Beach to Bay Custom Builders Corp.: December 2014

Hello everybody, this one goes out to all of you avid Beach to Bay Custom Builders followers...I understand that I made some promises to you guys - keeping you up to date on all of my projects that are underway, and explaining the different construction means and methods - to this point, I have not lived up to that promise. I can go into detail on the reasons and excuses but why bother? I am back with a few updates now and hopefully they will cue your interest.

I have been in a bit of a dilemma, because I want to try to keep this blog as interesting and dynamic as possible, but it is hard to accomplish that by posting boring pictures of unfinished construction work. Either way, I will try to skim the surface of the construction process, and mostly attempt to provide you with more visually intriguing pictures of finished work.

At the moment, I have a couple different jobs going on that are in different phases of construction. The job that is furthest along, which is the job that I will go into detail on today, is a speculation home that I have been working closely with my Dad on. The house is just under 4,000 sf, and it's theme is Key West / British West Indies style and it is located in Boca Harbour, East Boca Raton. The codes have recently changed in the city of Boca, and they allow for higher mean roof heights, which in turn means that the ceiling heights of the first and second floors can be raised. In this specific house, we were able to build 12' ceilings at the first floor, and 10' ceiling heights at the second floor. The old codes limited the ceiling heights to 10' at the first floor and 9' at the second. The extra three feet total of ceiling height actually makes a huge difference in the house; from the outside, the house just appears much grander, and from the inside, well, it effects a few things. First off, we were able to install full height 10' sliding glass doors, and also, all window header heights keep the consistent 10' height. If the ceiling height is 10’, it only allows for 9’ max height door to be installed. Aside from this benefit, overall the house just feels a lot more voluminous upon walking inside of it, and it ultimately allows for you as the homeowner to brag about the extra height to all of your friends who own homes that were built to the old codes. My dad typically builds Mediterranean style homes, so by going all-in on a Key West home was a totally new experience. Aside from the fact that the floor plan was completely different than any other house we have built to date, the process of selecting finishes was an important and difficult one, because we had to make sure that we were ultimately sticking to the motif. We took extra care in ensuring that all finishes went along with the style. Whereas 24” x 24” marble is a common flooring material in a Mediterranean home, we decided to go with a 6” x 36” porcelain tile that mimics the look of a weathered driftwood and installed it on a diagonal pattern. Also, everything in the house is very modernist, therefore all lines are very square, and the crown moulding and door moulding details are quite simplistic overall. These are just a few examples of the considerations that were made on the interior finishes.

The exterior of the house was also quite challenging, because there are a countless amount of stucco and foam details involved. In order to jive with the Key West look, it is imperative to have the stucco siding look at the second floor. The labor involved in achieving this look is quite grueling and meticulous. We installed the standing seam metal roof on the house as well. There are two options for metal roofing – the standing seam option (which is more expensive), or the 5-v crimp roofing option. In my opinion, I think that the 5-V crimp roof actually has a cooler look, but I have been told that the standing seam roof lasts better in the long run, because the method of attachment is different. The 5-v crimp roof requires screws lining the roof that have a bonded neoprene washer, and if this neoprene washer wears out, there is potential for roof leaks. Aside from that, we installed a seashell paver at the pool deck, and actually installed a 24” x 24” terrazzo-looking porcelain tile at the second floor balconies. I think that it is safe to say that both my Dad and I are extremely proud of the way the house turned out…the house is on the market now so don’t miss the opportunity to check it out!!