Online idea exchanges like Pinterest and Houzz are great resources for inspiration. There's so much information on these sites that is easily gathered, collected, and used by clients to create wish lists of images that need to be included in their "dream home". However, as an architect, I feel it is my duty to point out to my clients and all of you: Use with caution! The disparate images served by search terms may represent homes from all over the country -- or even all ove

How high is high enough? Here on Long Beach Island, it's a Post-Sandy reality where the prime directive is to get all new homes and renovations above the new Base Flood Elevations (BFE). Part of the challenge in doing something so sensible is that the BFE has been a moving target. The magic number determined by FEMA as the minimum height required to raise one's home has changed at least three times since Sandy revealed how vulnerable the Jersey Shore is to flooding. The first

Back in 1876 Abraham Weston referred to New Jersey as "The Garden State" during the Centennial Exhibition, and the name stuck. If we were to give N.J. a new nickname in 2014, I would nominate "The Low-Maintenance State" as a fairly accurate description, at least as far as our approach to construction. Over the past twenty years the construction industry's methods of building have evolved to incorporate the emerging line of low-maintenance materials that are the result of the

Some people believe they can compare builders by asking how much they cost "per foot." They believe that building houses is like commodities trading: the items are all the same, so find the least expensive, right? To do this, many buyers compare the "square foot costs" of each builder, often searched through the Internet, whether building in the buyer's housing market or not. Here is what I tell all of my clients: Square foot costs are wrong indicators of the value of a buil

"Looking at it from the outside, its cottage-like appearance makes it hard to imagine that there are 2800 square feet of living space under its gambrel roof. The first floor consists of a living room, kitchen, dining room, mudroom, master suite and office. On the second floor, there are three spacious bedrooms. There are a total of 3½ baths. The detached one-car garage, which has the same siding and rooflines as the main house, brings the old beach house theme all together. I

We have over twenty years experience in working with narrow lots and difficult sites as the Jersey Shore's Premier LBI Architect/ LBI Builder since 1990. The Jersey Shore is a densely populated area that is mostly made up of 40’, 50’ and 60’ wide lots. We’ve had great success in designing exciting floor plans that meet our clients’ needs, and look great from the outside to appeal to a broad base of buyers. Towns along the Jersey Shore are filled with smaller sized lots. In