Build Notes (New Construction, Older Homes, Renovations, Interesting Finishing and Details)

[dirtyframer]

Im going to enjoy this thread! (General Contractor here)

[ROman]

@northsouthdenimguy Its great watching your project, which look amazing. I also enjoy this thread.

[Giles]

Here is the commentary on the addition to our house......

[Giles]

@northsouthdenimguy Great buildings.....

[northsouthdenimguy]

Here’s a handful of shots from a house I completed almost two years ago. It took my client and friend about 18 months to sell. Beautiful house and, in my opinion, well worth the original asking price, but it just hit that weird timing with interest rates and the slowdown we started to see toward the end of 2024 here in the U.S.

It’s approximately 5,200 square feet finished, with another roughly 900 square feet over the garage that could be finished.

I’ll pull together some other pictures at some point. I posted this house a while back in one of the threads, but it’s a pretty cool project. I’ve known this particular client for 21 years, and this was the fourth house I’ve built for him. We’re actually working on getting another one going on the adjacent property he owns, which is approximately six acres. This one sits on about eight acres.

Really great guy and a great client. He enjoys the process and is very creative. We’ll typically use an designer, but he and I tend to tweak things ourselves as we go. I’ve always enjoyed working on projects with him. So much so that he always gets the friends-and-family discount on my fees. At least on the last two, lol.

[dirtyframer]

@northsouthdenimguy beautiful house and property!

[northsouthdenimguy]

@dirtyframer

Thanks! I have some better pictures somewhere, but I need to get better at putting things into folders…

[Choko]

Love that hexagon tile in the second bath

[northsouthdenimguy]

@Choko

I’m a big fan of hex floor tiles for smaller baths. We did it in the bath that serves as the powder in our own home.

Horrible pic lol. It’s actually different-colored marble, but in this picture it looks like linoleum.

[northsouthdenimguy]

Edit: should’ve put this at the beginning originally, but where these homes really shine, at least for me, is two or three years down the road when the landscaping has filled in, the vines have grown, and everything starts to develop a little patina and age. Even when the house is technically finished, it never really feels completely done. That evolution is part of the process.

Here are some details from the house with a small pool. This is a mahogany gate to the pool equipment. The wall is a 4” cement block with 3-coat European hard coat stucco. Notice the little radius or semi radius on top of the wall, looks nice and helps to shed water. Same detail they were supposed to do on the water feature monument, so it would look less like a headstone. Still debating whether I’m going to get them to fix that or not. The guy’s shook their head like they understood what I was telling them to do and they proceed to not do it. I can’t totally blame them because so much of how I build is “off the cuff” sketched on pieces of paper, not architectural drawings. More often than not just something mentioned in the field.

This is another mahogany built detail. The louvered screen lets in a little light while also blocking the view of the neighbor’s HVAC condenser. Fortunately, their condenser is whisper quiet.

This is actually next to the front door at the terrace level. Since they chose not to build the stairs going up to the main level, it was important not only to screen this area but also to make it attractive. It would have been easy and more cost effective to simply extend the masonry wall or fill this in with siding, but this gives the area a much more intentional finished look.

Below is the opposite end of the terrace-level porch area. The metal screen was fabricated by a guy I’ve been using for over 20 years. When my landscaper does the house next door, they’ll plant a creeping vine here, and the gardener who maintains everything will weave the vine through the screen as it grows. Eventually, this will become a green living wall.

After acid washing the PebbleTec this morning, the pool is now being filled. With the darker color, surrounding landscaping, and the colors of the home, it should end up having more of a lagoon feel to it.

And after asking my pool contractor about half a dozen times, supposedly they’re putting the water feature spout on today, but I won’t hold my breath…