Herlong Architects

Herlong & Associates is featured in the article “Humidity, Heat, and Hurricanes Call for SPF on Coastal Cottage” in SprayFoam Magazine.

When the Kearns family decided to renovate their newly purchased beach house, they quickly learned that it would require more than a dream and a dime. Located on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, a 3.3-square-mile (8.55-square-kilometer) barrier island on the Atlantic Ocean, any renovations on this 80-year-old cottage needed to adhere to the town’s strict building rules as well as the architect’s and builder’s construction concerns with blending two sections of the home.

Read the full article online.

When it comes to green building, two of the gold standards are EarthCraft House and the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. A program of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association since 1999, EarthCraft is used by residential builders to create more sustainable and energy-efficient homes.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program focuses primarily on commercial building, although it has launched a LEED for Homes program to focus on residential building projects.

When it comes time to select an architect or a builder for your home, it’s important to question companies on their understanding and familiarity with these programs. As the popularity of going green has grown in the last few years, many companies are jumping on the green bandwagon and claiming they are green builders, sustainable companies or implementing environmentally friendly practices, when in reality, they may just be recycling office paper and little else.

Don’t be fooled by this practice of “greenwashing” and know what questions to ask your architect or builder to determine their level of skill and expertise in the areas of green design and building.

• Ask how many staff members have been trained in green design or building. Are any of them accredited through LEED or do they have other accreditations or training from reputable sources?
• Ask for examples of other green building projects they have done. Organizations like the U.S. Green Building Council maintain a list of buildings that have been certified through LEED, so do some homework online.
• Ask for references. Talk to other clients who have built sustainable homes to find out how satisfied they were with the process.
• Do your own research. There is a wealth of information for people interested in sustainable home design. Have an idea of the products and materials you want to use, such as bamboo flooring, energy-efficient HVAC units or low-VOC paint. Know what materials are available and their costs. Solar panels might sound like a great idea, but can you afford them at this point?

Learn more: Here’s a good article from EcoHome magazine on the green impact EarthCraft House has had on Atlanta.

One of the best ways to add value to a home is by making it more energy efficient. It not only improves the home’s resale value, but makes it more cost effective for the homeowners who spend less on utility costs.

But making a home energy efficient goes beyond installing Energy Star appliances, low-flow toilets and compact fluorescent light bulbs. It starts with design of the home and knowledge about the best techniques for maximizing efficiency.

This article from EcoHome magazine outlines the five most common errors builders make when it comes to constructing an energy-efficient house: wasted resources; poorly selected and installed insulation; improper drainage for water management; not building to allow for fresh air and intentional ventilation; and HVAC ducts installed in unconditioned spaces, particularly the attic.

As a full-service custom design firm, we work closely with builders and can help oversee the entire process to ensure the most energy-efficient methods are being used. Our staff is knowledgeable on green building techniques and designs each home with that in mind. We spend time talking with clients about how to design what we like to call a “high-performance home” and how we can make it work within their budget.

Our clients don’t have the time to fully research the many green building practices and techniques – that’s why they hire us. They don’t want to spend time focusing on why it makes more sense to put the HVAC ducts between the floors rather than in the attic, which is the hottest place in the house in the summer – and the coldest in the winter months.

The homeowners simply want a house that is cool in the summer, warm in the winter and doesn’t come with a high electric bill. They rely on us to figure out the best way to make that happen.

When it comes time to design your new home, working with a full-service custom architectural firm isn’t always in the budget. Yet Herlong & Associates owner Steve Herlong believes that budget should not stand in the way of having a well designed home. With this in mind, he and his team of designers have launched a new “sister” company, Flatfish Island Designs. 

With Flatfish Island Designs, customers can purchase completed house plans from a wide range of styles and sizes. The company currently offers 18 designs with more on the way.

“These home plans cater to a segment of the marketplace that appreciates livability and design aesthetics, but may not have the opportunity to truly customize a home,” Herlong says.

With the current move to smaller, more efficient homes that are both less expensive to build and easier to maintain, these designs will fill a void by giving homeowners the architectural detail and functionality that is often missing in the typical builder’s inventory.

This concept has been a long time in the making for Herlong. Over the years, people would contact his architectural firm wanting to purchase plans for a Herlong house they saw featured in a magazine, but those are personal, highly customized home designs and not for sale. Herlong considers those one-of-a-kind investments for their owners.

With Flatfish Island Designs, the Herlong team has taken its experience designing these unique homes and channeled it to create a collection of intuitively designed homes available “right off-the-shelf.” The plans cater to Herlong’s area of expertise: waterfront and coastal homes. Many of the plans are oriented to take full advantage of water views with their large windows and porches.

“Living and working on these barrier islands, there is no shortage of inspiration,” Herlong. The team plans to add more home designs to Flatfish Island Designs on a regular basis. In fact Flatfish Island is indeed a real island just up the waterway from Herlong & Associates’ Isle of Palms office and a spot where the company holds regular office retreats.

Customers can review the plans on the Flatfish Island Designs Web site and then contact the company to place an order. Customers can also make a few tweaks to the design for an added fee or they can take the plans as they are and head to their builder or contractor.

The majority of our designs dot the Charleston coastline and Lowcountry landscapes, but our firm has embarked on a new project taking us across the water and into the Caribbean.

Christophe Harbour, the latest venture from Kiawah Development Partners is a 3,000- acre upscale development on the southeast peninsula of the island of St. Kitts. 

A number of architectural firms were invited to a kickoff meeting to learn more about the Christophe Harbour project. Layne Nelson, design director at Herlong & Associates says, “We got so excited about the project that we immediately started doing sketches.” Nelson has been working closely with company owner Steve Herlong to create designs for potential rental properties in the developments first phase, Sandy Bank Bay.

Though our architects are used to designing homes for coastal living, these island homes are a very different style, Nelson explains. Because the average temperature remains in the 80’s year-round, the homes are typically very open and usually don’t have heating and air conditioning units.

Herlong designers are taking their experience creating outdoor living spaces here in the Lowcountry, and using it to design island homes, where the living areas are a seamless blend of indoor/outdoor space. The homes, Nelson says, are typically a collection of independent dwellings with open living areas and private bedroom suites woven together by water features and the lush tropical landscape.

Even though Herlong has long done projects throughout the Southeast and along the Gulf Coast, this is its first project in the Caribbean and a great new venture. “This is just a brand new door that’s opened that we’re exited to walk through,” Nelson says.

Check out the On the Boards section of our site for more Christophe Harbour designs.

When you’re designing your dream home, it can be tough to let go. But trusting the architectural firm and a team of qualified designers can help you achieve exactly what you want while eliminating some of the headaches – a real bonus for out-of-town clients.

One of the greatest benefits of hiring an architectural firm like Herlong & Associates is being able to take advantage of the expertise and experience of the staff. Herlong is a full-service firm, so it can handle everything from the design of the physical home to the decorating details. This means you can really trust the designers to figure out your style and offer up appropriate options.

That’s what one of the firm’s project managers, Sabrina Cochran, has found in working with out-of-town clients building a vacation home on the Isle of Palms. The homeowners are both doctors with four young children, so they don’t have a lot of time to mull over each decision.

So, the team puts together three or four selections or color palettes and the clients can more easily pick one. Plus, with the vast number of choices available when it comes to designing and decorating a home, it can be easier to pick from four choices instead of 400.

These particular clients played a key role in selecting items like the tile and the lighting, but left many choices up to the architects and designers at Herlong – including the exterior color of the house, as long as it wasn’t orange, pink or yellow, Cochran says.

The clients were eager to have the home finished quickly and didn’t want their busy schedules to slow down construction of their home, she adds.

In many cases, it’s about trusting the designers and handing over the reins – even if it’s just long enough for the designers to narrow down the choices and offer some guidance. After all, that’s what architectural firms are for.

One of the best ways a business can improve is to take a step back and look at how it’s grown over the years – look at what’s worked, what hasn’t worked and what’s on the horizon.

Herlong & Associates Project Manager Rodd Heinlen says while the firm doesn’t always have all the answers, it is willing to learn and improve.

One of the ways Herlong is changing is by making homes more energy-efficient, a practice that wasn’t done a few years back, Heinlen says. Now, more thought and planning go into sealing the entire envelope of the house, including using spray foam insulation and better planning for the duct work.

“We’re thinking more upfront about the home and the many systems that go into it,” he says.

The firm also works to understand which trends make sense – or don’t make sense – for a client. For example, four to five years ago, homes were outfitted with all sorts of bells and whistles for home theater systems, surround sound speakers, music, lighting and Internet access. People could “turn their homes on” from a distant location or control the music in the living room from a switch in the kitchen.

But most people have found those gadgets and gizmos too complicated, particularly for those of a certain retirement age who aren’t used to a lot of technology and just want a simple lifestyle and home to go with it, Heinlen says.

This is where Herlong can step in and recognize what makes the most sense for the client, based on feedback from other clients or changes in the marketplace.

“We’re talking some clients out of doing some of the high-tech,” Heinlen says. “The people who have had it know exactly what they want. And if they haven’t had it, they probably don’t need it.”

When it comes to using wood as a decorative finish, the most common question has been “wainscoting or not?” But wood trim can add real character to a house.

Layne Fitts Nelson, our firm’s design director, is doing more custom millwork for clients who want an extra design element in their house beyond standard baseboards and chair rails. She often works closely with Southern Lumber & Millwork, a Charleston lumberyard and millwork shop interested in providing more custom designs and trim pieces. 

It’s a partnership built on good design and efficiency. Our firm works with Southern Lumber & Millwork – as well as other businesses – to achieve the best design for the best price.

“We try to find the most efficient and economical way to achieve the desired look,” Nelson says.

Every house and every client is different, which is part of the charm of creating millwork – it’s unique to the house and can reflect the overall home design as well as the personal tastes and styles of the homeowner.

One client had a photo of a fireplace and mantel they liked. So Nelson was able to take the curve in the mantel and incorporate it into the trim and the ceiling beams in the room. It may seem like a small touch, but it’s a dynamic way to pull a room together.

Also, more clients are interested in using wood in nontraditional ways, making it a material that works for more than flooring or a simple beadboard or paneling. Ceilings, in general, are getting more attention whether they are painted or accented with wooden beams and trim, Nelson says.

“Now, the ceiling is almost as important as the walls and floor,” she says.

Families are unique, changing creatures with distinct needs – particularly when it comes to their living space. One of the ways an architectural firm can meet those needs is by designing the house to accommodate the way people actually live.

If you pull a house plan off the shelf, it may be close to what you need, but chances are good you’ll be wishing for more closets, a larger porch or more space in the living room. An architect can tweak a plan or create a custom design to add the features that make life easier for families, whether that’s more storage space or a bigger kitchen.

Sabrina Cochran, a project manager here at Herlong & Associates, says she has encountered families who needed a convenient space to store the extra dining room table leaves, for example. Another family needed lots of space for their two Christmas trees and lights – plus, an extra breaker box and outdoor outlets to meet the needs of their holiday décor.

Designing homes on the coast, means creating suitable space for golf clubs, golf carts, kayaks, boats and bicycles. Or a couple who loves to cook may want a large kitchen, while young married professionals might prefer more space for entertaining.

Cochran also helps families think about long-term needs, such as designing a playroom that can be easily converted to a den as the children age or having dual master suites – one upstairs and one downstairs. The downstairs suite can serve as a guestroom and then the homeowners can use it as they age and don’t want to climb the stairs.

“We have worked with so many clients that have all different needs, so we can suggest things to homeowners they might not have even thought about,” Cochran says.

Thanks to the attached garage, many of us enter our homes through a side door, heading straight from the garage to the kitchen, laundry room or back hallway. The front door and entryway are reserved for guests and maybe some special decorations during the holiday season.

Even though you might not use it on a daily basis, your front door is important. It’s the first chance for your house to make a first impression. Think about when you pull up to a house you’ve never been to before, you don’t check out the garage and the side entrance first. You look at the front door, the windows, the porch and the overall curb appeal. That means when it comes to designing the front of your house, you need to give it plenty of attention and thought.

·         Decide if you prefer a large porch, a small overhang, columns or simply a few steps leading to the front door.

·         Match the style of the door itself to the rest of the house. If your house says comfy and country, don’t go all out on a front door with stained glass windows.

·         Make the front of your home welcoming, which means placing a focus on how the home “feels” when someone arrives, rather than overwhelming visitors – and yourself – with massive columns and grand arches.

·         Blend the public entryway – your porch or stoop – to the private entryway or foyer into your home. If the public sees a grand front porch from the street, carry that theme into the foyer.

·         Look at the surrounding landscape or your landscaping plans and how they will fit together. Are there large existing trees that may cover some of the front entrance, for example?

When helping our clients with the architectural design of their home, we want to make the front entrance eye-catching and appealing while keeping with the design and look of the rest of the house. It’s one way a design professional can be a great asset. We’re able craft an overall design for the house that carries from the front porch, through the front door and into the living space in a way that is beautiful, functional and seamless.

We realize the house is an extension of the homeowner, so we’re working to create that great first impression for both of them.