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Why Hire a House Architect? 10 Reasons

June 19th, 2010

One main reason to hire a house architect is: you will receive a better design and ultimately a better house because of having that better design.

What constitutes “better design?”  Well, how about these considerations:

1.  A FLOOR PLAN THAT WAS CAREFULLY CONCEIVED TO PARALLEL YOUR DESIRED LIFESTYLE: The spaces you want, the arrangement of them and their size and features for your maximum convenience, comfort, and functionality.

2.  VIEWS: Real architects carefully plan their clients’ homes to take advantage of the special views on that acreage that they bought for their dream home.   If you have ever seen a home that ignored its site’s views, you will understand.  Such inattention to spectacular views borders on the criminal, from the perspective of a talented residential architect.  No self-respecting architect would ignore the wonderful vistas that you have on your land.  Your architect wants you to enjoy the views that charmed you enough to buy the land, through the windows and porches built to house you and your family.

3.  ENERGY CONSERVATION / HEALTHIER HOME: Real architects are sensitive to energy efficiency and will design your residence with higher quality air-conditioning equipment, higher R-values for your insulation, better windows and doors, better roofing, Energy Star appliances and hot water heaters, and other features relating to the path of the sun and winds around your house, resulting in less expenditures from you to your utility companies.  This helps your pocketbook over decades.  Now that’s a real lasting value that increases your comfort and lowers your monthly bills, attributable to your hiring an architect to design your house.  Real architects are also knowledgeable and sensitive to products and systems that are healthier for your family.  For instance, specifying construction materials with little to no off-gassing of vapors that could have effects on your breathing or other life functions.  Also, specifying air-conditioning systems with cleaner air machinery so that your children and other family members breathe cleaner air.

4.  DURABILITY: Architects typically want you and your residence to have good quality components that will last a long time.  Quality and durability are part of an architect’s training.

5. VALUE ENGINEERING: Some architects, like Rand Soellner HOME ARCHITECTS TM regularly build Value Engineering into every residence and other projects they create.  This results in their clients receiving the highest quality for just about everything, at the least cost.  It entails a rigorous examination of nearly every aspect of your project in terms of range of cost versus features and benefits.  Nothing is taken for granted, and you are the one that makes the choices as to what you wish to pay for in your house.

6.  LOGICAL & PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS & ADVICE TO YOU, RESULTING IN MAJOR COST SAVINGS: Most real architects seriously consider client wishes and then report to their clients the pros and cons of various options.  You make the choice; it’s your house but your architect will provide you with wise counsel as to what makes sense and what does not.  This advice can save you from wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that you may have thought was insignificant, but which your architect understands in greater depth.

7.  CONTROL: Your architect puts you in control of your new home.  Not your builder, not your designer, not your Realtor.  You.  And that’s where you want the control.  You are going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (or even more, if a normal sized residence) and you should feel confident and be the one making the decisions that impact your costs and features that you will enjoy for decades to come.  Your architect has no particular axe to grind on your project, particularly an older, well-seasoned architect who has the experience to have “done it all,” and not have any agenda other that to make you happy with the house you want.  Your architect will help you understand what others on your project are doing and how your money is being spent.  They  will help you start out in control and stay in control, throughout the entire process.  Now that is worth having your architect involved from start of design to completion of construction.

8.  SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING WORTHWHILE AND SPECIAL: An architect elevates a mere house into the art of becoming “your home.”  Your architect makes sure that it incorporates all of your wishes including your functional and aesthetic preferences, and perhaps some of the architect’s particular style as well, which is probably one of the reasons you engaged him or her in the first place: you liked how their projects looked.  Architecture is the combination of Art and Technology.

9.  A HOME THAT LOOKS GOOD AND WORKS WELL/TRAINING: Your architect will make sure that your home looks good and works well.  That is part of their training and their “religion.”  Those abilities are part of what helped them excel and graduate from a major accredited university, typically with honors, and helped them pass a multiple-day grueling in-person exam to become licensed.  It is also what allowed them to obtain years of internship with other experience architects looking over their shoulders, critiquing their every move.

10.  LICENSURE/ PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS: Your residential architects must be licensed in at least one state in the United States in order to even call themselves architects.  Mere “residential designers” have no requirements whatsover and have absolutely no oversight from any official agency watching what they are doing for or to you.  Real Architects have to take CEUs (Continuing Education Units) each year in order to remain licensed, continually updating their knowledge about architecture in the world of today.  The states in which they are licensed monitor their activities.  Architects, like Rand Soellner, that also belong to organizations like the AIA (American Institute of Architects) and the NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Boards), have additional requirements further polishing their abilities and credentials and subjecting themselves to even greater scrutiny and higher professional standards.  That is the sort of professional you want designing the very thing in which you and your family live, isn’t it?

Why hire a house architect source of information:

Rand Soellner Architect: 1-828-269-9046
http://www.HomeArchitects.com

tags: why hire a house architect, cashiers, north carolina, greenville, asheville, timber frame, log home, custom, cottage, mountain, luxury, green, healthy, oklahoma, las vegas, chicago, atlanta, hendersonville, rosman, charlotte, orlando, newnan, fresno, canada, denver, telluride, aspen, colorado, rocky.

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Timeless Custom Home Designs

June 17th, 2010

Once in awhile, clients ask Rand Soellner what “timeless custom home designs” means.   Rand’s definition of timeless is: “not of any particular period, era or style, but  rather a quality house design that evokes a feeling that it could have been designed and built a century ago or a century in the future.”

Today’s conveniences are provided within the timeless designs in each custom home.

Of course, Soellner houses have all of today’s comforts and conveniences: the latest appliances, the most efficient and energy-efficient heating and air-conditioning systems, built-in whole-house vacuum systems, double-pane glass, the latest communications systems, and many other features that provide convenience to their proud owners.

The idea behind Soellner’s timeless aesthetic is really to include features that their clients have come to know and expect from them, while avoiding the temptation to use trendy stylistic “popular” elements that may seem appealing today, but in a few short months appear dated and obviously from a given bygone era.  For instance, doesn’t everyone know what decade “avocado green” and “harvest gold” came from?  (Hint: 1960′s, early 70′s).  No self-respecting owner would be caught with such a palette in their kitchens today.  While designers in that era were immersed in that rather camp and kitschy trend, those that yielded to that stylistic influence suffered the fate of being called passe only a few years later, which forced their hapless clients to have to update their houses or appear outdated.

Rand Soellner Architect doesn’t believe that his clients should have to update anything within just a few short years, because their designers wanted to conform to some current stylistic “trend.”   Soellner believes it is better to have evolved his own palette of timeless features that are just about impossible to date as belonging to any particular decade or even century.  True design quality endures and stands the test of time.

They constantly update their features, appliances, insulation, glass, doors, windows, roofing, siding, foundations and other elements to insure that clients receive some of the best technology available for their residences today.  However, the timeless artistic features used cannot be attributed to any precise “trend.”

Many of Soellner’s clients inform him that they never intend to sell their house that he is designing for them and that they intend to live out the rest of their days there.  This makes it even more important to arrive at a timeless design aesthetic that can last.  That’s another reason Soellner also specifies materials that should last, like special tiles and grouts in which mold and mildew cannot grow.  This is just one example of the rigorous functional attributes of this timeless design philosophy.

Soellner also uses special roofing underlayment that is much more substantial than the tar paper typically used by others.  Soellner’s specified underlayment is much thicker and more elastic and long-lasting and seals around the thousands of penetrations made while your builder is attaching shingles and other exposed roofing materials to your roof.  The added price to your construction cost is minimal, but the impact on avoiding leaks is lifelong.  Now that’s a wonderful timeless feature to have in a house in which you intend to spend the rest of your life.  So, it is not all just about aesthetics, although a substantial portion of the timeless approach does have to do with how your residence appears.  After all, that is one of the reasons clients come to him: for the special “look” of his designs.  Most clients find it beneficial to discover that beneath the appearance lies solid, dependable technologies at work for them that are durable as well.

If you believe that trendy designs are not for you, and you want a residence designed for you that stands the test of time, decade after decade, you may wish to consider contacting the Soellner firm.

Contact for timeless custom designs:

Rand Soellner Architect
rand@homearchitects.com
1-828-269-9046

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Please Let Us Help You with Your House Project

June 4th, 2010

It’s what we do: design houses.  We also create modification drawings and specifications for house renovations and remodeling.  Once in a while we get a call from someone asking about us building their residence.  Rand Soellner is an architect.  That means: we mainly design, not build.  Our specialty happens to be the design of houses.

Contractors build.  An architect designs the project, drawing and specifying the layout and materials the builder is supposed to use when constructing your residence.  That’s the general way of things in the architectural and construction world.  We have teamed with contractors often in the past, to create Design-Build teams in which a closely-knit group of both design and construction professionals work together to meet our mutual client’s objectives.

We are here, ready to help you with your residential design needs, however you would like to engage us.  Sometime clients feel that the modest nature of their project is not something that we would consider.  That is not correct.  We will work on just about any project, anywhere, whether it is a new residence of a large size, medium, or small.  We also design additions, which are generally part of a remodeling, being accomplished to an existing residence.

We enjoy what we do and are eager to help you wherever your project may be located.  That’s another issue we try to explain.  Because we are housing design specialists, we have a broader area in which we work : the world, all of the United States, North America, or wherever you are.  That’s right.  We are interested in your house design project anywhere in the world.

We design small cottages in the woods, as guest quarters, or as your new down-sized house.  We also create medium-sized suburban houses in conventional neighborhoods, when clients just can’t seem to find what they want from any other source.  They come to us and we help them by creating a design that is a better fit for their functional and aesthetic objectives.  We also custom-craft large estate houses, family villages and even castles, if that is what you want.  And don’t forget the revisions and renovations to all of those; we do it all.

We know that you might think that perhaps you should look to your local designers or another architect in your town.  If you really like their design work, fine, do that.  However, if you believe that your local pool of talent can mimic what we do overnight; that may not happen to your satisfaction, unless they have been doing it for decades.  Especially if quality residential design is not what they have been doing most of their lives like Rand Soellner Architect.  It pays to hire the specialist, who will do the best job for you.  Would you hire a doctor who specializes in wrist surgeries to handle a respiratory problem?  Of course not.  Sometimes you might have to go a farther distance to find just the right professional to handle your situation.  I suppose you could call us the “house doctors.”  That’s why we work all over the USA.

Please give us a call or e-mail and let’s talk about it.

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Mid 2010 New Home Market Recovering

May 30th, 2010

Sales of new single-family houses in April 2010 showed a 47.8% increase above the April 2009 estimate.

This positive news is per a May 26, 2010 U.S. Census Bureau report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, authored by Erica Filipek and/or Stephen Cooper, Manufacturing and Construction Division.

According to the Census Bureau’s statistics, this represents a 14.8% increase in sales above the revised March annual projected rate of 439,000 up to 504,000 adjusted annual projected sales.  The figures in either the HUD reports or in the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) reports need to be looked at carefully, especially the footnotes.

One might be inclined to think that the numbers show month to month sales, when much of the data is reflecting estimate Annual sales.  Still, this is cause for celebration for America’s housing economy.

3 Documented, Reliable Sources of Information for the Mid 2010 New Home Market Recovery in America:

1.  This is consistent with Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies projection from about a month ago, which indicated that the housing market will be heating up during the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2010, for the first time in a couple of years, indicative of a trend upwards.

2.  This is further supported by billionaire Warren Buffett‘s February 2010 estimate, that by “this time next year,” the current housing problems “should largely be behind us.”   Buffett was referring to the over-supply of new houses built and for sale on the market in February of 2010, and his opinion that during the rest of 2010, these residences would be purchased by bargain hunters.  It appears that this is underway, and when this task is accomplished, America can once again resume building new houses and be back on track for a normal housing economy.

3.  And now, the HUD/U.S. Census Bureau‘s data indicates an emerging recovery in sales of new houses.

HUD further indicates that these numbers represent a supply of only 5.0 months of new single family houses at the current rate of consumption.  This stands in stark contrast to the devastating 12.1 months of supply at January 2009, which meant that builders of new houses could stand around a year or more, waiting for their newly built residences to sell back.  As a result of the January 2009 over supply, and the over supply that existed for at least a year (pre-Jan. 2008) prior to that, America’s new housing construction came to a virtual standstill, contributing to the severe retraction of the U.S. housing economy, along with other factors.

If one examines this latest report from HUD, you can see that the Month’s Supply of new single family houses has been steadily declining since January 2009.  Here is an excerpt from the table, starting from January 2009, leading up to April 2010:

12.1    Jan 2009
10.6
10.7
10.6  April 2009
9.5
8.5
7.9
7.8
8.0   Jan 2010
8.2
6.2
5.0  April 2010

So what this means is that the glut of new residences sitting, waiting forlornly to be bought, due to over-building is gradually being consumed because the supply of them is gradually deceasing.

If there is any validity in statistical trends, then it appears that America’s free market system is in the process of repairing itself, at least in the new housing market.  It has been painful and will continue to be the case, for many people.  It appears that the end may be in sight, however, and that is a good thing.

Rand Soellner Architect has proposed a Housing Supply Warning System to the current administration, that would alert residential builders, investors, state and local governmental agencies, like local building departments, of trends in the U.S. residential economy, particularly related to the Supply of homes versus Demand.  In situations where the Demand exceeds Supply (a good thing for our economy), the proposed warning system (sort of like the Homeland Security green, yellow, and red) would be green.  This would mean: things look okay, proceed.  Yellow would mean: there appears to be a trend emerging in which the level of Supply is at or possibly beginning to exceed demand, which means that your newly built house might sit on the market for a 2 to 4 months before selling.  Red would mean: Stop!  Do not build this single family house right now, unless you personally intend to live in it. The Demand is far less than current Supply, which means that if you intend to sell this investment, it could be on the market for a year or more.  Unfortunately, this Housing Economy Warning System does not exist right now.  We are all left to inform ourselves and this website attempts to provide some level of information in that regard.

For people planning on having a new house designed and built, RIGHT NOW, TODAY may be the very best time to begin.  You may never enjoy such historically low prices for land, building materials and construction labor.

If you are considering starting your project soon, please review your options, then if you feel that Rand Soellner Architect might be the right designer of your next new house, please give us a call at: 828-269-9046.

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Global Home Architects

May 28th, 2010

Rand Soellner HOME ARCHITECTS TM provide residential design services for clients, no matter where their property is on the face of the Earth.  Soellner has been making an effort to insure that clients from all over know that he is available to design their houses, anywhere on the planet.

Does this mean that Soellner clients have to pay for Soellner to travel there?  Not necessarily.  Soellner prefers to visit client sites in person, whenever that is possible.  However, if clients do not wish to incur this expense, this architect has technological tools that allow him to visit your land in virtual reality.  This is supplemented with your digital photography and digital video that you can e-mail to the architect, along with your surveyor’s electronic survey on AutoCad.

Soellner has the entire globe in high resolution digital 3D imagery on his computers.  He can visit your site anywhere on the planet in a matter of seconds.  If you come to visit him, you can see this on his 60″ Sony flatscreen in his comfortable conference room.  Otherwise, you and he can have a phone call, with each of you looking at your virtual site in 3D, flying around in a virtual helicopter, landing, and looking in all directions, to document your best views.  This is critical to the design that Soellner prepares for you, so that major glass areas orient toward your desired views.

Rand Soellner AIA, is one of the few residential designers that are able to design for sites across the planet, and that have an interest to do so.  The reason?  Rand really enjoys what he does, and his desire to help clients everywhere, along with his passion for residential design excellence, drives to higher achievements.

So if you are in Spain, Portugal, Paris, France, Germany, China, Russia, Japan, the USA, or elsewhere, please give the Soellner firm a call or e-mail.  They would like to hear from you and see about helping you with your residential design dreams, no matter where you are.

Some people seem to believe that they can simply obtain the services of local design firms and they will be able to create a house that is identical to, or similar to Soellner’s.  These consumers will probably find, fairly quickly, that all design companies are not created equal and that they tend to specialize in a particular style and not many in Soellner’s particular area of expertise.  For instance, if there is a local architect in your town that mainly designs shopping centers for Krogers or other major chains and you approached that firm and asked them to mimic Soellner’s rich rustic house imagery for residential plans for you, you will probably not be pleased with the result.

What Soellner does is highly specialized and there is a lot of detail involved.  Some other firm that doesn’t do this for a living as a focused daily effort, will not be able to copy Soellner’s “look” or the functionality of his floor plan arrangements, details, and specifications.  This would be like asking an office building architect to design a nuclear power plant.  It will not happen comfortably.  There is simply too much to know and it is not good to try to learn what to do during the course of a single project.  Especially one for which you are paying!  Most designers and even the AIA admits that the design of houses is one of the most demanding and complex projects that one can undertake.  Trying to learn another firm’s way of doing things during the course of your project would not be an effective use of skillsets.

Why bother?  Obtain the real thing.  Please considering engaging the Soellner company to have your house designed properly the first time.  This is why Rand makes his services available globally.  He has a high degree of specialization and wants his skills to be accessible to discerning clients no matter where they may reside.

A Little History

Rand Soellner’s great grandfather immigrated to the United States in 1869, from Bavaria.  His great grandfather, Andreas Sollner (there was an “umlaut” over the “o”) was a carpenter, skilled in timber frames, cabinetry, and framing of all types.  He  passed his European carpentry and framing skills on to his son, Charles, who built homes and also created a fine photo engraving company that served local newspapers during the 2nd quarter of the 20th century.  Charles passed along these skills to his son, Edward (Rand’s father) who built homes and passed down these skills to his sons, Rand and Alan, who built homes and assisted their father in home construction and renovations through their teenage years.  The skills that Rand uses today are deeply ingrained in the heritage of his family.  This background, dating back hundreds of years into Europe’s Bavarian timber frame homes, is in his blood.  You just cannot mimic that.  Rand offers the real, worldwide, life-long skills necessary to design this type of specialized house, anywhere on the planet.

Contact Information:

Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB : 1. 828. 269. 9046

rand@homearchitects.com

tags: global, timber frame, post and beam, castle, cottage, small, green, mountain, lake, cashiers, atlanta, denver, colorado, asheville, hendersonville, gainesville, destin, aspen, lake tahoe, orlando, phoenix, charlotte.

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Flex Space in Home Design

May 20th, 2010

Today’s Smaller Home Design Schemes Benefit from Flex Space Architectural Concepts.

Hundreds of years ago, the Japanese understood that they were an increasing population on relatively small islands, compared with the other mainland continents.  Flex Space in home design was used by their population, in the form of simple rectangular houses arranged in rigorous grid modules (in their floor plan layout), with Shoji screens.

Oriental Historical Cultures, Multi-functional Rooms and Flex Space In-home Design

Shoji screens are made of rice paper and wooden frames and act as sliding walls or sliding doors to partition rooms off from adjacent rooms.  Why?  The people on that island found that certain rooms types, like bedrooms, had space in them that could be used during the day, when not sleeping, for other purposes like dining or living.  The Japanese understood that everyone’s house could be smaller, and thereby have more room on the islands for other activities and a future population.  Most of the then current population adhered to this space-saving technique, and it has been popular for centuries in their culture.  Chinese folding screens date back to the Han dynasty (200 BC).  The Portuguese became aware of Japanese screen in 1543 AD.  The American government’s trade sponsored visit of Commodore Perry in 1853 resulted in the importing of Shoji screens into our developing culture.  They seem to have influenced our culture primarily in an artistic context until now.

(C)Copyright 2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. You are encouraged to link your website to this page, using the anchor text: Flex Space in Home Design .

Emerging smaller house designs

It is only recently, with the economic necessities of smaller residential designs, that the Shoji screen concepts are beginning to be seen as useful, with an eye to their original purpose.  America appears to have an newly emerging desire for particular rooms in households to perform 2 or more functions.  This is due to leaner economic times, requiring houses to be smaller and less costly.  Due to smaller square footages, the idea of moving walls or interior sliding doors to use that formerly dedicated guest bedroom for normal daily activities is quite appealing to many down-sizing house buyers.  Why waste all that space that has to be cleaned, heated, air-conditioned for Aunt Maude when she visits once every 2 years for a week?  Why not consider a system of sliding or folding interior doors to allow that space to be enjoyed every day, as part of the main Living Room, the Family Room, child’s bedroom, dining, or other daily used space?

America’s socio-economic trends impacting the development of compact house plans

This is just one of the emerging strategies employed by Rand Soellner HOME ARCHITECTS TM for their latest small house designs: their Cardinal Camp Cottage series.  Flex space in home design signals a fundamental difference in American house architecture.  This represents a confluence of forces:
-  Green Design principals, encouraging all of us to not waste as much as we used to (hence have possibly more modest houses, especially if our household budgets demand this).
- An overall leaner U.S. and Global economy, in part brought about by the over-building of speculative larger houses all over the United States,  so much so that this over-supply of houses has severely stalled residential construction for about a year so far.  This is forecasted to improve as this oversupply is consumed, during the next several months, but still serves as a harsh warning to us all not to overbuild again.
- An aging Baby Boomer population desirous of down-sizing everything, including their personal residences, so that they cost less to maintain, heat and cool, and are easier to clean and use as the occupants and these new, smaller houses age.

Of course, you aren’t going to be seeing many rice paper moving partitions in America.  That material was a significant part of a foreign Oriental culture.  We can likely expect American tastes to dictate the materials used for such operating partitions in the USA.  My guess is that wooden doors will do just fine.  Some people may want walnut, others a simple paint grade  Masonite hollow core door, and others possibly may prefer a stained white pine intermediate option with a bit of surface embossing detail to give a richer feeling.

The main idea is that there will probably be some form of multi-functionality developing in new, smaller house designs in America.  For those of you so interested, please review Rand Soellner Architect’s offering of these, by scheduling an appointment to visit him to see all of the variations possible.

Contact for Flex Space in Home Design :

Rand Soellner Architect    1-828-269-9046 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              1-828-269-9046      end_of_the_skype_highlighting   www.HomeArchitects.com

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Affordable Homes Inventory Declining

May 11th, 2010

The Inventory of Affordable Homes is Declining

CNNMoney.com, a service of CNN, Fortune & Money, just reported today (5/11/2010), that the inventory of affordable homes has fallen substantially from just several months ago, along with another more expensive range of housing.

What Does This Mean for America’s Housing Economy?

It appears that soon, the housing construction market should be improving.  Why?  Because in our free market  society, we operate by the laws of Demand and Supply (not the other way around, which got us into our current housing slump).  Affordable homes are a substantial portion of America’s housing needs.  Some people call these Starter Houses, because young couples with modest income want the American Dream: their own home, but they cannot afford to buy larger, more luxurious residences.  So, they shop for smaller houses that give them what they can pay for now.

(C)Copyright 2010 Merry Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Please include a link to this press release from your website with the anchor text: affordable homes .

CNN Reports Decreasing Supply of Affordable Homes.

According CNN staff writer, Les Christie, amidst America’s turmoil in the housing market, something new is emerging: a lack of supply of starter housing.  Before we continue with this, let’s examine some of the background and reports from some other credible powerhouse sources to understand what is happening and why and what is the likely forecast.

Warren Buffett Indicated that a Housing Recovery was Beginning, Several Months Ago.

Back in late February, 2010, Warren Buffett indicated that within a year, America’s housing problems “should largely be behind us.”  Mr. Buffett’s companies involved with housing construction earned a reported $187 million in 2009, so we believe it is safe to assume that Mr. Buffett knows something about the residential construction market.  Reports from his major shareholder indicate that Buffett is investing millions of dollars during 2010 back into his housing construction business, to be ready for his predicted Housing Recovery, which should presently be in progress, in order for Buffett’s year-long recovery forecast to occur in his suggested time frame.

Recent Harvard University Study Indicates Increase in Home Improvement Spending.

Just in the last month, Harvard University’s Joint Center on Housing posted a report that indicated, for the first time since late 2006, America’s home improvement spending will be increasing.  This is significant in that residential improvement spending is a key indicator of the health of the housing market.   Harvard indicates that the increase is in the process of happening right now.  Their graph of residential spending is a vertical bar chart.  From it, you can readily observe that the height of this graph was declining every quarter since early 2007, but now, in the 3rd quarter of 2010, it is forecasted to rise.  Also, Harvard indicates a projected 4th quarter of a an higher rise for residential improvement spending by Americans.  This is a bold trend that  indicates that Warren Buffett was correct: there appears to be a trend of housing spending improvement happening now, increasing and by the end of this year, 2010, we should be well on the way to a healed housing economy.

America’s Current Housing Market Situation.

Okay, back to now.  Many Americans have lost their homes due to the inability to make the mortgage payments because they have lost their jobs or have sharply curtailed income levels.  This is tragic and everyone to whom this has happened deserves all Americans’ sympathy and support in their time of need.  Families, friends, and frugality will help us all through this period.  We wish that the American Government had a more efficient and immediate means of assisting people during this downturn, to allow them to hunker down, keep their homes, and resume life as usual when we come out on the other side.  Like a one-page form that allowed you to explain your circumstances and qualify for some sort of Government-backed partial guarantee on your mortgage.  That would allow banks to have a reason to lower your payments for several months while you found new employment, rather than foreclosing and feeding a vicious cycle of under-priced housing on the market, further depressing the economy.  Surely there is someone in the government who can talk to people in the banking sector to develop this sort of temporary assistance.  Well, this is a hope and wish on our part.  We hope that happens.

Whether or not the above happens will be very important to the people involved with trying to avoid foreclosure.  Even so, America’s economy has been resilient through its nearly 2-1/2 centuries of expansion.  We have always recovered.  We always will.  Why?  We don’t quit.  We persevere.  We do what we need to do to survive, take care of our families, and continue improving our lives and our country.

Affordable Homes, The Housing Market, and Steak on Grocer’s Shelves.

Alright, back to reality.  As Buffett pointed out, America’s Demand for new homes has been about 1.2 million per year.  As he pointed out, unfortunately Americans were building a Supply of around 2 million new homes over a two to three year period 2006-2009+/-, trying to cash in on the rising pricing bubble for the sales of new houses.  Obviously, as Buffett commented, you cannot have a 66% over-supply of something so expensive in our economy as housing and have such a mis-alignment of Demand.  For instance, if your local grocer felt that one of his most profitable items happened to be filet mignon, and he then over-stocked his meat department shelves with thousands of pounds of this expensive item, without paying heed to what his local Demand for finer cuts of beef happened to be, what would happen?  Of course, that grocer would end up having thousands of pounds of meat laying there, going bad, because local people simply did not have the Demand for that much expensive meat.  Same thing for our housing market.

How Did America Get Into This Mess?

How did this irrational exuberance occur?  A desire for financial improvement certainly motivated part of it.  People thought that because the housing market was rising nearly daily, that they could build a new house or two or more, using those houses as strictly an investment vehicle, rather than as shelter for their family.

Suggestion of a HousEconWarnSys.

Rand Soellner's HouseEcon WarnSys

There should have been some sort of Federal, State and Local Housing Economy Warning System.  Let’s call this proposed warning signal the HousEconWarnSys.  Rand Soellner has proposed that there should be warning lights down at your local building department office and on your local, state and national news programs, similar to the defense warning system of Homeland Security, with a traffic light indicator.



Green could mean: sure go ahead and build those new houses as an investment, you should be able to sell them in a few weeks or a few months, because the Demand is more than or at least equal to supply.



Yellow could stand for: Warning! Demand is slightly less than Supply, so you are taking a financial risk if that home or homes you are planning on building needs to sell soon.  It may end up sitting on the market, possibly for longer than you would like and may sell for slightly less than normal going prices, because there are more than enough houses on the market right now.



Red could mean: Don’t Do It!  If you do, you will probably NOT sell what you are building for up to a year or more, and at depressed prices. Your doing so will contribute to a declining housing market throughout the Country.  For heaven’s sake, wait to build, if what you are planning on doing is strictly an investment: you will hurt yourself and your bank and your Country’s economy!  To paraphrase Smokey the Bear: “Only You can Prevent a Housing Economy Meltdown.”

Free-Market Economy Underscores Our Personal Responsibility to the Overall Housing Market.

That is part of the price we pay for a free-market financial system.  No one can stop you from spending your money on what you want to spend it on.  Probably many of us never imagined that what we do as individuals, when taken collectively, can help or hurt our entire nation’s economy.

Alright, so we now see just some of the factors influencing America’s current situation, a small window that we can peer through, behind us and ahead of us, to help us understand how we got into this mess.  So how we are presently working our way out of it?  How is that happening?

Recovery in Progress: Absorption of the Current Housing Oversupply

Actually, once again, Americans are spending in our free-market system.  Only right now, they are buying the millions of homes sitting on our nation’s streets just like that meat on the grocer’s shelves.  Construction of new houses in America has all but stopped.  During the first quarter of 2010 in Macon County, NC, for instance, we heard it reported by a local real estate broker that there were only 2 new building permits for houses.  This had to happen, according to Mr. Buffett.  The present over-supply has to be bought, even at the disastrously low fire-sale pricing of today.

Once the over-supply has been absorbed, THEN America can begin building housing again.  Hopefully, this next time, the new construction will occur with a more responsible eye from ALL OF US to the overall economy; actively searching out information about whether the housing Demand is LESS than the Supply.  Assuming that our proposed HousEconWarnSys is not implemented.  We actually have forwarded this idea to the White House, but have not heard back yet if they thought this was a reasonable idea or not.  We really would harbor the present administration no ill will if they do not respond, as they receive millions of communications daily and weekly.  How can they possibly respond to all of us?

This has been quite a side-track, to help us understand part of the Whys that put us where we are, and certainly not everything that was a contributing factor can be included.  These are merely the observations of http://www.HomeArchitects.com .

It is a logical consequence that as Demand catches up to the current Supply level and overtakes it during the coming months (according to Warren Buffett, Harvard University and now, CNNMoney.com), the housing economy will equalize and hopefully resume business as usual.  But hopefully with a watchful eye on the actual Demand for new housing versus the current Supply, We will be careful never to over-build again!  That doesn’t help anyone!

Current Home Supply Inventories Dropping.

Meanwhile, back at CNN:
CNNMoney.com’s information sources indicate that there is currently about 8 months worth of residential supply available (sitting on the grocer’s shelves, waiting to be bought).  According to CNN, a normal real estate market has about a 6-month supply of homes waiting to be bought.  CNN reports that things are much improved from where they were a year ago.  For instance, in March 2010 there were about 2% less existing houses waiting to be bought than in the prior year, and 21.7% less houses waiting to be bought than in July, 2008.

Implications of Dropping Residential Inventories.

What does this mean?  Well, it means at least 3 things:
1.  The oversupply of homes IS being bought and absorbed by the ever-present Demand.
2.  New home construction is just about at a standstill for now.
3.  At some point in the coming 6 to 8 months there will likely be a graph cross-over point of the steady Demand exceeding the Supply.

What will happen when that 3rd point happens?  Housing construction will resume.  For pity’s sake, we hope at a reasonable pace, carefully tuned to the American Demand for housing, and not like a dam breaking, which would only fuel another cycle of misaligned Demand and Supply for new residences.

Back to the affordable homes inventory situation:
CNN reports that in Denver, housing supply has decreased to 5.7 months worth of Demand, down from 6.2 months previously.  San Francisco reports only having 3.2 months of housing inventory, down from 6.5 months  in March 2009.  Phoenix has a housing Supply of about 4.5 months, down from 5.2 months.  And these statistics are for housing in general, of all types, not just one particular category or price bracket.

What does this mean?  It means that the steady 1.2 million annual new homes needed Demand in America is gradually consuming the existing Supply.  Warren Buffett is right.  It is happening.  Now.  In every town in America.  We are resilient.  We are healing.  The housing recovery is happening.

The California Association of Realtors reports that their housing inventory of affordable homes (below $300,000) is at only 3.2 months worth of inventory, far below the “normal housing market” 6 months.  And this is down from a 3.3 month supply from a year ago.  It appears that Demand will soon be overtaking the lack of Supply, caused by a beleaguered housing economy slashing prices to levels that result in loss of profit rather than increase.  Who wants to build houses for a market that takes any hopes of profit?  In this same state, the Supply of million $+ houses has decreased from a 21.6 month supply to only 10.9 months, a decrease of more than half.

The Current Inventory is Being Bought.

So, houses are being bought right now.  The healing is underway.  Along with the healing is a lot of pain for those having to sell at sub-market prices.  This should soon start to correct itself as the continuing steady Demand for new housing catches up to and absorbs the current Supply.

The upper-end new housing is also having a fairly stiff requirement from lenders right now, up to 30% to 35% down payment to obtain financing.  Surely this will ease as the housing market corrects.  When it does, sales of more expensive homes are likely to accelerate and the present supply should reduce dramatically.  In turn, this will create a new increase in pricing and increase the higher-priced housing.  As the laws of Demand and Supply indicate that when something is in Demand and there is little Supply, the price rises.

Rand Soellner HOME ARCHITECTS TM New Affordable Homes Design Being Developed.

Ultimately, there appears to be a soon-to-be realized need for affordable homes during the coming months.  Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB, indicated that he is developing a new series of compact affordable homes that have luxurious features within them.  Soellner said this allows people with less money to have a more comfortable lifestyle in his firm’s designs.  His Cardinal Camp Cottages have borrowed luxury features from his larger estate house designs.  This gives affordable homes more enjoyable arrangements and items for substantially less money required to build his designs.

Affordable Homes contact:

Rand Soellner HOME ARCHITECTS TM
1. 828. 269. 9046
rand@homearchitects.com
http://www.homearchitects.com

Links and resources:
CNNMoney.com artcle: Real estate’s new problem: Not enough homes

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Home Remodeling Rebound Now Underway

May 5th, 2010

Home Remodeling Rebound in Progress According to Harvard Study

On April 15, 2010, Harvard’s Remodeling Futures Program at their Joint Center for Housing Studies indicated that a home remodeling rebound is now underway, according to their LIRA (Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity).  This announcement should be welcome news for all Americans, since much of the United States’ economy depends on a healthy housing construction market.

“Home improvement spending will recover this year,” reported the study.  Housing improvement spending is recovering this year, and the dramatic change will become visible during the 3rd quarter, with even greater spending on residential improvements forecasted for the the 4th quarter of 2010.  This appears to be a trend, indicating that Warren Buffett’s predictions of a housing market recovery occurring during 2010 and residential market problems being “largely behind us” by early 2011, to be correct.

The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University produced a graph of Homeowner Improvements, in billions of dollars, starting at the 1st quarter of 2007 and going through all of 2010.  Harvard’s data and projections indicate that we are now in the midst of the first housing improvement spending upswing since the end of 2006, which will be sustained through the end of 2010 and likely well into 2011, if the graph can be interpreted as a trend upward for the long term.

The report also stated that house prices are “showing modest gains,” and that the employment situation is starting to equalize.  This recovering equilibrium is the incentive most residential owners have been waiting for to invest in their houses and make desired improvements, according to Kermit Baker, the director of the Remodeling Futures Program at Harvard.  He said that “Home sales are trending up, which shows growing confidence in the housing market.”

Americans have been needing a real cause for optimism, for believing that the residential sector will rebound, and this is part of it.  Warren Buffet’s own prediction for a housing market rebound during the course of 2010, made in late February of this year (2010) in his annual letter to his shareholders, is turning out to be nothing short of a valid crystal ball.  Once again, Mr. Buffet is right about the residential market in America.  No doubt his organization has access to the same data as Harvard.  And the time frame predicted by Buffett parallels Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies forecast as well, with the bulk of the recovery occurring during 2010.  Harvard’s study has a sharper focus to the remodeling recovery prediction, citing actual amounts indicated that will be spent in each quarter to improve American’s houses.

The last quarter of 2010 is projected to be actually better than the 3rd quarter of 2008, estimated at somewhere between the amounts spent during the 2nd and 3rd quarters during 2008 for residential remodeling.  This bodes well for Americans in all sectors, including those whose livelihoods depend on residential design and construction.  Appliance manufacturers, home construction product suppliers, contractors, electricians, air-conditioning and plumbing subcontractors, and a host of other trickle-down links to the housing market will breathe a big collective sigh of relief.  No doubt part of the long-awaited improved correction has depended upon the absorption of the over-supply of houses built in excess of demand since the 2008+/- era.

The excessive exuberance exhibited by investors in housing construction (treating housing as solely an investment vehicle rather than as their own family’s shelter) was likely responsible for much of the present woes.  They built about 66% more houses than Americans could consume for about 2 to 3 years, resulting in an unfortunate glut on the housing market exceeding the immediate ability of the economy to purchase them.  Only now, after the unfortunate devaluation of millions of houses built in this over-supply mode, has America finally been able to begin to snap up the bargain residences, many facing foreclosure.  So, now begins the equalization of the market and this is in part signaled by the housing improvement industry.

This is very good news for the housing industry in America.  Data for the Harvard study comes from a combination of U.S. Census Bureau information for the past statistics and the LIRA forecast for the future anticipated progress.

The housing remodeling market cratered during the second quarter (now) at $106.5 billion spent on housing improvements, a quarterly decrease of -9.7%.  The study projects the housing renovations will increase to $111.0 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2010, the first increase in housing improvement spending since the end of 2006.  The study projects further increases in the 4th quarter of 2010: to $121.5 billion, continuing the upward trend.

LIRA was created to forecast national spending by house owners for the current quarter and the next 3 quarters.  There is a LIRA information release update in the 3rd week after the close of each quarter.  Harvard began the Joint Center for Housing Studies in 1959, so their data is some of the most historically dependable available in the United States on this subject.  They track trends in America’s housing improvement industry.  The Harvard program also studies linkages between residential improvements to the entire residential construction market.

Home remodeling rebound architect contact resources:

Rand Soellner Architect, a National Residential Design Firm.
www.HomeArchitects.com
1. 828. 269. 9046
E-mail: rand@homearchitects.com

links:
Home remodeling rebound
home improvement architects
home renovation architects

tags: remodeling rebound, improvement architects, renovation architects, cashiers, lake toxaway, highlands, atlanta, asheville, hendersonville, glenville, charlotte, seneca, cullowhee, etowah, rosman, mills river, franklin, sylva, canton, maggie valley, waynesville, mount mitchell, fairview, hickory, newnan, greenville, myrtle beach, hilton head, savannah, jacksonville, orlando, las vegas, destin, panama city, mobile, whistler, tacoma.

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Residential Fire Sprinklers Coming

May 3rd, 2010


Yes, It’s True: They’re on the Way.

It’s been talked about for decades: residential fire sprinklers.  I have known of only one municipality that actually required it before now, and that was in Altamonte Springs, Florida.  Well, it’s going to be a whole new ball game soon.  The ICC’s (International Code Council) April 15, 2010 press release explicitly states that their 2009 IRC (International Residential Code) requires this.

residential fire sprinklers

Fire Sprinkler Image, Courtesy of Allied Fire Protection, Inc.

YES, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT FIRE SPRINKLERS FOR HOUSES. We are not talking about irrigation sprinklers outside of your new house.  No.  The IRC is requiring that the Interior of new homes have fire sprinklers.  A friend of ours and fellow architect, Nazim Nice, with Motion Space Architecture, has speculated that the added cost to home construction may be between $0.80/sf (square foot) to as much as $4/sf.  The actual cost, of course, will depend on what the actual fire sprinkler subcontractor who works for your general contractor decides to price your system at. Also, Nazim Nice’s original post on this subject has served as our inspiration.

Time Frame

The ICC has indicated that: “approved fire sprinkler systems will be required in all one- and two-family dwellings constructed after the 2009 IRC is adopted (by your jurisdiction) or on January 1, 2011, whichever is later.”

Comments and Discussion with Allied Fire Protection Systems, Inc.

On 5/3/2010, Rand Soellner AIA had a conversation with Charles (Chuck) S. Lynn, President of Allied Fire Protection Systems, Inc. (1-716-665-6517 in Falconer, NY), a substantial provider of fire protection systems in that area of  our Country.  Allied has fire protection systems in everything from nuclear plants to single family homes in the entire NorthEast quarter of the USA.  Rand and Chuck discussed the implications of Chuck’s question: “Where does the water come from?”  That is a darn good question.  Rand theorized that, due to the bacteriological implications of standing water inside pipes, there could possibly end up being a requirement for a second connection to potable water sources, with a small residential-scale back flow preventer, to reduce the possibility of contaminating the potable water supply line.  There was some additional discussion about certification and training sources.  Chuck Lynn said that he knew of several jurisdictions that have had residential fire sprinklers for over 10 years or more.

Who Can Install These New Residential Systems

There are many commercial fire sprinkler contractors in the United States, but not many residential fire sprinkler subcontractors.  No doubt this code news will create a flood of commercial fire sprinkler companies diversifying into the residential market and perhaps for residential plumbers obtaining the necessary certifications to allow them to legally install residential fire sprinkler systems.  The ICC has a Residential Fire Sprinkler Design and Installation Exam that providers of the systems must pass.

The Reason for Residential Fire Sprinklers

The ICC cites that 3,000+ people a year in the United States die in fires, and that 84% of these deaths occur in their own homes.  Even though smoke alarms help alert home owners to the threat of fire and smoke, ceiling-mounted residential fire sprinklers can put out fires while they are still small, which helps control or  stop heat, flames and deadly smoke.  Property and lives are saved.  The purpose of requiring the new residential fire sprinklers is to help save lives and property.

Accrediting Agencies

CPSE (the Center for Public Safety Excellence), ICC (International Code Council), and NFSA (National Fire Sprinkler Association) have signed a joint resolution creating a new Commission for the Accreditation for Dwelling Fire Sprinkler Contractors.

Related Issues

One of the first thoughts I had about this for our clients who have vacation or primary residences in scenic locations with wells as their source of water means that the amount of water required for a fire suppression event will likely exceed the capacity in GPM (Gallons Per Minute) that any normal pump can draw from a subterranean aquifer source.  Also, what if the well has gone dry?  Even temporarily?  So, it is our belief that it will probably become necessary for large water storage tanks, buried (or otherwise earth-covered to avoid freezing) as part of the system.  We also happen to know that water is alive; it has microbes, so any standing water will need to be periodically flushed and replenished to avoid putrid standing water from being what happens to be pumped into your home to put out a fire.  So, there will need for periodic maintenance and checking of system components.  In more urban areas where there is adequate water pressure and flow to support these new residential fire sprinkler requirements, the utility source may need to provide additional capacity to insure continued service.  There may be additional fees involved with possible secondary sources for fire suppression water.  Possibly filtered and treated rainwater may become a viable source.

Another issue is the possibility of frozen water pipes that are used to support the residential fire sprinklers.  The water pipes will need to be inside the insulation of the home to avoid exposure to freezing temperatures.  Surely this will be one of the requirements of the upcoming standards.

This will be something to watch over the coming years.  One thing is sure: new homes, starting in 2011, should be much safer.  And a little more expensive.

tags:  residential fire sprinklers, home architects, timber frame architects, post and beam architect, custom, green, mountain, small, cottage, atlanta, hendersonville, cashiers, highlands, lake toxaway, franklin, cullowhee, sylva, maggie valley, fairview, asheville, greenville, seneca, myrtle beach, hilton head, las vegas, newnan, savannah.

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Small Home Designs Coming

April 21st, 2010

New Small Home Designs Are on the Way

Rand Soellner HOME ARCHITECTSTM, are creating a brand new series of small home designs.  Merry Soellner calls them the CARDINAL CAMP COTTAGE series.  They are focused on bringing the best features from all of Soellner’s residential designs; large, medium and small into affordable, compact, upscale quality new small home designs.

Features contained in these small designs are comparable with features seen in much larger houses.  Including features such as multiple fireplaces, large kitchens, gracious master suites, outdoor living porches, and large open plan spaces.

These home architects are known for creating unique series of home designs, such as their Mountain Lodge series, Mountain Retreat Home series and Family Estate Villages.  This latest grouping of small home designs is being created to yield upscale features in a very modest amount of square footage, with designs that feel bigger than they really are.

For instance, here are some of the in-progress prototype designs being developed: the Cardinal Camp Cottage series. The designs vary from a humble 1BR/1Ba 940 HSF (Heated Square Feet) in the Cardinal Cottage 1-Story, all the way up to the Grand Cardinal Camp Cottage, which is 3-stories, 5BR/3Ba and 2,534 HSF.  The architects never thought that they would be calling small home designs in the 2,500 HSF range “grand,” but here they are.  Nor did they think they could have fit 5 bedrooms and 3 full baths into that size of home, in such a small footprint, and still have it feel so spacious–yet it does.

There are many small home designs being developed based on the theme in this series by Rand Soellner.  For instance, there is the ever-popular 3BR/2Bath 2-story Cardinal Camp Cottage with 1,914 HSF or the 1-story 3BR/3Bath model with 1,352 HSF.  It has an enlarged gourmet kitchen and a pantry/laundry on the main level off the kitchen.

There are a total of 7 different main prototypes, with a mathematical variation of about 112 main different combinations, depending on whether or not you want various options like the 2 car garage (which could also be a carport or a Porte-Cochere, and could also be 3 car or 4 car or whatever you want), an outdoor living room (on  either level), the optional powder room on the main level, and other features that can drive the variations upwards of several hundred different layouts.

It all depends on the features you want, and how much square footage you are willing to pay your contractor to build, based on these designs.

The key to these small home designs is the modularity of the options and how simple it can be for one feature can be added and others eliminated, based on client preferences.

Rand Soellner Architect offers these designs,completely open to customization, to his new clients and welcomes you.  He also offers them at a special discounted price due to the volume he anticipates in this new recovering housing market.  To see the designs, you will need to make an appointment to visit with the architects.  From anywhere in the world, please call: 1-828-269-9046.

Soellner will be providing more updates on these upscale new small home designs soon.  In the meantime, you may wish to consider reviewing the descriptions for the various models below:

CARDINAL CAMP COTTAGE SERIES SUMMARY LISTING:

  1. CARDINAL CAMP COTTAGE 3BR/2Ba,  2-Level: 1,914 HSF (Heated Square Feet).
  2. CAMP CREEK COTTAGE 3BR/3Ba, 1-Story: 1,352 HSF.
  3. CARDINAL CREEK COTTAGE 3BR/2Ba, 1-Story: 1,256 HSF.
  4. CAMP COTTAGE 2BR/2Ba, 1 Story: 1,112 HSF.
  5. CREEK COTTAGE 2BR/1Ba, 1 Story: 1,016 HSF.
  6. CARDINAL COTTAGE 1BR/1Ba, 1 Story: 960 HSF.
  7. GRAND CARDINAL CAMP COTTAGE 5BR/3Ba, 3-Level: 2,534 HSF.

CARDINAL CAMP COTTAGE SERIES OVERVIEW:

Small Home Designs #1

CARDINAL CAMP COTTAGE 3 BR/2Ba
1,914 HSF (Heated Square Feet) total, to exterior face of wood studs

2 Floor Levels:

  • Main (1st ) Floor of 1,000 HSF
  • Walk-out Basement of 914 HSF (not including concrete walls)

Main Level:

  • A nice Master Bedroom (with fireplace), 19′ wide huge glass doors that open to views & outdoor living areas
  • Master Bath
  • Walk-in Closet
  • Entry Foyer
  • Stairs
  • Open Plan Great Room Area: Living Room (with fireplace), Dining, large Gourmet Kitchen with large island
  • Exterior front porch (Design indicates stone surface and steps, with nice timber post)

Additional Options:

  • A powder room near the Dining/Kitchen area
  • A 2 car garage, with direct access into the Dining area from the garage
  • A garage shop
  • An outdoor living porch, with options as either deck, or roofed and screened.  Includes options for outdoor fireplace, sleeping porch area, outdoor living room area, outdoor dining & summer kitchen area.

Walk-out Basement (Terrace Level):

  • 2nd Master Bedroom (with fireplace)
  • Huge 2nd Walk-in Closet
  • Bathroom
  • large family room (with fireplace), with 19′ wide huge glass and wood doors that open to views & outdoor living areas.
  • Kitchenette/Storage area
  • Mechanical room
  • large Laundry/Storage/Pantry, suitable for today’s larger front-load machines, lots of counter space & laundry sink and pantry.
  • 3rd Bedroom/FlexSpace: This is a special Rand Soellner Architect design feature that allows the sliding wood doors for this space to retract into a special pocket so that this room can combine with the Family Room, for an enlarged Family Room, unless it needs to be pressed into service as a third bedroom.  Also, exercise equipment can be located in this FlexSpace for Home Gym use.  This is an amazing bit of design flexibility here, using movable panels, reminiscent of the Shoji screens used in Japan, but in this case, simple and economical sliding wooden doors from an overhead track.

Small Home Designs #2

CAMP CREEK COTTAGE 3BR/3Ba, 1-Story:
1,352 HSF.

Main Level:

  • A nice Master Bedroom (with fireplace), with separate Toilet Room (with window), a 2-person shower, 19′ wide huge glass doors that open to views & outdoor living areas
  • Large Master Walk-in Closet
  • Entry Foyer
  • Open Plan Great Room Area: Living Room (with fireplace), Dining, large Gourmet Kitchen with large island
  • Pantry/Laundry off the Kitchen
  • A 2nd Bedroom: with optional FlexSpace, movable door/wall panels to open up to the main living area, if desired for use as a home office, den, or other aspect of the main space
  • 2 baths
  • 2 closets
  • A 3rd Bedroom
  • larger optional deck/outdoor living area off of the 3rd bedroom
  • Exterior front porch (Design indicates stone surface and steps, with nice timber post)
  • covered pedestrian Garage access is through the outdoor living room area in this scheme

Additional Options:

  • A powder room near the Dining/Kitchen area
  • A 2 car garage, with direct access into the Dining area from the garage
  • A garage shop
  • An outdoor living porch, with options as either deck, or roofed and screened. Includes options for outdoor fireplace, sleeping porch area, outdoor living room area, outdoor dining & summer kitchen area.

Small Home Designs #3

CARDINAL CREEK COTTAGE 3BR/2Ba, 1-Story:
1,256 HSF.

Main Level:

  • A nice Master Bedroom (with fireplace), 19′ wide huge glass doors that open to views & outdoor living areas
  • Master Bath
  • Large Master Walk-in Closet
  • Entry Foyer
  • Open Plan Great Room Area: Living Room (with fireplace), Dining, large Gourmet Kitchen with large island
  • Pantry/Laundry off the Kitchen
  • A 2nd Bedroom: with optional FlexSpace, movable door/wall panels to open up to the main living area, if desired for use as a home office, den, or other aspect of the main space
  • 2 baths
  • 2 closets
  • A 3rd Bedroom
  • larger optional deck/outdoor living area off of the 3rd bedroom
  • Exterior front porch (Design indicates stone surface and steps, with nice timber post)
  • covered pedestrian Garage access is through the outdoor living room area in this scheme

Additional Options:

  • A powder room near the Dining/Kitchen area
  • A 2 car garage, with direct access into the Dining area from the garage
  • A garage shop
  • An outdoor living porch, with options as either deck, or roofed and screened. Includes options for outdoor fireplace, sleeping porch area, outdoor living room area, outdoor dining & summer kitchen area.

Small Home Designs #4

CAMP COTTAGE 2BR/2Ba, 1 Story:
1,112 HSF.

Main Level:

  • A nice Master Bedroom (with fireplace), with separate Toilet Room (with window), a 2-person shower, 19′ wide huge glass doors that open to views & outdoor living areas
  • Large Master Walk-in Closet
  • Entry Foyer
  • Open Plan Great Room Area: Living Room (with fireplace), Dining, large Gourmet Kitchen with large island
  • Pantry/Laundry built-ins into Kitchen area cabinetry
  • A 2nd Bedroom: with optional FlexSpace, movable door/wall panels to open up to the main living area, if desired for use as a home office, den, or other aspect of the main space
  • 2nd bath
  • 2nd closet
  • Exterior front porch (Design indicates stone surface and steps, with nice timber post)
  • covered pedestrian Garage access is through the outdoor living room area in this scheme

Additional Options:

  • A powder room near the Dining/Kitchen area
  • A 2 car garage, with direct access into the Dining area from the garage
  • A garage shop
  • An outdoor living porch, with options as either deck, or roofed and screened. Includes options for outdoor fireplace, sleeping porch area, outdoor living room area, outdoor dining & summer kitchen area.

Small Home Designs #5

CREEK COTTAGE 2BR/1Ba, 1 Story:
1,016 HSF.

Main Level:

  • A nice Master Bedroom (with fireplace), 19′ wide huge glass doors that open to views & outdoor living areas
  • Master Bath
  • Large Master Walk-in Closet
  • Entry Foyer
  • Open Plan Great Room Area: Living Room (with fireplace), Dining, large Gourmet Kitchen with large island
  • Pantry/Laundry built-ins into Kitchen area cabinetry
  • A 2nd Bedroom: with optional FlexSpace, movable door/wall panels to open up to the main living area, if desired for use as a home office, den, or other aspect of the main space
  • 2nd bath
  • 2nd closet
  • Exterior front porch (Design indicates stone surface and steps, with nice timber post)
  • covered pedestrian Garage access is through the outdoor living room area in this scheme

Additional Options:

  • A powder room near the Dining/Kitchen area
  • A 2 car garage, with direct access into the Dining area from the garage
  • A garage shop
  • An outdoor living porch, with options as either deck, or roofed and screened. Includes options for outdoor fireplace, sleeping porch area, outdoor living room area, outdoor dining & summer kitchen area.

Small Home Designs #6

CARDINAL COTTAGE 1BR/1Ba, 1 Story:
960 HSF.

Main Level:

  • A nice Master Bedroom (with fireplace), 19′ wide huge glass doors that open to views & outdoor living areas
  • Master Bath
  • Large Master Walk-in Closet
  • Wide Entry Foyer–with option for wider entry doorway and Entry porch
  • Larger guest coat closet
  • Open Plan Great Room Area: Living Room (with fireplace), Dining, large Gourmet Kitchen with large island
  • Pantry/Laundry built-ins into Kitchen area cabinetry
  • Exterior front porch (Design indicates stone surface and steps, with nice timber post)
  • covered pedestrian Garage access is through the outdoor living room area in this scheme

Additional Options:

  • A powder room near the Dining/Kitchen area
  • A 2 car garage, with direct access into the Dining area from the garage
  • A garage shop
  • An outdoor living porch, with options as either deck, or roofed and screened. Includes options for outdoor fireplace, sleeping porch area, outdoor living room area, outdoor dining & summer kitchen area.

Small Home Designs #7

GRAND CARDINAL CAMP COTTAGE 5BR/3Ba, 3-Level:
2,534 HSF.

Main Level:

  • A nice Master Bedroom (with fireplace), 19′ wide huge glass doors that open to views & outdoor living areas
  • Master Bath
  • Walk-in Closet
  • Entry Foyer
  • Stairs
  • Open Plan Great Room Area: Living Room (with fireplace), Dining, large Gourmet Kitchen with large island
  • Exterior front porch (Design indicates stone surface and steps, with nice timber post)

Additional Options:

  • A powder room near the Dining/Kitchen area
  • A 2 car garage, with direct access into the Dining area from the garage
  • A garage shop
  • An outdoor living porch, with options as either deck, or roofed and screened. Includes options for outdoor fireplace, sleeping porch area, outdoor living room area, outdoor dining & summer kitchen area.

Walk-out Basement (Terrace Level):

  • 2nd Master Bedroom (with fireplace)
  • Huge 2nd Walk-in Closet
  • Bathroom
  • large family room (with fireplace), with 19′ wide huge glass and wood doors that open to views & outdoor living areas.
  • Kitchenette/Storage area
  • Mechanical room
  • Large Laundry/Storage/Pantry, suitable for today’s larger front-load machines, lots of counter space & laundry sink and pantry.
  • 3rd Bedroom/FlexSpace: This is a special Rand Soellner Architect design feature that allows the sliding wood doors for this space to retract into a special pocket so that this room can combine with the Family Room, for an enlarged Family Room, unless it needs to be pressed into service as a third bedroom. Also, exercise equipment can be located in this FlexSpace for Home Gym use. This is an amazing bit of design flexibility here, using movable panels, reminiscent of the Shoji screens used in Japan, but in this case, simple and economical sliding wooden doors from an overhead track.

2nd Floor:

  • Expanded Stairs to reach the upper level
  • Bedrooms 4 and 5, closets included in both
  • 3rd Bath
  • Loft
  • Structural option for Loft to view down into Great Room area below on Main Level

This 7th design has 2 stories plus a fully finished walk-out basement. The upper story is actually a loft level up in the steeply angled roof structure, so the scale of this residence, from the street, appears to be only a one-story house. That’s quite a miracle!

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All of the above prototype models are intended to be infinitely variable, allowing you to mix and match just about anything from one of the designs to another.  So don’t be shy about asking.  Yes, substitutions are allowed.  Just ask the professionals at Rand Soellner to customize a solution for you.

The size of the main footprint is really amazingly compact.  The above schemes can be obtained as small as 24′ x 40′, 24′ x 50′, or with an attached garage, 24′ x 64′ and up.  If you have a small site, chances are one or more of these schemes will work for you.  These designs conceived with small sites in mind.  Stay tuned to this blog and the main website for upcoming additional small house design information and for updates on this Cardinal Camp Cottage series.  All sizes, dimensions and square footages are subject to change, at the discretion of the architect and design modifications that may occur during continued development and refinement.

Contact for small home designs :

Rand Soellner Architect    1-828-269-9046   www.HomeArchitects.com rand@homearchitects.com

tags: small home designs, timber frame, post and beam, mountain, custom, castle, cottage, luxury residential, green, log, cashiers, highlands, lake toxaway, glenville, franklin, waynesville, maggie valley, canton, mount mitchell, black mountain, crest mountain, asheville, hendersonville, charlotte, greenville, seneca, cullowhee, jackson hole, denver, las vegas, lake mead, burbank, hollywood, santa monica, vancouver, whistler, colorado city, aspen, telluride, destin.

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