Portfolio
of over 80 New Home Plans?
A: Currently, we do not charge anything additional to create a custom home design.
Q: Was there an existing home on the property that was torn down?
A: Yes (we had many questions about the potential tax benefits of tens of thousands of dollars associated with the
tear-down, and a subsequent email will detail the benefits and how that works)
Q: What was the price of the Berkley home and what was included? What was not included?
A: Price was in the $600K +/- range and was all inclusive – demolition of existing home, excavation, permitting,
blueprints, engineering, surveying, utilities, custom selections, etc.
Q: Do you take on home additions and home renovations, as well as new homes?
A: Yes. Currently we have six projects of that type in process.
Q: Do you take on small remodeling projects – $50k to $200K?
A. No, but given the demand, we are considering accepting a few projects on a very limited basis.
Q: I want to build a new home but I don’t have land. Do you have land or lots? Can you help?
A: Yes, we have about 10 lots in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Mclean and N. Arlington.
I hope this helped.
I’ll be sending out another FAQ in the next few days on some of the more technical issues brought up
and we’re working on a video series that will answer many questions at an even deeper level, which will
come out in the next few weeks.
Again, Kevin and I really appreciate your interest in what we do and please feel free to email me at
rob@paramountconstruction.net or Kevin at kdavis@paramountconstruction.net or call me at 301-370-6463
with any questions you have.
Happy custom home building client in Bethesda Maryland describes her process for selecting an architect and builder to design and build her custom home.
Lots of homeowners are trying to decide of adding on to their home is better than tearing the house down and building a new home. But where do you start? Who do you turn to?
Yingjie was faced with this dilemma. So listen and watch Yingjies story.
Yingjie first met with an architect. But the architect wasn’t much help. He was not able to tell her if adding on to the existing home or knocking down and building new was the best way to go.
Next, she met with a builder. But the builders home plans were unimaginative and looked like “one of those” homes that
so many builders put up – B-O-R-I-N-G!!!
Then, her life magically changed when she received a message one day from Paramount Construction.
Listen and watch Part 1 of her story here:
Here is Part 2 of Yingjies story and about her new Bethesda custom home building experience and how she went through the process of of selecting an architect and builder and what some of her concerns were:
Read the full interview here:
Part 1
A Life-Changing Story Yingjie Shu, of Bethesda, Tells How Life Has Changed Since Rob & Kevin Designed & Built Her Custom Home (Winner of the Gold Award)
Hint: Yingjie has Become Self-actualized due to her New Custom Home Which Reflects Her True Essence….
Ok, Maybe That’s a Bit Lofty, but She Sure is HAPPY
(R = Rob)
(Y = Yingjie)
R: What is your name?
Y: Yingjie
R: What is your name?
Y: Yingjie
R: Where do you work?
Y: U.S. News and World Report. (laughter). I really don’t know how to get started. Like you said, it took us years on debating, wrestling whether to expand our house, or tear down our house, we do love our old little house.
R: So, you….what’s your process?
Y: At first, we hired an architect, the architect came here and talked to us about one hour. I thought before the guys came here that he should have ideas and at the end he would give us some ideas whether to build a new home or expand our house. So, after I talked to this architect, I still don’t have any idea.
R: Because you are just not sure whether you should knock it down or add on?
Y: Yes, after we talked to him, we still have no idea. Looks like we have to pay him in order to have some ideas. At that point because we don’t know that architect, we are not willing to do that. So, we gave up that idea and started to look at other builders. There’s one builder that came over, you know, his plans, whatever, then he showed us, took us to of the some houses that he built and when I looked at that house, I’m not impressed, you know, they all looked like one of those houses up there. There is no character, you know. So, we let it go, you know and then suddenly, we received Paramount’s Open House Invitation in Falls Church, so you know, it was like winter time. So I said, hey, let’s go, let’s just check out. So, we went there. So, when we were driving close to the house, I said to Bill, ‘That’s it!” Co’z the house looks so charming from outside and then we went inside and our hat just brimming. I just said “Hey, Bill, that’s it”. We love the floor, we love the fixtures, we love the design especially the master bedroom, you know. So, at that point, I said “Hey Bill …….
R: Did you talked to Kevin or Rob there?
Y: Yeah, we talked to Kevin and Rob and have some ideas. I guessed Kevin asked us, you know, what we want, what we liked at the house, whatever. So, then you came over to our house with a sketch, what our house should look like. And we discussed whether we should, you know, renovate or tear down the house. You did some analysis and you said, “Tear down, get a new one”. So that’s what we did. And then you gave us some reference to another house in DC and I went there and when I saw the house, I said, “Oh, my gosh, I love this house”. So, I said, you know, we will stay with Paramount. Build a house that has us, that has the character, has the charm, something really referencing us instead of just one of those out there. And we’re very happy.
R: Now that you’ve lived in here for…., how long have you lived here?
Y: About how many…three, four months.
R: How’s your life now compared to the old house?
Y: I think it’s beyond what I can say, it’s beyond. I am extremely happy, you know. I think the house is not huge but it’s the perfect size for us and the space is really well-designed, well-used, you know. Pretty much we can use every room, you know, we have in the house. We just love everything in the house. We love the windows, we love the kitchen cabinets, we love the lights, we love the wall, the shape, you know. We love the basement, we love the loft, oh, we love the floor. We just love it, we love everything.
R: How was the design process from the beginning? When we first met you, how was the process?
Y: I think the process was really really easy. I think Kevin did a good job to get us through what we need to do. So, a lot of things we have no idea, you know, the color, the design, all that kind of things. He really get us to, you know, what will fit, you know, meet our need, meet our budget, you know, fit our style and everything came out well.
R: How about during the actual building, during the actual construction period, how was that?
Y: It’s great, really. I think everybody is really really professional. I think the neighbors love it too, you know. The impact on the neighborhood is very minimum. And whenever we come here, we always see progress, you know,”how’s the house by the way?”. We come here everyday, we passed by, you know. So, everyday, there is some progress, you know, and we’re really happy.
R: And where there meetings on a regular basis during the construction period?
Y: Yeah, yeah, we had weekly meetings.
R: You had that? How was that? Did they keep you informed?
Y: Yeah, they kept us informed, really helpful. What hasn’t been done and what’s, you know, going to be done. I think that’s really really good.
R: What do you think of the quality of the work?
Y: Oh, great. Oh, by the way, there was once… Because I don’t know much about building, that kind of thing. So, there was once I took a guy at work. He is like our facility manager, he came here. So, I showed him, at that time we were doing the outer trimming, you know. So, he said, “This is definitely a Bethesda house, not a Rockville house”.
R: What did he mean?
Y: Quality. He said its top quality stuff. He said, “Yingjie, just relax, everything’s gonna be alright for you”. So, that made me…from a colleague, somebody I can trust, somebody who knows about facility. So, that’s really comforting.
R: Where there any unpleasant surprises or changes that came up here during the construction?
Y: None that I am aware of. No.
R: How about the timeframe. How fast did it go, the construction? Did they deliver on time?
Y: I think what’s really beyond our expectation, you know, I think it’s longer to get a permit than build the house, you know. But I guess the permit is just America’s deal.
R: How about the after construction service or issues that came up?
Y: Oh, it’s great! Actually the part I was really impressed… couple of times, you know, Mike showed up to see and say, “Ms. Shu you need to do this”. “Oh, my gosh, Mike I completely forgot about it”, you know. It’s really really good, follow-up.
R: Has ______Zuckerman said anything about the house?
Y: No. But I did talk to his nephews. (laughter)
R: And are they gonna come over?
Y: I told them. I said, “ I have an open invitation, come over”.
R: How about the Obama children. Have they been over to play with Ray yet?
Y: Not yet. (laughter) They’re too young for Ray.
R: I thought Ray likes older women.
Y: But they are younger. (laughter)
R: They are younger? I thought they are older than him.
Y: They are ten (10) and seven (7).
R: Could Ray bay-sit, at least? (laughter)
Y: Maybe.
R: So well, when friends have their Christmas party here, will the Obama’s be here?
Y: (laughter) I have to ask him. We’ll love to have them here.
R: Ken what am I missing? (video taping about to end)
Part 2
A Life-Changing Story
Yingjie Shu, of Bethesda, Tells How Life Has Changed Since Rob & Kevin Designed & Built Her Custom Home (Winner of the Gold Award)
Hint: Yingjie has Become Self-actualized due to her New Custom Home Which Reflects Her True Essence….
Ok, Maybe That’s a Bit Lofty, but She Sure is HAPPY
R: You’re really on trying to decide if you should knock it down or build new, you’ve interviewed the architect, you’ve interviewed the builder.
What kept you up at night? Was there any… like.. what went through your mind, if there was any fear, what was it? Before, pre making any decision?
Y: I think it’s still we’re making big chance, you know. There’s a lot of money gonna be involved. We don’t’ know anything about building and even though we went to your Open House, we got some references, but still there’s risk out there, you know. So, there were period of times at the beginning, I said, “Oh, my gosh, did we make the right decision?” you know. How about the house, is it gonna come together, how about wasting all the money, co’z we hear all the stories, you know.
R: Stories like what? What’s the worst story that you’ve heard?
Y: Like for example, I have a friend. Her sister is building the house, then suddenly, I think they poured the concrete in and there were cracks, you know. So, they have to stop the work, hire another contractor to pour the concrete and do that whole thing again, then re-fill it again. And eventually, they went to a, they had to go to the court, you know, that kind of things, throw the money down the drain, you know. That’s just really horrible, you know. I think, that house, their house, my friend’s sister started early in that house but then, you know, when they’re getting close to finish everything, they were still gonna finish the trimming. So, you hear a story like that or something, you know, people stopping the work for whatever reason, you know, the builder would go bankrupt, you know, whatever. And then the job is hanging there, never finished. So, you hear those kinds of stories. Or another thing is just, you know, you have a fixed price and then they keep raising the price and then saying, “We need to do this, we need to do that”, and all kinds of problems and then the price just went up, you know, dramatically and that’s kind of a nightmare too for us.
R: How did you get the comfort level that Paramount wouldn’t do that or wouldn’t go and have cracked foundations or wouldn’t have a price that they kept going up or wouldn’t build a complete job on time?
Y: Well, I think when everything goes on schedule
R: But how did you make that decision with Paramount?
Y: At the beginning….?
R: Yeah, because how did you determine that the price was fair, that Paramount could perform?
Y: Well, um, well the price of course we checked with some other builders, you know, we checked with a friend. So, we have some rough idea how much it’s gonna cost, so the price, you know, Paramount presented to us, like it fit in our budget, we can do what. And in terms of, you know, assurance of the work, we talked to the references and all the references we talked to were happy with the work, you know. So, we just feel like, you know, we checked, we checked with all the references, we checked like 4 or 5 references and every single one praise Paramount. So, we feel like, you know, we just have to take a chance. And also, we saw the Open House in Falls Church in 23rd St, we saw the quality of the house and I said, “Hey, we cannot go wrong”. So, we did take our chance but the risk is worth it and yeah, everything is just worth it.
R: Last question. (laughter)
Were there things that kept you up at night during construction?
Y: No. No.
This homeowner in Bethesda tells you why he chose Paramount to design and build their home
Get Your Architect Consultation Now!
Kevin is our “Genius Architect” (he’s really good).
He’d Love To Brainstorm Design Ideas With You
On Your Custom Home Or Large Addition.
Just enter your information and we’ll contact you
to discuss the project you’re thinking about:
Read The Reasons why Bill chose Paramount Construction to
design and build his custom home:
BILL: My name is Bill Adams.
I work at the Urban Institute.
INTERVIEWER: And before how did you make
the decision to go through the design and build process? What
was your process?
BILL: Well I think you know we were thinking
about do we need an architect first, do we, and we did. We talked to a couple of
architects, had them come out to our previous home and we were struggling
at the beginning with do we expand the house
that we have or do we tear it down and build a new one. And so we were looking
for a little guidance there. The first, or
actually more than one, a couple of architects we talked
to they didn’t give us that on the initial visit. And it was
going to
require us, you know investing some money. We didn’t feel
comfortable with that. So we kind of just you know, some time
went by, we went to a couple of open houses. And then one
time we went to an open house for Paramount Construction.
Paramount Construction was building a house in Falls Church.
And we were really impressed by the house. Very you know,
well make house, very good quality, well designed. And immediately we both felt that wow, these are really top-notch builders.
And we thought right then and there you know, this company is going to build our house for us.
And when we met with the Paramount professionals, they came out to our old house and we were, as I said we were unsure about
whether we should expand our old house or tear it down. And they went through a couple of different scenarios but in the end,
we trusted them and they had the recommendation of tearing down the old house and building a new house. And we felt very
comfortable after that conversation with them that we were doing the right thing.
INTERVIEWER: How did the whole process go? The design process with Paramount.
BILL: The process went great, very smooth. We would meet on a weekly basis with Paramount staff, with the architect and others.
And it was, it was very well planned out and we had at various times make decisions about certain features and we weren’t always
sure about what we wanted. And so we were presented several alternatives and you know after talking a little bit with the architect,
we were able to make decisions very quickly. And in many cases he was, the architect was recommending things that we hadn’t thought
of and suddenly a light bulb went off and said yeah, that’s what we want.
So it was, in that sense it was, it was a pretty easy process.
INTERVIEWER: And how about the quality of the workmanship?
BILL: The workmanship is superb. Just looking around the house, I mean the features are excellent, very detailed features. Very, you can
tell just looking at it, it’s very high quality work. And we’re just extremely happy with the way it came out.
INTERVIEWER: And you looked at like standard builder plans as part of your research.
BILL: We did. We looked at some model homes. We talked to a builder, another builder and we went to see one of the homes that he had
built. And it was, it was okay. It was nice but it just, it didn’t have that spark. Okay, it was basically a big box and had some nice features
inside. But what appealed to us about Paramount was the customized nature and the different features we could introduce into the home
to make it unique and to make it our own. And so you know, we did compare with other builders but I think none of those other builders
had what we wanted. But right away with Paramount, we knew okay, this is a company that I can handle customized designs, can handle
special features, and build it all into a home that we’d be happy with.
INTERVIEWER: Do you feel you paid any premium for that?
BILL: No, I mean I think we, it was really included in the baseline price, which we very much appreciated. Just the fact that we could have
an architect available to us at no cost, it was included in the whole package, we thought was tremendous.
FEMALE: Yeah, especially after we changed the plans.
BILL: Right, that’s true. Several times we had to make adjustments to the plan because of various issues that came up, in some cases out
of our control because the county had certain requirements about the footprint, the building space. And that’s one thing that impressed
us is that Kevin, the architect for Paramount, was able to really come up with some excellent alternative designs that met our needs.
INTERVIEWER: Were there any additional design fees with all these changes?
BILL: There were none. There were none. So we really appreciated that aspect of the whole project.
Homebuyers want the benefits of more energy efficient new houses, but, are they willing to pay for these features?
Well, according to a recently conducted member survey of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) – Homeowners are not willing to pay that much for these features.
Only 57% of buyers were willing to pay more for “green
features” – 2% more, at most!
This is just more evidence that cost/benefit is a key factor in most buyers decision to GO GREEN.
Features that improve water efficiency were preferred more by home buyers in the west, while interest in using recycled materials is relatively higher in the Northeast, and rather low in the South.
Although only 11% of builders nationwide reported clients requesting environmentally friendly features, energy efficiency is still the primary motivation in the green building movement.
The NAHB said “In all, survey findings indicate that, as Congress continues to debate how to encourage more energy-efficient construction via new legislation, it must keep affordabilty in mind and look for ways to incentivize changes, not only to newly built homes but to the overall housing stock.”
Let me know how how important energy efficient and green features are in your new home plans. Send me an email at rob@paramountconstruction.net.
Also, you can send your questions to: MondayMorningQuestions@nahb.com.
