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