Florida House Builder - looking for ideas

[palmnut]

Hi
I work for a house building company in Central Florida, and we are looking for ideas. If you were buying a house in Florida what is something new or unique you would like to see more of in a Florida house or something that would make you choose one house over another. Likes and dislikes etc. Any and all ideas are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[TeenaS]

Well, here's my opinion:
We built a home here two years ago, moving here from Pennsylvania. The only thing I really really miss is my basement where I could store stuff like xmas decorations, luggage, our second refrigerator, our freezer, everything that people put in basements. Oh, and the cat litter box too. Now the two litter boxes are in the laundry room which is the normal size laundry room in most houses and between the washer, dryer and litter boxes, you can barely walk thru it into the garage. Then of course the cats track the litter into the kitchen, etc. We have a two car garage which we actually keep our two cars in (barely) plus the second refrigerator and our upright freezer. We also went with a fourth bedroom for storage but in all honesty I would have preferred a three car garage, a super huge laundry room besides the fourth bedroom. So in order of preference, if I had to do it over again, this is what I consider the most important:
(1) super large laundry room to hold litter boxes, washer, dryer, all cleaning supplies, second refrigerator and upright freezer.
(2) three car garage to hold two cars and lawn mower, ladders, usual garage stuff like bikes, etc.
(3) although we have it already, you definitely want a guest bedroom with it's own bathroom because you will have loads of guests if you are living near Disney World and having to keep the kids' bathroom nice enough (remove the toys, or in case of a teenager, all their makeup and beauty supplies) for guests to use too is super hard! We are soooo glad we built four bedrooms (although one is used strictly as storage) and three full baths because who knew we'd get so many guests!!!!

Hope that helped.

 

[isla bonita]

We had a home built a year and a half ago. The points I would suggest are
1 a covered lania
2 a large desk area for lounges
3 a rest room close the the pool area with out having to go thru the whole common space
4 Large closets for storage remember no cellars
5 tile thru out
hope this was what you were looking for

 

[fran99999]

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?

 

[Kay1]

Something designed for energy efficiency so we can get a break from the tremendous cooling bills. I'd also like something without the California-style eaves that make it so easy for wind to lift the roof off during storms.

 

[znjmom]

Palmnut,

I too work for a building contractor here in Central Florida!! There's lots of them!!

We just moved here from NY this summer and we love our screened in lanai. Oh, and love the split floorplan. We also have a little room off the back of the laundry room(where the hot water heater is) that is a great storage bonus area!!

If you need a pool my husband is in the pool business!!!

Enjoy all of the decisions that you have to make!!

 

[ducklite]

We had a home built a couple years ago, it includes most of the features the two earlier posters said they wanted. (door from lanai to the guest bath, three car garage, ample closet space, three full baths, covered lanai, lots of tile--we chose not to tile the entire house, etc.) So those homes do exist, and for fran99999, if the builder was a true custom builder, unless there was a code problem, he should have built the house the way they wanted it. I suspect they weren't true custom.

I'll tell you what people want--custom built homes at an affordable price. There are a TON of production builders building cookie cutter neighborhoods in this area--Lennar/US Homes, Morrison, Mercedes, Engle to name just a few, but few custom builders. We had seen a couple models that we loved, but the production builders wouldn't make minor modifications, so we went true custom and paid dearly for it. Of course we got exactly the house we wanted, and I have very few things I would have done differently.

A production builder who will make limited modifications seems to be something that's missing, and a big price point difference between production and custom exists that could be split down the middle by a hybrid builder.

Anne

 

[canwegosoon]

I am building a house here, and I am investigating net metering. I don't know if it would be pratical in FL...the solar panels/shingels...but energy conserversation and green building is big for me. Also anti allergin homes and materials.
I love a Butler's Pantry and I love the old walk in pantrys(since I am a bulk shopper), and like 2 means of access to main rooms to help with circulation of guests(and air). And anything easy maintenance is always a big hit. Finally I love a den on the 1st floor that has bath access with an exterior access...great for many reasons-inlaw, office, handicapped access bedroom.
Good luck

 

[SusanD]

At one time we thought that moving to central Florida might happen. During that time I looked at many floor plans. Here is what I determined was important to me:

1) A kitchen must have exterior windows, not be in the center of the house.

2) A master suite needs to be a modest size and not one side of the house.

3) A laundry room should be next to the kitchen.

4) A house should have a pantry that could also double as a "safe room" in cases of hurricanes.

5) Houses should look like houses and not like garages with houses tacked on. (I don't like garages to be visible from the front.)

 

[threeboysmom]

I'll tell you what people want--custom built homes at an affordable price. There are a TON of production builders building cookie cutter neighborhoods in this area--Lennar/US Homes, Morrison, Mercedes, Engle to name just a few, but few custom builders.

Anne

Anne hit the nail on the head. That's definitely what you need to look into - true custom-built homes - a rare thing in Florida for some reason. (Big sister here - hi Palmnut! )

 

[palmnut]

Thanks for all the GREAT ideas! Keep them coming : )

 

[gottaluvdis]

My in-laws live in a very nice neighborhood in Sebring (on a golf course). They built their house 12 years ago the way they wanted it. They have a 2+ car garage (2 cars plus golf cart) with a small workshop area to the rear of the golf cart garage. They have an attic for storage. They have a regular size pool and jacuzzi with a built in bar and a 3/4 bathroom (not attached to the rest of the house), all caged in out back. They have a separate room on the back of the house for the pool filter, utilities etc. (outside of the caged area). Their guest bedroom is off the kitchen. The guest bath is also off the kitchen, nearby. Three other bedrooms are on the other side of the house with another 3/4 bath, plus a den, dining room, large open living room with double sliders to the back and large kitchen with island/eat-in bar area. They have a walk-in pantry off the kitchen and a good size laundry room between the garage and kitchen. They decided not to put in any bathtubs, which was difficult when DD9 was a baby. We ended up bathing her in the laudry room tub sink. This would pretty much be my ideal house if I were to move down south, but I would still miss our basement(s). We have 2 basements because we added one under our added on family room that we equipped with a small garage door. We use that basement for our lawn tractor, snow blower, deck furniture etc. Of course many of these items we wouldn't need in Florida! My in laws have someone do their lawn etc. They handle the pool themselves though.

 

[da-winnie-pooh]

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

 

[ducklite]

You're going to have a very hard time getting financing to build the way you are looking to build. Most lenders will absolutely not finance that type of construction project.

As far as a minimum price it depends on where you are looking to build, and what type of overall square footage you require, as well as the quality of the supplies and workmanship.

You *might* be able to find something in the $175K range, not including land, sewer/water/power hookups, etc. Where did you buy the land, is it buildable/properly zoned, etc.?

The bank relies on the appriser to do inspections and pay draws, and they won't be paid until certain work is done. The builder generally wont allow you to be doing any work in the property until what they are contracted to do is complete an they've been paid. As far as appliances, the stove has to be installed, but the fridge, etc. can be added by you. Much of it depends ont eh bank.

In your case you'd be best off talking to a lender, getting prequalified, and finding out what you can and can't do. They might be able to help you find a builder as well.

Anne

 

[da-winnie-pooh]

We're not planning to finance. We have a good bit of equity in our current home, and some savings, so we're mainly trying to find out if it's do-able. The land is buildable and zoned, we're just trying to figure out what to do next.

 

[ducklite]

So do you actually want to GC the project yourself? Or do you want to hire a GC to manage the project and sub out the things you can't do yourself? That would be the route I would take, and make sure that the contract states that he is respobsible for carrying a builders risk policy and making sure all sub's are licensed and insured, and that all liens are released.

In all honesty the first thing I'd do in your case is hire a real estate attorney who has worked on new construction in the past. S/he can advise you on next steps. Then go to the Home Builders Association in the county your property is in for some referrals.

Anne

 

[tarheelmjfan]

At one time we thought that moving to central Florida might happen. During that time I looked at many floor plans. Here is what I determined was important to me:

1) A kitchen must have exterior windows, not be in the center of the house.

If you ever decide to build here, you may want to rethink that. My living room has sliding doors with an arched window above it. It feels like an oven in here, when the sun comes in. I can't imagine combining this with the heat normally created when cooking. We have blinds & thick curtains on our bedroom windows to keep the sun & heat out. If you had it on a side of the house that got little direct sun & was shaded really well, it may work though.

 

[ducklite]

Here's a couple things we have in our house which have either saved us a lot of money or a lot of headaches:

1. Tubes in the Walls and Tubes in the Slab
2. Radiant Roof Barrier--kept a/c bills quite low this summer.
3. Irrigation system uses reclaimed water
4. All rooms except kitchen, LR, and DR prewired for ceiling fan with switch on wall, and ceiling fan brace installed on beam so only required removal of cap to hang fan.
5. Hand held sprayer on soaking tub, makes cleanup a breeze.

I'm sure I'll think of more...

Anne

 

[da-winnie-pooh]

Thanks, Anne.

 

[TinkerPixxie]

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.

And whatever happened to dumbwaiters?? Ok I sound lazy I realize this lol
But a large dumbwaiter to send up cleaning supplies, clean laundry, the toiletries that go up after a grocery shopping.
Imagine dh or dw relaxing upstairs and you happen to be the one downstairs, and he/she calls you on the intercome to ask if you might be kind enough to bring up small snack when you come back, hey but your not ready to go upstairs just yet, your still busy and now almost annoyed at the idea of walking back up the stairs at that moment, so what do you want?? Thats right people a dumbwaiter . Because your probably already downstairs doing the LAUNDRY that you had earlier sent down the LAUNDRY SHUTE!

Tink~