Another spectacular house! Looks amazing!

Jim

Thanks for the question. Yes, we can design traditional post and beam. Most of our work has been 2×6 construction, with some post and beam thrown in for accents. Post and beam is a great look, and it’s easy to design given the right parameters.

Can you and your team build traditional post and beam construction?

Thanks for the comment. Hopefully I can eventually get some better photos than my amateur construction administration shots.

The manufactured stone is getting more and more realistic, though I still have a strong preference for the real thing. Much more “sexy” in my book. The manufacturers of the faux stone recommend you don’t get within 6-8″ of the soil, so it doesn’t look like it has any function unless you build the foundation out and up to the bottom of the stone. Some bury the stone into the ground, but I haven’t seen a cultured product that can withstand the elements for more than a few years. The manufactured stone has its advantages in that it’s much lighter and easier to apply. There is also a real stone called thin stone, that is much thinner than the common cut stone. This is also easy to apply because of the lighter weight. It is about the same price as the real stone from the supplier, but in some areas such as a chimney, you don’t have to provide as much of a base under it. Add that to the lighter weight and the installation costs make it less costly than the bulkier stone.

We do design smaller projects than this one. We’re currently designing a roughly 1,500 square foot home in Mexico. In general people are wanting to build smaller homes than they’d have wanted ten years ago, or even one year ago, based on baby boomers wanting to go smaller and the economy. The green movement and energy costs also play a factor in the equation. There are also some people who have lost a lot of money in the stock market and decide that they want to do a remodel to their existing home rather than build a new home. We design remodels as well.