Building a home is an exciting project almost everyone wishes they could experience. It takes a bit of work finding a suitable location, enlisting architects and contractors, and choosing the materials you want for your home.
Building a beach house doesn’t differ significantly from building a home in the suburbs. It takes up to fifteen months to design and build a 3,000 square foot home. The larger you’d like your home to be, the longer the process. Construction depends on the availability of materials and a contractor.
You may be required to obtain additional permits – such as the Coastal Area Management Act Permit (CAMA). You will need to consider several important things when starting the process of building a beach house, such as the weather and longevity of how long you plan to live in your beach house.
What Process Goes Into Building A Beach House
Before you can lay concrete in the ground for your dream beach house, there is a process you need to follow. Finding the right location is essential, and having a good real estate agent is a great place to start.
Having an idea for what you want your house to look like will impact where you build it. You will likely need to obtain permits if your location falls under the Areas of Environmental Concern. The Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) will require you to obtain a permit which will determine how wide and deep you can build your house.
CAMA is a vital environmental Act to protect the local environment and wildlife, and it regulates coastal development and government-protected areas. CAMA ensures that no local construction interferes with the protected environment.
Depending on which city and where you want to build your beach house, these restrictions could differ, and the process to have them approved will vary in the length of time it takes to obtain the required permits.
When looking for locations, it’s important to bring this up with your realtor and, if necessary, consult a property lawyer who can guide you more clearly. After you have purchased the perfect piece of land, you can begin the next step in the process of building a home.
Having a reliable team to build your home is important. You will need a registered architect to design the layout and specifications of what you hope to achieve. Having an architect you trust to design what you dream is essential. A well-respected and professional architect will be able to take criticism on the chin and adjust your designs if you are unhappy. They will also be honest with you about how practical your designs are.
Once you are happy with the final designs of your house, you will need to find a contractor to build the structure and carry out the architect’s design. Building your beach house is the longest part of the process.
As a rule of thumb, a 3,000 square meter house will take about eight to ten months to build for construction alone. Construction can take twelve to thirteen months for a 6,000 square meter house, and if you’re building a 10,000 square meter home, the construction time can take between nineteen to twenty-one months to build.
It would be best to also consider the time it would take to prepare the land by demolishing old structures and removing debris, trees, and plant life and factor this into the total time it would take for your house to be ready.
The building of your beach can be delayed due to market conditions, especially if the finishes you want are out of stock or on backorder. This is especially true following the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused delays expected to last through 2022.
Tips To Make Building A Beach House Less Stressful
Being prepared and doing your research is vital. Speak to realtors and professionals who understand which requirements you will need to meet before choosing the piece of land where you want to build your beach house.
It will be frustrating and detrimental if you buy a piece of land without doing your homework, only to find out there are permits and legal requirements you need to meet before you can begin building.
Another important factor to take into account when looking for a location is the market value. You don’t want to build a beautiful, luxury house in an area where the resale value won’t match the investment you put into the house to build it.
The weather in the area will impact the building materials you can use. For example, exposed metal is prone to developing rust when it comes into contact with salty air and moisture – concrete and cedar are aesthetically pleasing and durable alternatives.
It’s vital that you give thought to the possibility of floods, hurricanes, and strong winds. The base structure of the house will need to be engineered to ensure that it can withstand the full load of your home. Certain insurance offer discounted home insurance rates for hip and low sloped roofs.
Reinforcing your windows, doors, and garage doors ensure that damage is kept to a minimum during extreme winds, storms, and hurricanes.
The property’s maintenance should also be considered before you begin building the structure. Choosing materials that are easy to look after and don’t require significant effort and money to maintain are best. Wood is durable, as is metal. It’s crucial to ensure both have the required treatments applied regularly to avoid their deterioration.
Green living is a popular trend that can save you more money in the long run. Installing solar panels is a costly investment that will pay off over the years to come and help you contribute to the end of climate change.
Looking at the homes in the area you aim to build in is an excellent way to establish more durable structures in the location’s climate. Consider what you want your outside and entertainment area to look like and discuss this with your architect.
A beach house is usually intended for vacations, renting out the accommodation to holiday goers and reselling the property. Building for functionality is essential; making aesthetics fit into functionality is a skill.
In Conclusion
Building a beach is an exciting process that requires a big time investment. Despite this, you can create the home of your dreams from the ground up. The effort will be worth it when you see the beautiful home in front of you.
The length of the entire process, starting from finding a piece of land to opening the front door to your beach house, depends on how big you want your house to be. The bigger you want your house to be, the more time it takes to build.
References
- https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-house/
- https://2x4designs.com/blogref/2018/9/6/things-to-consider-when-building-a-beach-house
- https://www.newsweek.com/amplify/9-things-consider-when-building-vacation-home-beach
- https://hagenhomes.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-custom-home
