steps

Many established seashore communities are very densely developed with old, small homes. To build a new home, the best option for many people is to demolish one of these older homes to make way for their new home. However, the challenge when rebuilding a seashore home is to complete all planning, design, demolition and construction in a timely manner during an off-season, so to not miss the upcoming summer kick-off in your new home. If this path of tear-down and re-build appeals to you, here is the typical process you may expect, step by step, from assessing your site building potential to the completion of your new home.
Step 1: Site Assessment
Site assessment requires a basic knowledge of your lot size, configuration, deed restrictions, physical limitations (either on your lot or nearby, which may also affect your lot), land use regulation and existing utility connections. These basic issues will yield the building envelope in which you may legally design and build your new home. You could expect to complete the site assessment within a month or two under the guidance of either a qualified builder or civil engineer. Some modular builders include this service within their normal scope of work, which could save you money.
Step 2: Footprint Design
With the building envelope determined, foot print design entails fitting your building floor plan and any ancillary improvements within that envelope. To protrude beyond your building envelop will typically require land use variances. The allocation of the total square footage of your desired new home needs to be made between your living floors. You will need to decide whether you wish to have a garage. Balconies, decks, porches, overhangs generally need to be included in your footprint. The orientation of your building to your lot amenities (water frontage, view corridors towards water, marshland, sanctuaries being most typical) and the orientation to the sun and prevailing breezes will govern how your home will be situated on your site. You could expect to complete the site assessment within a month or two under the guidance of either a qualified builder, civil engineer or architect.
Step 3: Interior Floor Plan Design
With the foot print established, you should now turn your attention to interior floor plan. You will need to assess your lifestyle and essential needs, considering the total number, sizes and character of your rooms and the relationship each bears to each other. You could expect to complete the site assessment within a month or two under the guidance of either a qualified builder or architect. A strong word of advice: either your should be approved by your selected manufacturer or your architect must understand the manufacturing design parameters.
Step 4: Exterior Architectural Design
As you work through your interior floor plan with the professional you selected in Step 3, you will most likely be asked your general taste in architectural style. The floor plan should not dictate exterior style. You will need to review roof lines, wall breaks, bump-outs, window sizes and styles, overhangs and trim details; all will impact your final architectural style. The finalization of exterior design could come together in just a few design sessions; highly customized architectural styles often require two or three times as many sessions.
Step 5: Order/Build the Modular Building Components
Provided your final plans have been configured for modular manufacturing, most manufacturers typically require six weeks to deliver the modular components. If you have retained an architect to complete your design, most likely the manufacturer will first need to conform that design into its design system. Make certain that you are legally entitled to build your designed home before finalizing your manufacturing order.
Step 6: Permitting
You may elect to hire either a permit expediter or your builder to secure your building permits. There is no definitive timetable for this step; all municipalities will have their own timetable for processing your application. My advice here is to check with the town in which you wish to build; cooperative towns will share their recent experience in processing similar requests.
Step 7: Demolition and Foundation Installation
These two items may be consolidated into a single step due to efficiency, depending on your foundation system. If you will have a traditional foundation, a very time and cost effective means to complete this step is for your builder to employ the same contractor to demolish the existing home and to excavate for your foundation. However, if your new home will require pilings, your builder will likely employ a marine contractor to install your piling foundation system. Either way, this step can be completed within two to three weeks, allowing normal time for municipal inspections.
Step 8: The House Set
Within just a few days after the finalization of the foundation, you can expect your modular components to …