Durham is Happening and Making

We are fortunate to sit in what is now one of the most recognizable buildings in downtown, gazing through our windows at a city that is “happening”. Last weekend I visited The Parlour which serves up some incredible ice cream. As of April 3 their food truck spawned a permanent downtown storefront as Durham’s population has grown to fuel abundant non-chain business. I’ve also been enjoying a regular caffeine boost from Cocoa Cinnamon who has a similar story. With downtown booming and the surrounding areas feeding off the energy, the city is glistening.

Two weeks ago at the Rock & Shop Market, it was reassuring to see the talent available among North Carolina residents. People still know how to make things. If you ever come to question it, go visit Elijah Leed in Liberty Arts. From American Tobacco to the Hosiery Mills to the packaging plant at Golden Belt, Durham has a history of making things.

Our city is shining in the national spotlight. We just won the South’s Tastiest Town award from Southern Living magazine and were featured in the New York Times’ 36 Hours series. Both point out we are talented people with great taste and a drive to support each other's endeavors.

Just yesterday after originally typing this blog, we learned that the Durham Chamber won Best Unconventional Project in the world (yes, in the world) from the International Chamber of Commerce World Chambers Federation Competition for the Smoffice – World’s Smallest Office concept.

There are questions of whether Durham will keep its small town quirkiness as it continues to grow. How do we manage it? We show up. We frequent downtown and surrounding venues, we go to a show at Motorco and a movie at the Carolina Theatre, we depend on the Farmers’ Market frequently. We challenge everything that isn’t serving the community and we support everything that does.

Where will BuildSense be? You’ll find us right here under our turbines on Rigsbee, encouraging the growth, the creativity, the making of things, and the support of our local community.

What's "Happening":
www.southernliving.com/travel/tastiest-town-durham-north-carolina-00417000082305
www.travel.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/travel/36-hours-in-durham-nc.html
http://durhamchamber.org/blog/the-smoffice-wins
www.designsponge.com/2012/11/durham-north-carolina-guide
www.theparlourdurham.com
www.cocoacinnamon.com
www.rockandshopmarket.com
www.elijahleed.com
www.motorcomusic.com
www.carolinatheatre.org
www.durhamfarmersmarket.com

Green Homes and Baseball?? Huh??

I was recently at a Durham Bulls game and got wrapped up in a discussion of the statistics that dominate the sport. Armed with all that information, one still cannot predict the outcome of the game. There are too many variables. A consistent hitter may have an off night. Some nobody jacks a grand slam. Who would have known the flu went through the clubhouse and all the stars are sick? We often get the question, “How much does a green house cost?” Like the baseball game, armed with the statistics from all the world’s green design and build, one may provide the cost of “a green house.” However, what about all the variables that your team, your family, brings to the game? How does one put a price on “your green home?” That can only be achieved once the plethora of variables has been qualified with you. Where is the site? What’s the program? What are the most important spaces for you and your family? Is there a basement or garage? Are you interested in energy efficiency, water efficiency, or resource efficiency? Do you wish to pursue clean energy generation? This list goes on for quite a while. Designing and building your custom home can be overwhelming and exhausting at times, but the result and reward of personal comfort is worth the effort. The great thing about custom building is just that: it is custom. We help to craft a custom home that is a reflection of you and your values. We can provide you with a wealth of design options and input to make your home all that you want and need. Something to ponder at your next baseball game. Enjoy the Spring!

Little Helpers

During a recent home improvement project I was impressed by my children’s interest in helping. They were highly motivated and very helpful, which is not always the case when it comes to helping out around the house. Their interest did not fade after the first 30 minutes; they stuck to it for days and are still involved. 

This got me thinking about the importance of children working with their hands and being involved in projects. In this digital era, being involved in producing something three- dimensional by hand is becoming a rare experience. Obviously, as a builder, I am a little biased on the value of working with your hands. There are many benefits to getting your hands dirty. First and most important, it can be fun. Children and adults can benefit by learning a new skill and completing a project. The experience of working on a specific task can help them become better problem solvers. They may be able to use some of the skills they learn to apply to other projects. Instant gratification is often associated with digital entertainment. It is also prevalent in many building projects. Children get immediate results and can see the progress of their hard work. There are many more benefits of building and working on projects, and almost all of them boost self- confidence, yet another reason for children to get their hands dirty.

So the next time you have to work in the garden, put down a new kitchen floor, or some other project around the house, don’t hesitate to invite your children to help. They may just find an exciting alternative to the tablet, computer, or TV. They will have a great time completing a project with their grown-up, and gain skills, self-confidence and a sense of pride and accomplishment in a job well done.

Always make sure that the project is safe and appropriate for the age of the child.

Home That Grows

When building or buying a home, you probably have a wish list. Whether you are drawn to the home due to its overall aesthetic or location you may fall short of some of the items listed. As your family and finances grow, why not allow for your house to grow alongside. When buying or building a house there are a few things that you can look for to assure you that your design can adapt with you.

During the search or design of your new home the floor plan plays a key role in the future ability for growth. Unfinished basements and attics with connections to the outside with comfortable overhead clearance are perfect for later adding space. This approach is the easiest and most cost effective as it allows you to grow your space without building new space outside the envelope of your existing home.

When remodeling or adding on it is best to maintain the integrity of your existing home, making sure that the work enhances the overall plan rather than detracting from what is there. The floor plan’s adjacencies to other rooms as well as to the outside can make for a seamless expansion of space. Floor plans and sites that allow for clear circulation to the addition are key. For example a bathroom, closet or laundry room at the end of a hallway on an exterior wall would be a great place to add onto. This will maintain a clear circulation path to the new addition.

So remember when you are out on the hunt for your next home do not get discouraged if it does not meet every criteria on your list. Simply select a design that can grow alongside you and your family.

Generators: Another Source of Comfort and Security

Generators! I love generators. They can really make life simple when life gets difficult due to adverse weather, local earthwork, a vehicle running into a power pole, or even routine service. Very hot days and very cold days may cause a power utility to “brown out” a neighborhood. I have lived in many climate zones and have lost power for many reasons. Some of my homes had provisions for temporary power but most did not.

Recently a client called. “John, I hate to be a bother, but the power in our new home is acting weird. Only about half of our electrical fixtures are working. I have walked the entire home and it is weird.” This had happen to my home just a few weeks earlier, but I thought there was no way it could have been the same problem of an old underground line being corroded. This was a brand new home we recently completed. I had supervised the install of all the utilities at their home. I asked if they had had any other underground work done since moving in and the answer was no. Almost as an afterthought she added: “It seems everything we need is running but a lot of circuits are not.”

Ah hah! My old gray mind finally clicked. Was the generator running, I asked? She could not hear it. I asked that she check and, sure enough, it was quietly purring away. Sweet!

Because the home network and computers were on the generator powered circuits, she was able to bring up the website for the power utility and discovered an outage had been reported. She was amazed that it was so simple. The security system did not issue a peep. The switch over was so quick and seamless that she had not noticed the change. This was a comfort for her and she was able to go back to work, telecommuting.

While recently attending the International Builders Show, I spoke to Generac, a leading manufacture of generators, to learn about whole house generator coverage. It’s a challenge, because you want strike a balance between cost, complexity and benefit. Generac has a new Nexus breaker panel that does the trick. It can handle up to 6 large 220 circuits. In effect, it manages large loads and the starting of big motors  such as heating elements, air conditioning, well pumps, septic pumps, electric stoves, or water heaters. It allows only one or two of these to start or operate at the same time, essentially managing the house loads and telling the generator how hard to work. In the homes we design and build, the remaining electrical loads are generally light. CFL and LED lighting use tiny amounts of energy. Energy star appliances sip energy. WaterSense fixtures use less water allowing well and septic pumps to work less. What that means is that the same generator that is usually specified for partial home coverage may service an entire BuildSense or other energy efficient home.

What Does the Builder Want?

That is the most important thing, isn’t it? Or, wait, maybe not. Shouldn’t your choices drive your project? A loosely designed and defined and unspecified project delivers what the builder wants. A thoughtfully and thoroughly designed and fully specified project delivers what you want. It’s as simple as that. Odds are there will not be full alignment of goals between you and your builder. Some cases may be closer than others, but the likelihood of perfect alignment is slim to none.

I’ve heard people say many times that specifications drive up cost. This is absolutely true. Here, the old adage you get what you pay for applies. Take windows, for example. There are a vast array of choices that cover the gamut of finishes, color, performance, durability, glazing, cost, and materials. If performance (sun-tempered house), exterior color (red), and materials (wood interior) are most important to you and durability (limited warranty effort) and cost (keep the bid low) are most important to the builder, you have a discrepancy and a problem if your choice is not specified. Just as it is your choice whether you spend your money on a BMW or a Ford Fiesta, it is your choice whether you buy high-end clad wood windows or vinyl windows. A high performance BMW costs about 500% (yup) more than a Ford Fiesta. The range for window cost is just as extreme.

When price shopping, it is impossible to have apples-to-apples cost information without thorough plans and full specifications - Period. How can you place a price tag on a project if you don’t know what you are pricing? I’ve heard countless times from owners and builders that a basic plan and elevations (schematic level design) are sufficient for pricing, permitting, and building. This is absolutely not true. One of my many favorite examples of this desperate and unfortunate process is pricing without a power and lighting plan. We find that our clients are quite particular (and rightly so) about lighting locations and fixtures, switching, power locations, data locations, media locations, security systems, and audio systems. To include the cheapest code standard power and lighting plan and Home Depot chic fixtures in a custom house is generally a fundamental misunderstanding of your wishes. If what you want (not what the builder wants) is three times the work and three times the cost of a code standard plan and a code standard plan is included in the contract, you have a discrepancy and a big cost problem during construction. Again, the solution is to design and specify what you want.

Your choices may very well cost more than the code standard and they will likely cost more than the builder’s choices. This is one part of the significant value of design. Your project. Your choices. Your money.

Building Exteriors General Rule: Don’t Transition Materials or Colors at Outside Corners

I encourage all designers to make use of three-dimensional modeling tools (electronic or physical) because we happen to live in a three-dimensional world. We build volumes and inhabit space. It is unfortunate that architectural “elevations” are drawn as flat planes representing one face of a building without perspective. This among other factors, such as an emphasis on the building “Front” and reduction of the other elevations to only sides and back, has resulted in some basic neglect of how a building should be finished. Along the line, there was a loss in translation when a set of construction drawings of a building that was not a perfect square or rectangle became only four elevations and a plan. Where a builder saw brick, he placed brick. Where he saw wood, he placed wood. However, since the drawings did not convey every face of the three-dimensional building, he elected to use the less expensive wood material where there was no indication. The brick transitioned to wood around an outside corner. So what was intended to be a solid brick volume became a plane of brick on the front of a volume. Eventually, this became an acceptable norm of the building industry. Now we have entire neighborhoods showcasing brick and stone veneers along the “front” or streetside elevation, but nowhere else. Sometimes there will even be an extruded bay or gable area faced in a different brick or stone or other material which also does not turn the corner for a few feet. Does that look better? Did it even save any money? Look at the building in three-dimensions. Show the hidden elevations in the drawings so all materials are clearly annotated. Clearly indicate that no materials should transition at an outside corner. Many of these buildings would look better without brick or stone, but simply with a good paint scheme that displays them as volumes and not planes. As such, it is also good to indicate that paint colors should not transition at an outside corner. Happy designing and building!

Random location for material transition plainly looks bad

Even higher quality homes exhibit the "front" elevation syndrome.

These extruded bays with full material wrap appear as solid volumes and look complete.

Here, stone transitions to siding along the same flat plan. Increasing the plan area by extruding the stone faced wall 24" or so and returning the stone material on both sides would have provided a complete volume feeling as indicated in the photo above.