Clearing in east hampton

I am building a house in EH now. Generally speaking, including your house - about 45% can be cleared. This formula changes based on size of your property. I have little over an acre. If you are building a "normal" size home, you will have plenty of sun for pool and room for a backyard. If you are building a 7000 sq ft mcmansion you will have an issue. I have been told they are pretty strict at CO time. Obviously you can do what you want after, but you will have a problem when it's time for resale.

Thanks! I was thinking 3600 sq foot house...with a pool and maybe a very very small pool house/cabana....nothing too crazy. My wife hates shadows on the pool so I just want to make sure that there is enough room to clear and have nice house with open backyard

The process of buying the land, finding architect, getting the permits etc seems so daunting.

i've done a lot of projects out east, so hope this advice helps:

you should consult an architect or environmental consultant BEFORE you buy. you can usually pay a nominal (if any) fee and they will do a basic study on wetlands, far, clearing, lot coverage, etc. you can also read the town code yourself. or you can also call the buildings department and set up a meeting. the town will usually have a survey on hand and the building inspector will review all these details with you. hire someone to do the permits for you because there are a lot of them. i've worked with a ton of different attorneys out east. the best, most reasonable billing, most efficient = tarbet lester & schoen. denise schoen also wrote a lot of the town code for east hampton when she worked on the boards there. do not hire en consultants. they suck and do nothing. i've seen roy haje just roll over in meetings when boards say no. you don't want someone who's a lapdog, you want someone who will advocate on your behalf.

do you want to work with a city or local architect? it doesn't matter which way you go even if people tell you otherwise. as long as you don't pick a jerk. for local, i recommend david sherwood (he's on the ARB in north haven, very nice, does good work). he works mostly in traditional vernacular. for contemporary, i like blaze makoid a lot as a person, but i don't love his work - too spaceship for me. but as long as you give good art direction, i think he'll be good to work with. for city, i highly recommend leroy street studio. they are amazingly talented and very client-focused. their caliber of work is beyond anyone else i've ever worked with. good luck.

also, you can do anything you want after you get the CofO, but when you go to sell, the next owner may have some issues getting the CofO recertified in his name if you've done tons of illegal clearing. the good news is that illegal clearing is easily rectified (plant some trees) versus something like an illegal guest house conversion. you could swap the tall trees for mid-height shrubs or evergreen screen. they may allow plants for plants. east hampton has a lot of environmental boards.

reed jones at amaden gay agency deals in insurance and also serves on one of the big boards. you may try contacting him for your insurance and also getting some tips on your property.

Wow, thats extremely helpful.

I have seen the survey and the land is already cleared to the max (ie roughly 50%). It looks like on the survey they did some type of analysis on the "test hole" which lists dark brown sand, pale brown etc. Do you think this existing survey means that i dont need to hire an environmental engineer? also, the town has already approved a 6 bedroom house. Does this basically mean that the land is buildable and set to go?

I was thinking about going with a local architect, we want more of a cliche hamptons traditional house. i spoke to sherwood but he doesnt use 3d modeling on a computer which just made me a little uncomfortable with me visualizing how its going to look. Sounds like you dont think thats a problem?

I thought the architect and builders get al the permits right?

I thought the order of operations was buy the land...deal with an architect to finalize the plans...contract with the builder...and thats it!

A higher end architect will do/coordinate everything. No matter what was previously done, you will need your own expeditors, surveyors, structural and septic engineers, etc etc., all of whom you have to pay. Thousands and thousands of dollars. I have gotten a lot of flak for this on another posting but I believe you must budget AT LEAST $400-450 per square foot ALL IN to build a well-designed and well-built house from scratch. And I am not talking fancy European finishes either!

No, David Sherwood is very thoughtful and flexible. Ask if he will do 2D renderings and/or have 3D renderings done at no upcharge to you (there are multiple services out there that do this). Or ask for a small discount on fees or something if it's that important to you. If you want a traditional house, you're not reinventing the wheel, so I don't think your massings will be that complex.

Unless you want to build exactly what was permitted, you have to kind of start over.

The architects/builders will help represent you at all the meetings and coordinate the permits. Or you can hire a separate person directly (an expeditor) to handle. Usually, the architects are hiring someone too, so you can save some $ paying direct.

That is the order of operations if you want to be very hands off. A little research prior to purchase will help you be sure that you can have everything you want. (e.g., if you want a 7000 sqft house, but zoning allows for 5000)

LKGSOH is right about the ALL IN cost. The only way to lower that is if you are actually a contractor and can be your own GC, avoiding all overheads. And if you use spec plans versus doing a from-scratch design. Guess why those developer spc homes all look exactly the same? Or why Joe Farrell always builds the same house with those ugly gambrel roof lines?

glad to be of help and good luck.

Thanks again. On cost...if im being quoted $250 a foot by the builder, which includes the appliances, pool, windows etc...and the architect costs 30,000...how does the house end up costing $450 per foot? I didnt think permits and inspections were that much at all?

If land is call it 700,000....and Im getting quoted 250 per foot....then a 4000 sq foot total project cost, i would think, would come out to around 1.85mm (1mm for the house, 700 for land, 150k for legal, architect, permits etc)

Am i missing something?

I would lower the 150k amount to 100k, but increase the builder quote by 20%, because there will always be some unexpected cost overruns or extras you want to add along the way...so all in it is 2mm

I am being very honest here. In the Hamptons - if someone is quoting you $250 a sq foot ALL IN (ie, design, construction, surveys, engineers, expeditors, permits, pool, cabana, septic, landscaping) - it is cheap construction. Further, a $30K architect is not going to be very good/creative. That will get you a cookie-cutter house. By the way, I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with that. If you buy one acre for $400,000, obviously you would not build a $450/sq ft house there as presumably the location would not merit it. Similarly, if you bought property in Sagaponack on the ocean - you would spend way more than $450 per square foot because the fancy location merits a fancy house. I am just saying that if you have a nice location/property you will need to spend some bucks to build a commensurate house.

can anyone recommend someone in the hamptons to
1. clear land
2. build a vinyl pool
3. build a deck
4. reinforce floor joists
5. paint the interior of our house
6. install a gas outdoor fireplace.
7. basically help me with all sorts of renovation jobs,
thanks, alex

BobF
If you have not yet selected an architect, I'm a registered architect and would be very pleased to speak with you. i work with highly realistic and complex 3D models which i believe provide the designer and the client with a very thorough understanding of what the final building will be. It's not an extra cost, but it does dilute my profit;-) Worth it if we can reduce changes and other aggravations.
Doug
doug@dma-nyc.com