I have been living around SRB and Destin for about a third of my life and purchased a few lots and sold them. Now I finally have one that I want to keep and build on hopefully in the very near future (End of the year or start of new year). I have been renting in the area for a long time and trying to find the right spot for me to finally settle out in and I guess this is it. I thought my buddy, who is also a local realtor, was going to kill me with all of the running around we did for the past while trying to find just the right thing Haha.
Anyway, this will be my first house that i have had built and I have so many ideas of things that I want in a home. Some are completely unrealistic due to me not wanting to spend a magnificent amount of money, some just don't go well with the rest of my ideas due to wanting little pieces of local styles. Too much going on in my mind! Everything is so exciting to me about the planning of this and getting something that I want instead of buying something that I only like the majority of. My property being located right across the street from the bay, I am wanting to build elevated so that I have decent bay views if possible and also having under house parking and storage. I don't need anything really big (1200-1500sq/ft) as I am gone the majority of the time due to working on ships offshore and the fact that when I am home I am rarely in the house. I am always outside enjoying the local scenery and beaches, kayaking, fishing, diving, spearfishing, blah blah blah. I mainly use a house as a place to eat and sleep lol.
Basically the reason for posting this is:
1) I would like to hear some tips and advice from people who have been through this process before to help streamline it, keep it fairly simple, and not blow through budgets as I don't want to be that guy who has way more than he anticipated.
2) I really like the elevated look on bay style houses and would like to know if anyone has any ideas that I may be overlooking as far as styling? I want an elevated house with porches, possibly having the aesthetic supports on the underside of them to be similar to the watercolor styling or something like that... Any other ideas people may have that I could consider are greatly appreciated!
3) I am supposed to be meeting with an architect when I get home from this trip on the ship to discuss some options. Is there anything I should have ready to help him with his job that I can have upfront (My time home is precious to me so Im not a fan of running around wasting time doing things that I could have done while I was out here.). I assume that architecture work is a creative skill or an art so I feel that I should give them a decent amount of creative freedom. Does that sound right?
4)What should I look for in a builder? How many should I get bids from? What if the bids have large varying prices? Is a bid a final cost or an estimation? Where do I find some of the local builders?
5) Anything else that one of you home builders may have to add in that I may overlook as a first timer in this game.
Thanks in advance if you made it through this lengthy post and still managed a response! haha
Anyway, this will be my first house that i have had built and I have so many ideas of things that I want in a home. Some are completely unrealistic due to me not wanting to spend a magnificent amount of money, some just don't go well with the rest of my ideas due to wanting little pieces of local styles. Too much going on in my mind! Everything is so exciting to me about the planning of this and getting something that I want instead of buying something that I only like the majority of. My property being located right across the street from the bay, I am wanting to build elevated so that I have decent bay views if possible and also having under house parking and storage. I don't need anything really big (1200-1500sq/ft) as I am gone the majority of the time due to working on ships offshore and the fact that when I am home I am rarely in the house. I am always outside enjoying the local scenery and beaches, kayaking, fishing, diving, spearfishing, blah blah blah. I mainly use a house as a place to eat and sleep lol.
Basically the reason for posting this is:
1) I would like to hear some tips and advice from people who have been through this process before to help streamline it, keep it fairly simple, and not blow through budgets as I don't want to be that guy who has way more than he anticipated.
2) I really like the elevated look on bay style houses and would like to know if anyone has any ideas that I may be overlooking as far as styling? I want an elevated house with porches, possibly having the aesthetic supports on the underside of them to be similar to the watercolor styling or something like that... Any other ideas people may have that I could consider are greatly appreciated!
3) I am supposed to be meeting with an architect when I get home from this trip on the ship to discuss some options. Is there anything I should have ready to help him with his job that I can have upfront (My time home is precious to me so Im not a fan of running around wasting time doing things that I could have done while I was out here.). I assume that architecture work is a creative skill or an art so I feel that I should give them a decent amount of creative freedom. Does that sound right?
4)What should I look for in a builder? How many should I get bids from? What if the bids have large varying prices? Is a bid a final cost or an estimation? Where do I find some of the local builders?
5) Anything else that one of you home builders may have to add in that I may overlook as a first timer in this game.
Thanks in advance if you made it through this lengthy post and still managed a response! haha