Florida House Builder - looking for ideas

[TinkerPixxie]

Oh sorry forgot to mention that the dumbwaiter NEEDS to be child safe. Im guessing that might be why they arent common anymore?

 

[Nicolepa]

Laundry shutes*
I think a laundry shute would be an exceptional idea for a multi level home. Even if the kids/ person upstairs doesnt place the laundry inside it themselves it would be nice for the person who cleans the area to have the ease of just tossing it in there and not having to lug it all down stairs.

Tink~

Just put your laundry room upstairs! Mine is upstairs and I LOVE it. The only thing I ever have to take up/down stairs are kitchen towels. If I get behind on laundry my neighbors/friends have no clue! My neighbors are all very envious of my laundry room being upstairs.

There is a water pan under my washer with a pipe attached, so if it should ever flood it wouldn't be a huge issue (just a big one LOL).

 

[Shelby5514]

This may or may not be possible. My cousin lives by Tampa bay. She had a beautiful house built a few years ago. The house is U shaped with the pool in the middle. She has the typical screened in porch around the pool. She has the main house with a hall on each side sliders looking over the pool in each of the 4 bedrooms a bath between the bedrooms on each side. Ok now why oh why didnt the builder build a game/family room at the end of the house at the top of the U making it a house with a pool in the middle? Then you could just screen in the roof or make a slider roof to use the pool in the cooler months. She actually looked at me like it was a strange question. The house cost her somewhere around 1/2 mil to build. $$ was not an issue. She told me when she suggested this to a builder she was told it wasnt possible. Are there codes involved? The roofs are usually low and the sun is strong enough so the pool area would get sun. As for draining I am sure a drain at each corner and one in the middle of the long part of the house would do the trick. As it is now she goes out now jumps in the pool then back into the house to stay cool. In the cooler months she uses the pool only occasionally. So her Beautiful pool is used about the same amount of time as my pool here in NE. It is either to hot out or to cool out. LOL

Ok so how much $$ just for a house like this? Would I have to be Bill Gates to afford?

I don't know how much this house would cost but you have just described our dream house. We've had this plan in our heads for a few years now and hope to build it in the next 7-10 years.

 

[disneymom3]

Anne--what are the tubes in the walls for.

I would say my only big thing for a FL house is having a bathroom that you can enter from the backyard or at least off a very short hallway. In CA my sister had a pool and you had to go through the kitchen and around and down the hall to get to the bathroom. Our house had a bathroom in the garage and that worked well too.

 

[AMcaptured]

I think more homes need in-law suites. Almost all house plans have the master bedroom at the opposite end of the house from the rest of the bedrooms. I think a great selling point would be a nice big bedroom with a sitting room, perhaps a small kitchenette, handicap accessible bathroom marketed for adding an aging parent. Then on the other side of the house, another master with all the bells and whistles and 2 bedrooms for children. The kitchen, living and dining areas would seperate the two "wings".

I know a lot of homes have garage apts but they aren't always good for an older person. I also like the idea of a small guest house with a similar situation that I described, small kitchenette, etc.

 

[Topper]

My hubby and I bought property in Florida. We're not sure where to go now. We've contacted some builders who have sent us letters or plan books, and that's about it. If any of you who work for builders, want to send me a private message, I'd appreciate it. We're trying to find out an APPROXIMATE minimum price for a 4 bedroom/3 bath home on our property. Any advice?

What I would like is for the builder to do the work that we can't do ourselves. We can't install electric wires, but we could install our own kitchen cabinets, maybe. Is there anything we could initially do without to save some $$$? Carpet, appliances, anything that normally comes with the house, but one could live without? We'd like to get to Florida as inexpensively as possible.

Oh, and to answer your questions, I would like plenty of storage. Our house here was built before people figured out that closets were nice. A big attic would be nice, too.

Anita

Anita,

http://www.jimwalterhomes.com/

Jim Walter Homes advertises that they have 3 levels of construction completion available:

Shell Stage: Our most basic and affordable interior completion level. The inside of a shell is unfinished, with open stud walls ready for you to begin work.

Partial Stage: A shell home with rough plumbing, rough and finished electric, an insulation package, and finished drywall.

90% Complete: This stage includes interior doors, trim, cabinets, countertops, electrical, plumbing and heat. You are responsible for adding such features as floor coverings, paint, or any of our additional upgrades.

Turnkey: Our most complete stage, this includes features such as an interior decoration package, an electric heating and air conditioning system, interior and exterior painting, appliances and grading.

I have no experience with this builder (nor do I know anyone who has), but they have been building homes in Florida since 1943.

 

[Feralpeg]

I had a 3m coating put on the windows of my home after the 3 hurricanes. I wish I'd known about it prior and had it done prior to moving in. Then, I'd have had no worries about the hurricanes. The coating protects my home from objects tossed up to 115 mph. It also has a slight tint that helps keep the house cool.

If I had to do it again, I'd also have one of those backup generators installed. They run off of either gas or huge batteries. They sit outside next to the air conditioning unit. If the electricity should fail, they kick in. They are expensive, but would be well worth it should a storm knock out power for an extended period. Our power was only out 12 hours following hurricane Jeanne, but that was enough when it is so hot and humid out. This type of generator is powerful enough to run all of your home appliances plus air conditioning.

I would also add additional storage. It is amazing how fast space fills up.

 

[da-winnie-pooh]

Thanks, Topper, I'll look into it when things calm down!

Anita

 

[Ali]

I live in Florida and have no storage to speak of, so that would be a first request. I enter my home from the garage into the combo kitchen/small eating area. I would like to have a small room to go through that would be a so called "mud room" to be a place to drop all the book bags, shoes, etc that goes in and out so it doesn't end up on the table. Large closets, and built in storage wherever you could put it.


I also would like lower ceilings - why do I need to pay such large anounts of money to FPl to heat 10 feet of ceiling and air that serve no function?

And a sreened porch room at the front door so we can be somewhat sociable without sitting in the garage like so many of my neighbors do.


We don't have a split plan - all 3 bedrooms are on one side of the house, and it works fine.

They just built 4 house next to ours - the one next door was obviously done for investment and just sold. Asking price was $225000. We bought our house 3 years ago for $74000. I bet our house has gone up up uo.

 

[the kabuki]

Forgive a yankee question, but since Florida homes cannot have basements, why arent' the attics built for storage? Or are they? It would seem to me that if you need extra storage and can't get it below ground you could go "up" to the attic.

 

[the kabuki]

One more..on looking into a possible Florida move, it sure does seem like there is only production builders down there. Are there any custom builders at all? I sure don't seem to be able to find any online.

 

[tink2dw]

Being a Nothwestern I bet attics don't work because of the termendous heat. Everything kept in an attic in FL would be burnt up!! And it would cost a fortune to cool the attic space.

 

[Topper]

One more..on looking into a possible Florida move, it sure does seem like there is only production builders down there. Are there any custom builders at all? I sure don't seem to be able to find any online.

http://www.custombuilt.com/

 

[robsmom]

Things I want in a house anywhere:

1. Laundry on the second floor - clothes, sheets, towels etc. are all used on the second floor.

2. Extra large "mud room" from the garage with built in organizational stuff (closet, shelves, hooks). Place to hang coats, put umbrellas, boots (ok so snow boots wouldn't be an issue in florida!!), book bags from school, briefcase/computer bag, etc.

3. Walk in pantry with storage for not only food but all the extra stuff that doesn't fit in the kitchen like my large coffee pot, chaffing dishes for entertaining, assorted small appliances, etc.

4. Room in either the mud room or pantry for extra fridg.

5. A large dining room and a very small living room. I find the living room doesn't get used. Move the space to the dining room.

 

[mamaminnie]

Funny, no one has mentioned anything about hurricane safety. I'm in Palm Beach county and the first thing on my new list is hurricane proof glass or automatic shutters. I realized that central FL is at a lower risk but with this 10-year cycle they are talking about, I'd be thinking about it.

 

[John VN]

Funny, no one has mentioned anything about hurricane safety. I'm in Palm Beach county and the first thing on my new list is hurricane proof glass or automatic shutters. I realized that central FL is at a lower risk but with this 10-year cycle they are talking about, I'd be thinking about it.

The building codes are constantly being upgraded in Fl. ever since Andrew's devastation. The requirements in coastal areas are higher than inland and if a builder wishes to meet the higher codes when building in an area where it is not needed that is the choice of the builder.

If you plan on moving into an area where the houses are built by one or more builders you will need to choose from their models. 18 years ago we had a builder who built our house the way we wanted it built and many of the requests mentioned in previous posts are in our house. Just need to open your check book a little wider if the builder allows it and enjoy.

 

[Ali]

Make sure you put the rooms that have most people occupancy at night on the EAST side of the house! The sun sets in the west and the rooms on that side of the house get so hot! We have a great design now, with the garage, front door, hall bathroom, and 1 bedroom facing the west and those a minimally occupied at night so we don't sweat too much!

 

[the kabuki]

http://www.custombuilt.com/

Thanks for the link. Only problem with those from what I could see is that for custom built down there you're going to be paying the big bucks!

I guess I'm thinking of the builders' up here. They are somewhat between the huge corporate production builder's like Morrison, Lexington, etc and the custom builders' of 800k+ homes.

While the builders' in this area have models, certain floor plans, etc. they can also change and adapt certain areas of the house for the buyer.Move a wall here, add a extra shower, etc. Of course, they will charge extra for this, but it seems there is a bit more flexibility compared to the production builders' plans where you have A,B, or C optional plans and that's it.

 

[the kabuki]

Being a Nothwestern I bet attics don't work because of the termendous heat. Everything kept in an attic in FL would be burnt up!! And it would cost a fortune to cool the attic space.

Oops, didn't think of that. Of course the high temp today here is a balmy 35 degrees.

 

[Gillian]

Things I want in a house anywhere:

1. Laundry on the second floor - clothes, sheets, towels etc. are all used on the second floor.

2. Extra large "mud room" from the garage with built in organizational stuff (closet, shelves, hooks). Place to hang coats, put umbrellas, boots (ok so snow boots wouldn't be an issue in florida!!), book bags from school, briefcase/computer bag, etc.

3. Walk in pantry with storage for not only food but all the extra stuff that doesn't fit in the kitchen like my large coffee pot, chaffing dishes for entertaining, assorted small appliances, etc.

4. Room in either the mud room or pantry for extra fridg.

5. A large dining room and a very small living room. I find the living room doesn't get used. Move the space to the dining room.

1. I have laundry on the main floor off my kitchen & I love it! Yes, it sometimes gets a little messy, but it's a separate room with a door that I can close. Yes, I do have to lug laundry up & down the stairs, but I can also wash things at any time and still keep an eye on the kids, hang out with DH, etc. We don't have TVs upstairs or any relaxation space, so I'd be bored upstairs folding laundry.
-my kids are still little so we often get dressed/undressed downstairs so dirty stuff goes right in the laundry room. PJs go in a cabinet in the family room in the morning. just means we have to bring down clothes for the kids each morning. I'm sure this will end soon, but it works out well for our 5 & 2 year olds.
5. If I were to design a new home I'd go for a large kitchen with room for a big or expandable dining table and have an office/library instead of a dining room! At parties people always end up in the kitchen anyway, so why not just make sure there is room to eat there as well? Our table can seat ~8.

A mudroom or other place for coats purses & bookbags, walk in pantry and storage room (for suitcases & other large things) would be essential if no attic or basement storage.