Groundbreaking!

It's here!  It's here! The day is finally here where we have begun to build our house in Three Runs!  It feels like it's been a long time coming, but in actual fact it's been about a year since we purchased our lot and started looking at floor plans. 

Looking Southeast from the Garage location towards the front of the house.

The Location: We were fortunate enough to find a lot in Three Runs Plantation that we loved - it's in one of the premier equestrian communities here in Aiken, in a great location within the development, and best of all, had gone to foreclosure and was owned by a local bank! So after a month or so of offers and counter-offers, we got a great deal on 5 cleared acres that were ready to build on!

The view from the homesite looking Northeast

The Floor Plan Search:  We combed through tons of books and websites, looking at plans.  After lots of imagining and scheming (guess who did which?) we landed on a few key criteria that we knew we wanted in our home:  an open floor plan, especially with the kitchen open to the living spaces, a downstairs master, a downstairs guest room (that's for you 'rents who we hope will come visit!) a media room and some flex space.  We were also looking at some things that would provide a courtyard feel at the back of the house that would shield the eventual pool from the riding trails at the back of the property.  In the end we landed on the Tucker Bayou floor plan by Looney Ricks Kiss that was featured by Southern Living as the 2007 Idea House (this link takes you to the Southern Living Home Plans site where you can see floor plans).  We made several modifications to the basic floor plan, the largest of which was attaching the detached garage, but our version is largely true to the original LRK design.

The Builder: We are graced with several fine, fine builders here in Aiken.  We didn't interview them all, but wound up talking seriously with three different builders before we contracted with Merry Custom Homes LLC, owned and operated by Mr. Philip Merry, for the construction.  Samantha met Philip when he showed a client of hers one of the homes that he had built.  After introducing him to John, we both loved the way he talked about building.  Philip shares our interest in the myriad of details that make the difference between a house and a home, and we are very excited about the path forward on this build.

Merry Custom Homes, LLC



 

The Process Part of picking the builder was, of course, budget.  We went to builders with our floor plan and asked whether they thought they could build this house within our budget.  It was a refreshing answer to hear Philip say , "Yes, I can.  And I think it would look really neat if it had...." His build was not confinced to bare bones, but allowed for wonderful, thoughtful details.  He gave us a cost to build the house and an a-la-carte option list of things that were on our wish list and how much each might cost.  That way we could decide whether the outdoor fireplace or the coffered (Hitchcock) ceiling in the dining room was more important.  He gave us the list of allowances that he had budgeted for, and we went to Aiken Lighting, Hughes Plumbing, Crawford Cabinets and other places, too, comparison shopping and seeing just how far that lighting budget really went, and could somebody really spend THAT much on cabinets?  This process took a while, but in the end we have been able to go into the build process knowing exactly what we could get for our budget, rather than hoping that we weren't going to go over budget TOO far.  Through it all Philip has been a fountain of information and super patient with us.