Weeks 8 and 9 – Final Lot Selection and Advancing the Custom Architecture

We have finally selected the lot on which we will build our custom home.  The lot is in the northern edge of what one might consider Milton, GA or Alpharetta in Cherokee County.  We looked at many lots as well as several tracts of undeveloped land but ultimately decided on a location within a subdivision due to the architectural controls but without lots of amenities due to the high HOA fees that tend to go along with an overly branded mega-subdivision such as White Columns, Blue Valley, Echelon (The Georgia Tech Club), The Manor, Country Club of the South, River Club, etc.  There are a lot of subdivision options in the Milton / Alpharetta area that have done well preserving the natural charm of the area and do not force amenities on the buyer, such as Lake Haven at Crabapple, Six Hills, Blackberry Ridge, The Oaks at Crabapple, etc. 

The rural location is ideal for building a countryesque custom home with a large yard and private outdoor areas as well as the other features we desire in a custom home.  The all-in cost analysis provided by Artisan Custom Estates was invaluable because the list price of the lot we selected compared unfavorably to several other options and we nearly ruled it out, but when the full cost was evaluated (including supplemental dirt, erosion control, landscaping considerations, etc) this lot was not only preferred but also less expensive.

We also had two incremental meetings with our architect from Caldwell Cline in Marietta, both attended by the builder / project manager from Artisan Custom Estates.  The involvement of Artisan Custom Estates throughout each aspect of the planning and lot selection give me confidence that they completely understand our vision as we near the start of construction of our custom home.  The custom architecture has now definitively taken shape and includes a huge wrap around front porch (which suits the hilltop lot especially well), a two-story great room with a stone fireplace from floor to ceiling, an open kitchen / breakfast area / keeping room combination, a mudroom with lockers for each of our children, a second laundry room upstairs, and a separate structure for Bill’s office.  Our custom architecture was certainly expedited by Caldwell Cline due to the general slowdown in the housing market, so this part of the process has likely taken several fewer weeks than under normal circumstances.

We expect that we will have the final version of the custom architecture in a couple more weeks.  The site planners, which are engineering firms that combine the architectural footprint and the lot survey to create the lot configuration, are already beginning to prepare the information we will need to pull construction permits in Alpharetta / Cherokee County.  There is also a final architectural review board signoff that must be obtained from the HOA of our new subdivision.  Artisan Custom Estates has coordinated every technical aspect of preparing the site plan and construction permit application and has served as our advocate with the architectural review board.  We should be ready to begin construction within a few weeks of Caldwell Cline’s completion of the custom architecture.

As Americans age, our lifestyles require a wide array of accommodations from our surroundings.  With the oldest of nearly 80 million Baby Boomers turning 62 in 2008, perhaps no aspect of our lives needs to more specifically account for aging than the configuration of our homes.  The best point in the home building process to account for the special needs of aging is during the design phase.  This design theme, called “visitability”, is increasingly a consideration regardless of a buyer’s age.  In the future, particularly in Georgia, visitability could become more than a logical approach to custom home design, it may become law for new homes.

 Many of Artisan Custom Estates’ clients are Baby Boomers seeking to create a home within which they will spend a huge percentage of the balance of their lives as they seek to live independently as long as possible.  While Artisan’s clients run the gambit from young professionals and pro athletes to aging seniors, a common client profile is a familiar American story: empty nesters with the need to accommodate both a large number of visitors (i.e. grandkids) and aging parents. 

To our clients who fit this Boomer profile, visitability is a necessity and Artisan Custom Estates works closely with clients to include these design features from the very beginning.  Some specific design considerations to maximize visitability include:

• Zero step entry at one (at least) of the entrances to the home
• Wide doorways and shower entries to accommodate wheelchairs
• Light switches and electrical outlets at wheelchair level
• Reinforced bathroom walls to support grab bars
• Lever door handles rather than doorknobs

These simple features can usually be included in a custom designed home for as little as $200 to $1,000.  Another important general consideration is bathroom access on the main entry level, but due to the average price point of Artisan Custom Estates’ projects this is assumed.  Many clients also seek to design elevators into custom homes and others want single-level floor plans.  Bottomline: clients simply want to know that they can invite anyone to their home and make any guest comfortable.

Artisan Custom Estates works closely with clients to capture their vision for their ideal custom home.  Far more than a builder, we provide a full array of project management and planning resources to bring that vision to reality.  Contact Artisan Custom Estates for a free consultation at info@artisancustomestates.com or 404.386.4731.

** Artisan Custom Estates requested that one of our custom home clients document their experiences in a journal to provide a roadmap of the process for future clients to better understand what to expect from the experience.  That project is now complete and their family is now enjoying the home that they designed and constructed with Artisan Custom Estates.  We will now begin publishing the clients’ journal as a blog with some omissions to protect their privacy.  We hope you find these blog entries informative.  Please contact Artisan Custom Estates (info@artisancustomestates.com) if you would like more detail on any particular portion of the journal or the custom home process in general. **

 Week 1 – A New Opportunity

Hello!  Our names are Bill and Louise and we are residents of Atlanta.  We have spent the last several months looking for our ideal home in the North Atlanta suburbs.  Specifically, we scoured Alpharetta and Milton looking for “the one”.  As a result of our diligence, we identified a particularly ideal swath of northwest Fulton County known as Crabapple.  Ours is a common story in that we both grew up in rural settings but our professional lives led us to the city after college.  Now that we have small children, we want them to be able to enjoy a childhood in the wide-open spaces and clean air of north Georgia rather than the congestion and traffic of the metro area.

After looking at a multitude of existing homes (both new specs and resales) in our target area of Milton / Alpharetta, we assembled a great many ideas as to the attributes that we would like (and not like) in our ideal luxury home.  However, we never felt compelled to buy anything that we toured.  There was always something substantive that we would have added or changed about the home, or the home was great but the property was lacking. 

We recently took an inventory of what we had learned after a couple of months.  First, we had firmly decided on a custom home in Alpharetta / Milton area and Crabapple specifically.  Second, we knew what we were looking for in a lot: good size for a yard (1+ acre), privacy, and the ability to add a pool as the kids get older.  Finally, we knew generally what we were looking for in a custom floor plan (openness, long sight lines) as well as the style of the elevation.  It was at this point that we decided to explore the option of building a custom home in Alpharetta into which we could incorporate all of our accumulated ideas.

We then set out to identify the right Alpharetta custom home builder to transform our loosely defined vision into a reality.  A few potential luxury home builders came immediately to mind based on the homes we had already seen.  A few weeks ago, we selected Artisan Custom Estates as our builder.  We fell in love with their style, had great chemistry with the Artisan Custom Estates team, and felt good that they would be the right business partners in what will be a very significant investment.

Artisan Custom Estates has asked that we document a journal of our experience as a roadmap for other folks who are interested in building a custom home that is uniquely theirs.  Artisan estimates that the entire process including land selection, custom architecture development, and the actual construction process will take approximately one year.  So, we will call our journal “52 Weeks of Building a Custom Home in Alpharetta”. 

We are so excited to be getting started! – Bill