There are many factors to consider when designing your new home, and it's important to avoid the mistake of putting time and money into a project that doesn't please you in the end. By listening carefully to you and applying my 35+ years of experience in residential building, I can help put together all the pieces of your puzzle to give you a home that fits your specific lifestyle and provides years of enjoyment. An example is below:

SOUTHWEST Michigan - A retired couple desired to return to a simpler life by converting seven acres of soybeans into a small working hobby farm. This included building a new bungalow style home to overlook their man-made pond. The downsized floor plan was designed with master bedroom suites on both floors, so that the couple could relocate to the first floor, if needed in the future. Traditional living/dining/kitchen areas were combined with a first floor laundry and large three-season porch, which faces the pond. A separate enclosed garage was attached to the house by way of a covered breezeway.

Energy efficiency was an integral part of the building program. Exterior walls and roofs were constructed of prefabricated structural insulated panels (SIPS), which are 8" thick plywood-sheathed solid foam panels, shipped to the site and erected with a crane. Basement walls are prefabricated insulated concrete panels erected at the jobsite. Combined with the energy efficient windows and a geothermal heat pump, the home uses a fraction of normal utility costs year round.

Let me design a home for you that will complement your lifestyle...Click here to send me an email, or call me at 269.321.1890!

Credits:
Dale Layman Construction
Berrien Springs, MI
Nehil-Sivak, Structural Engineers
Kalamazoo, MI
Mary Quinn, Interior Designer
Kalamazoo, MI

Remodeling your home can be extremely rewarding. Many people assume that they need to add square footage to get the house of their dreams, but this can sometimes lead to a dysfunctional layout, or underutilized spaces. There may already be enough room available in your house to achieve your goals by doing some creative reconfiguring. Read below for an example of one such project:

SOUTHWEST Michigan - A hundred-year-old cottage located on a Lake Michigan marina was in need of major remodeling. Circulation patterns were awkward and stairways were dangerously steep, the best views of the marina were hidden from inside the house by existing roof lines, and third floor bedrooms were terrible head knockers from being forced under the same roof.

The solution was to “tip up” the main roof, so that windows and doors could be installed across a new second floor living room wall, creating an almost 180-degree panoramic view of marina and town beyond. Unsafe stairways were removed and code-compliant ones were stacked along one wall, a circular steel stair was added between rebuilt porches, resulting in unique two-story screened-in areas. Interior floor supports were removed and replaced by a 30-foot-long steel beam, leaving rebuilt floor framing exposed and painted white, to create an airy, light-filled room which now serves as the backdrop for spectacular views outside.

Let me reconfigure your home...and your lifestyle! Click here to send me an email, or call me at 269.321.1890

Credits:
Nehil-Sivak, Structural Engineers
Kalamazoo, MI
Blok Builders, Inc.
Kalamazoo, MI
Mary Quinn, Interior Designer
Kalamazoo, MI

Home additions often present unique challenges that may not have obvious solutions. AB2 can offer ideas that you may not have come up with on your own. Read below for just one example:

SOUTHWEST Michigan - A Chicago couple who own a summer home on this side of Lake Michigan desired to add a year-round guest house to accommodate their growing family and friends. The design had to be sympathetic to their adjacent home, a well-maintained 50’s contemporary redwood-and-glass retreat. Above all, it was to be an open, airy space that took advantage of our spectacular Lake Michigan sunsets. Zoning requirements dictated that any "guest house" be attached to the adjacent home, lest it constitute two dwellings on the same property. A direct attachment to the home, however, would not only have been restricted by Michigan’s Critical Dune Protection laws, but also would have cut off the only remaining outside access to the lakefront yard and patio. The solution was to keep the guest house a comfortable distance away from the existing structure, but meet the attachment requirement by connecting it to an existing roof deck by way of a suspended foot bridge. Lakefront access is maintained under the bridge, through a lush garden area.

Perhaps you have design issues that could benefit from a fresh look and innovative solution... Click here to send me an email, or give me a call at 269.321.1890!

Credits:
Nehil-Sivak, Structural Engineers
Kalamazoo, MI
Dennis Olson, Lakeland Builders
South Haven, MI
Jeff Mitchell Photography
Kalamazoo, MI