In need of an architect in Metro DC
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I just moved to the area and am exploring the potential for having a modernist home built. The challenge is that I am on a limited budget (a total of $400,000 or below), and need to stay within a commutable distance from downtown DC. Possibly Woodbridge, VA.
I am not looking for a huge house (under 2,000 sqft), and am willing to perform some of the finish work myself; at least to what my abilities will allow. I am also perfectly open to inventive uses of unconventional or mundane materials.
If anyone is an architect, or knows of one that may be willing to explore such an opportunity; I would appreciate it.
I currently live in Fairfax, VA and feel your pain. We are also longing to build or buy a modern home in this area with no luck so far. We have looked into buying and remodeling, which would cost at least $400K to even find a home to buy to remodel - leaving little to no money to renovate. The second option is to buy land and build a modern home (pre-fab preferably), but 1/4 acre of land will cost the same ($400K), again leaving no money to actually build anything.
The good news is that the real estate market in NOVA is on a downturn. We are hopeful that over the next 6 to 9 months, homes that cost $500K now will dip a 10% to 30%. That could open the door for a number of interesting projects.
If you find a modern architect or anyone with experience in the DC modern housing market - please let me know. We are still holding out hope that M. Kaufmann will find a factory in this area. We would find a foreclosure, knock it down and build a Breezehouse if that ever happened.
I just discovered this website and I'm so glad to find something to connect to other DC modernists (I know there are a few out there...).
I'm an architect and I designed and built my home-studio from scratch a year ago. I had found an empty lot in Brookland (Catholic U) for a good price and I ended up spending about $500,000 in the construction and the lot. I supervised the subs and did a lot of work myself (like installing radiant heating, painting, kitchen installation...), but it's a big house-3,500 sf and spent a lot in some things (cedar and concrete siding, bathroom fixtures, kitchen appliances, polished concrete floors), so I could have done it with less.
I have no experience with prefab (in my case I thought it would be less expensive to supervise subcontractors than to buy prefab). Drop me an email if you'd like to talk farther,
Previously Peter B wrote:
I just moved to the area and am exploring the potential for having a modernist home built. The challenge is that I am on a limited budget (a total of $400,000 or below), and need to stay within a commutable distance from downtown DC. Possibly Woodbridge, VA.
I am not looking for a huge house (under 2,000 sqft), and am willing to perform some of the finish work myself; at least to what my abilities will allow. I am also perfectly open to inventive uses of unconventional or mundane materials.
If anyone is an architect, or knows of one that may be willing to explore such an opportunity; I would appreciate it.
My wife and I are originally from the DC area, but moved to the West Coast (Portland, OR) about 8 years ago, and are now making plans to move back. Like you and the others in this thread, we are exploring the idea of buying land (or a tear-down property), in order to build a modern and possibly prefab home. (Ironically, MKD has a factory in Portland, which we won't be able to take advantage of...)
We are trying to find a property in the close-in DC areas, like Bethesda, Friendship Heights, etc., but as you probably know, there is very little available, and 99% of the properties that are available are snapped up by builders before coming onto the market, who then build $1.5Million traditional homes.
I was curious that you've mentioned foreclosure properties -- have you seriously pursued this? If so, I'd be interested in hearing your experiences with that, and what method you used to locate the properties.
Also, it looked like you had expressed some interest in the EcoSteel home plans. Have you gotten to the point of selecting a home plan? I'm particularly interested in hearing people's experiences with fully-finished prefab homes (like breezehouse, hive, res4, etc.) versus prefab home shells (like ecosteel), and how the actual timelines and costs compare.
Thanks,
Don P.
I have a very good Alexandria architect in mind for you. She understands modern because she lives in a modern house herself and has designed her own addition. I plan to use her for a modern carport. See her contact info below.
HEATHER ZACK WATENPAUGH, AIA
PRINCIPAL
Z-W A R C H I T E C T S
703-593-8136 office
703-347-6890 fax
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