Everything is last minute now. The days of doing pretty custom builds in 6 to 9 months have long been gone. Ten to 12 months is much more realistic, and some are stretching to 18 months.

We originally had a really lush, organic courtyard designed, but the buyers wanted turf. I have to admit, the newer stuff looks a hell of a lot better than the fake grass from years ago. And hey, the courtyard is completely private and can’t be seen from the street, so there’s only so much I’m going to fight them on.

I’ll say, after building homes for decades, I actually prefer the complexity and difficulty of these kinds of projects compared with the larger-lot builds I did years ago, even intown. They’re definitely more stressful, but also more enjoyable. Every home has always been unique, but as the sites get tighter and tighter, that uniqueness just keeps getting amplified.

The next two are going to be really cool. One of them is a market home that isn’t sold yet, so we’re really amplifying the finishes and landscaping to make it stand out.

The other one is completely custom and pretty much no-expense-spared, so that one should turn out really nice.

And by all means, if this belongs somewhere else or I should just start my own thread, I’m totally fine with that. I’m not trying to sell anybody anything. It’s really just some of my day-to-day, and I think it’s cool stuff for anyone interested in architecture, design, and new home construction.

Watching the first of three pools being dug today on a project of mine. Super tight construction 10 homes on approximately an acre. All detached(zero lot line) except for this one brick outbuilding that’s attached to the house next- door.

Been waiting months for these pool permits, been holding me up on starting the next three houses as the only access is ramping over these privacy walls that are semi complete.

First two houses have these smaller pools, the other one will have a 12 x 40 lap pool. I’m standing on the gym/spa structure. two-story garage in front of it with the lap pool between it and the main house.

Edit: that’s not the finished color of the interior of the pool, it will be acid washed in the morning. It has a lot of black/dark pebbles it’s called “Turtle Bay”

Squeezing these things in…