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.

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.

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. 

We’re seeing it with our clients who are scaling back on features such in-home theaters, surround sound and carefully hidden cables and cords.

Today, it’s more about creating a functional home and stretching the building budget. People are looking for ways to build homes that cost less. One way to do that is by creating shared spaces and multipurpose rooms.

Instead of having two separate guest rooms, an office and a media room, those spaces can be combined. Most people have guests only a half a dozen times a year, so it makes sense to put an extra bed or fold-out couch in your office. Or put a bed in the kids’ playroom and it makes a great space for your younger guests to spend the night.

In general, clients are looking to build a home that is smaller and more cost effective than the one they currently have. That means no wasted space and making the home as efficient as possible.

This is where we see many clients express an interest in making their homes green as a way to save money on water usage, energy and overall environmental impact. Clients really want us to research every possible way to make their houses green, but on their budget.

It’s important for us to talk with our clients to determine what is important in their lives and their priorities when it comes to building a new house. It may be that cost is the ultimate concern, so we plan for fewer windows or use two windows in a space instead of a pair of more costly French doors. Or, it may be that going green is a high priority, so we focus on how to build an efficient home on a budget.

Before approaching an architect, think about your priorities, your budget and your space needs. Our mission is to put all those together into a custom home you’ll want to live in for years to come.

When you live in a place as beautiful as the Lowcountry, you can’t help but spend lots of time outdoors. Along the coast, we continue to see a demand for outdoor rooms and living spaces that take advantage of marsh views and ocean breezes.

Particularly in this current economic climate, people are sticking close to home and curtailing their travel. This means finding a way to enjoy your time at home, and landscaping and outdoor rooms are a large part of that.

At our firm, we tend to design houses with a lot of outdoor space and porches, as well as lots of windows to maximize the views and continue to bring the outdoor feeling indoors.

An outdoor room can add significant value to a home. It becomes another useful space and adds to the homeowners’ quality of life. A typical 3,000-square-foot house can feel like a 4,000-square-foot house when an outdoor living space is factored into the home’s usefulness.

Many homeowners add outdoor kitchens and fireplaces to create an entire other room that has both aesthetic value and a high level of usefulness.

As you’re thinking about the design of your outdoor space, keep these tips in mind:

1. Make sure the outdoor spaces easily connect to the indoors. That indoor-to-outdoor connection is the most critical element. If an outdoor living space is tough to access or set apart from the rest of the house, it probably won’t get much use.

2. In the Lowcountry where mosquitoes are often referred to as the state bird, spending time outside could turn into an itchy aggravation. One option is installing an automatic insect spray system to keep the mosquitoes at bay. This eliminates the need for a screen that can obstruct your views.

3. Use care when selecting your outdoor furniture and equipment, such as a grill or outdoor cooking area. The salt in the air can quickly rust your new furniture or the fasteners in your chairs.

Interior architecture is about those little details, those finishing touches that give a house that “wow” factor. As architects, we don’t just figure out where to place the bedrooms and how to make the best use of closet space. We focus on continuity and the proportions. Often, in our work, we define spaces with interesting beams and ceiling design, but unless the details are harmonious and the proportions are correct, the entire balance of the space can get out of whack.  A comfortable summer cottage can lose its charm with heavy-handed formal beams and trim.

Coordination among the architectural beams, the cabinetry, the lighting and the plumbing were critical to the success of this kitchen. Had any one element been ignored, the focus would immediately shift to the element that was not symmetrical. Instead the balance achieved creates a harmonious and welcoming space.

In simple terms, our job is to make sure a house fits and flows. Dozens of hands touch a house during the building process. The builder handles the construction of the entire house, but then there’s a trim carpenter, a plumber, an electrician and a whole team just to put in the kitchen cabinets. It’s the job of the architect to bring consistency to all those various pieces.

For example, we pay attention to how the details of the wainscot in the living room complements the style of the cabinetry; whether a room’s sense of balance is thrown off-kilter by beams that are misaligned; and how the lighting works in the entire room. We’re coordinating all those efforts, so the end result is a beautiful home.

We architects first look at each room and make sure the interior design fits together in that one room. Then we look at each room in relationship to the other rooms and the house as a whole.

===

As pictured below, an old Sullivan’s Island cottage is transformed to a bright comfortable space well suited to today’s lifestyle. Though undergoing a major change, the basic comfortable cottage feel was retained by the use of simple trim details that stay true to the home’s island character.

You’ve just purchased an amazing home with a great view of the Atlantic Ocean. You can’t wait to enjoy those ocean breezes and multicolored sunsets. But, first you’re thinking of making some changes, maybe adding a master suite and another guest room to accommodate your friends and family.

Sounds simple, right? Well, maybe not, depending on just how much renovating you plan to do. It’s easy for homeowners to get excited about their renovation and addition plans and forget about those pesky little details like building codes.

Anyone who lives in a Lowcountry flood zone should pay close attention to building codes and flood ordinances. The FEMA flood ordinance has been in effect since the mid-1970s. Originally, houses were required to be elevated approximately 6 feet off the ground in a flood zone, but every few years the codes are reassessed and the building height requirement rises like the tide.

OK, so what does this have to do with adding on a room or two? It’s all about the 50-percent rule. Take the appraised value of your current structure, and if you’re spending more than half that value on your addition project, you have to bring the entire house – old and new – up to code. For example, if your house is appraised at $300,000 and you plan to spend more than $150,000 on the additions, you’d better get the whole house in line with the current codes.

Here’s an example of how your budget can take a real hit. The current FEMA flood ordinances often require oceanfront houses to be built 21 feet above the height of an average low tide. The average grade on a piece of oceanfront property is 8 feet above low tide, so that means the house would need to be built 13 feet in the air.

If you’re following that 50-percent rule and need to bring your house in line with current codes, you just might have to jack up your house, which might only be elevated 6 to 8 feet in the air, and build a whole new foundation to raise it up a few feet. That’s quite a big task – with quite a big budget.

Plus, it requires extensive design and planning to build a house that meets those requirements and looks aesthetically pleasing and proportional.

Your best bet is to first get in touch with a design professional. With a quick call to our office, we can help you understand the ordinances and figure out if you need to scale back or create plans to accommodate a bigger budget.

Whether it’s cleaning products, office supplies or food containers, just about everything comes in a green option. But when we’re designing and building houses, just how green can you be?

When we talk with clients about designing an environmentally friendly home, we focus on creating a high-performance structure, particularly on the Charleston coast where houses need to be designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and the potential window-rattling earthquake.

And with the air conditioning cranked up in July and August, you want a home that is energy efficient, ultimately costing less to cool in the summer and heat in the winter.

Making decisions to build a green home start long before selecting bamboo floors or dual-flush toilets. It means starting at the drawing board. Even a large home can be built efficiently if you take the time and effort to focus on the planning process.

Consider how the sun hits the home and design extended overhangs to create more shade. Spend more time on the placement of the mechanical systems, ensuring the unit is running at maximum efficiency.

Is the building envelope durable from the frame to the siding? Starting the green process at the beginning gives the house a cohesiveness that allows all systems – from the HVAC to the plumbing – to function together.

We work closely with clients, discussing the design and the budget and how to achieve a green home. It’s often those little things that turn a vision on a blueprint into a high-performance house.

And being green doesn’t always mean you have to make expensive choices. Yes, solar panels to heat your water are pricey, but you can make an equally important impact by putting 15-cent water flow restrictors on your shower heads. If you don’t have an endless budget, start with less expensive items and work your way up.

By putting some thought into green building before the hammer hits the first nail, you can achieve a high-performance house.