Cottage 5 -- For Sale!
Cottage 5 is another attempt by Catskill Farms to enable more people to buy that get-away home. 1 bedroom, fireplace, wide plank floors, 2 acres, vaulted ceilings, and a full basement to build-out when the wallet allows. Did I mention the brook running through the property? And the price is less than $200k? My first home in Sullivan County was a 600 sf shack in the woods, and we lived there for 4 years as I built Catskill Farms. Plenty of space, even at Thanksgiving when everyone brought their kids and dogs. I was very tempted to call this mini-cottage series "The Shack Series", but wasn't sure if prospective homeowners would appreciate it. I believe the McMansion/Hummer era is coming to an end - and reasonable, intimate spaces will be in vogue for many years to come.
Catskill Farms Builds Farmhouses and Cottages in Sullivan County
Well, for better or worse, we're bloggin'. My thinking is that reading about design and construction, seeing pictures, watching the progress of a sketch become a home is a good spectator sport, and since we are immersed in the world of contractors, subcontractors, building inspectors, zoning boards and architects, it may just help those who eventually go out and build something. The one truism about house building, renovation and restoration is that most people only get to do it once or twice in their lives. And the first time is often nothing more than a painful learning curve that leaves you yearning to do it again so all the lessons you've just learned can be put to work. Unfortunately, the house is finished (or nearly), the money is gone, and the lessons have been bought and paid for. Design and Construction is an adventure - the personalities, the weather, the logistics, the problems and the glory. We're going to bring it to you live - straight from the backhills of Sullivan County.
New Home Construction Competition
All new construction is not the same. I know - I've been building and learning and improving for 20 years. So when I see these new 'builders' and one-off designers selling new homes for eye popping prices, I reflect on all the risk to the buyer, since all new construction is not the same, since I know, I've building and designing and improving for 2 decades and I now my learning curve has been constant.
But in the Catskills, since new construction is a new concept and realtors not really that read up on intricacies of the differences between one and the other, it occured to me, now that there is a little competition , that Catskill Farms is once again pretty equipped to compete head on with this new vs new comparision - in fact, it's in our best interest to highlight our quality, our 'under the hood, hard to see' product decisions, and to raise the bar for buyer education and open to their eyes to what 'quality', 'warranty' and 'experience' means on the biggest investment of their lives. There is, simply, a big difference between someone doing it every day for twenty years and someone who hasn't been doing it every day for twenty years.
It could be the HVAC system, and the uniform comfort it provides (or doesn't), the quality of the paint, the flashing, the insulation and efficiency that provides moment to moment satisfaction. The number of heat zones, the type of hot water heater, the level of HVAC efficiency, floor stain, etc... The decisions of new construction are many, are important and are easily made from the pocketbook impact rather than the client experience vantage. From our 2 decade perch, the client experience and the pocket book impact have significant synergies and parallels.
Currently, if you have a chance to buy or bid on new construction, the driving component is the look and feel. No one asks, or can afford to ask, too many questions about the ingredients of that new construction since there isn't another option that comes close to meeting the aesthetic requirements of the buyer and there is another buyer waiting in the wings for this unique offering. But if the house is a problem house, a new house with as many problems as an older home, if that happens I'd say it's more draining than the problems of an older house since the expectation was the home would work, and work well, and if not, someone would magically fix it.
To find out your insulation sucks, your mechanicals are off brand, your well pump is the cheapest on the shelf, your basement gets wet, your paint peels in 2 years, and you can't run 2 showers at the same time - these are things I think our homes are well-positioned to shout out and be proud of. I saw a home of one of our competitors just go into contract in Narrowsburg at a big price, and every single wood knot in the house had bled through the paint. If such a simple thing such as proper knot sealing was executed poorly, it makes you wonder what else is lurking half-assed.
This isn't to say we are perfect. Far from it. In fact, it's to say the exact opposite - that construction is complicated, impacted by weather, and no matter how good you are, no matter how hard you try, shit goes wrong. Sometimes serious shit, And that's when it really matters who built your home.
