FAQS

It will vary greatly from project to project. A high-end single-family home like the ones we build can cost from $455 to $845 per square foot for the living area and approximately, $358 to $585 for the nonliving areas. These numbers, however, can be higher depending on design, land conditions, and customer choices. Then add for the site work like the pool $84,500 to $300,000, paving and decking $65,000 to $260,000, landscaping $52,000 to $200,000, perimeter fencing/walls $13,000 to $130,000, civil drainage $13,000 to $52,000, seawall and dock $91,000 to $325,000. These numbers are subject to change and are based on our current contracts that we have won, after bidding against 2 to 5 contractors per job. Construction costs are higher in hurricane zones, but a newly built house will give you much more comfort when the next hurricane threatens. It will also be more energy efficient and your insurance costs will be substantially lower than an older home.

This varies from project to project; but roughly 16 to 20 months of construction for a new home. This also varies depending on the size and complexity of the house. Any major changes made by the owner and interior design team in the middle of the project can dramatically alter the timeline. The Architect can take about 4 to 6 months to get a full set of Architectural and Engineering drawings completed. Once these are signed and sealed, we would submit those to the applicable building department. Plan review takes between 4 to 8 months. This can also vary greatly depending on the complexity, or accuracy of the plans submitted and what city we are building in. For example, the cities of Fort Lauderdale and Boca are on the quicker side for plan review. While the cities of Lighthouse Point and Hollywood tend to be on the longer side. The cities of Miami and Miami Beach can take up to a year. We do have our own in-house permitting team which is well-versed in the idiosyncrasies of most cities in the tri-county area to help expedite the process.  We also recommend submitting a Foundation Permit, if your city allows it. This takes about 2 months to receive. This normally allows us to start pilings, foundations, underground plumbing, and slab a couple of months ahead of the Master Permit being issued. There are dock and pool permits that would also need to be submitted at the same time, but these items do not normally affect the critical path.

Renovations vary depending on the extent of work needing to be done. We only do major renovations that encompass gutting most of the home. Extensive entire house renovations and/or major additions should take around 12 to 14 months to complete. This will also vary depending on the client’s finish choices and selections.

If an Interior Designer is needed, we recommend engaging them early so that their ID Drawings don’t hold up our production and material schedule.

Here at Paterson Project Management, we provide our clients with a very detailed online schedule to follow using, Buildertrend, a project management software. A very transparent process that allows clients to access their project’s progress right at their fingertips. Buildertrend can be viewed on any desktop or mobile device, making it very accessible for our clients, especially while working and/or traveling. Clients can interact with our schedule and staff online and know exactly what’s going on at all times. From Daily Logs with photos and videos, to Change Orders requested by clients, to a detailed color-coded Schedule In-List, Calendar, or Gant form where clients can see how each scheduled item interacts with another.

It is best if you have both so that they may coordinate and work together to design your perfect house for the correct price. However, an architect would be the first step. We can refer you to one, if needed, and help walk you through this process very easily.

Paterson Project Management doesn’t get paid until we start actual construction. But as a goodwill service, we will help you from the beginning. We can set you up with Architects and Engineers and be with you at all meetings to discuss the design of your house. We will help you facilitate everything needed right from the moment you think you want to build a new home. After your plans are completed, we can give you an accurate, very detailed proposal to build. Only if we actually win the bid, do we start to get paid. All the effort we put into your project before that point is free. We understand this is a daunting task, so we try make it easy and pleasurable for you. We also understand that after we present our bid and compete against other bidders, that we may not win the job. However, this time gives you many months to get to know who we are and how we work before you are made to enter into any long-term construction contract.

Plans and permits are the responsibility of the Architect and Homeowner. However, Paterson Project Management offers permit running and plan expediting services to make it as convenient as possible for our clients. We maintain a staff of in-house permit and plan runners who are familiar with this very detailed process and work across 10 different cities and 3 Counties in South Florida.

Most of the time renovation and doing additions is the quicker and cheaper route. Obviously, this can vary from project to project. It also depends on what you are looking for in the end result. However, we don’t do minor renovations.

Some points to think about if you are considering renovating your home are: What age is your home? What is the elevation of the finish floor? Are you ready for sea level rise that is already affecting our lower lying communities? If you spend too much money on a large renovation, are you going to price your house out of the market?

We are finding that it is easier and better to demolish smaller, older homes and build new, higher elevation, stronger and more energy efficient homes. Your real-estate value will be much higher than if you simply renovated an old home and did major additions. After doing this analysis with clients, 90% of the time we are ending up demolishing the home and building new. Your insurance rates will also drop dramatically on a new home built to all today’s current building, zoning and FEMA regulations.

We typically build new homes and don’t do minor renovations, but the process is as follows: The architect will determine how much the house must be brought up to code. Generally, if you are renovating up to 25% of the value of your home structure not including land (this value is found on you County Appraisers website), a small amount of code updates are called for. If you are renovating between 25% to 50%, a few more will be needed. More than 50% will require the entire house to be brought up to code as best as possible. This will all be noted on the plans from the architect and if the city requires more updating, they will point it out to us during the City Plan Review process. We do always recommend upgrading your exterior windows and doors to be Hurricane Impact products as the first step.

This fact is what is forcing allot of homeowners to demolish and build new homes. Our new building, zoning and FEMA regulations have changed so much and are so strict today that it very often it does not make sense to renovate older, smaller homes.

We can usually start projects quickly, but we find that most of our customers are not ready for us to start upon accepting our bids. We generally wait on the architects plans or city approvals longer than anything else. The quicker we get brought on board your project, the sooner we can start facilitating the many moving pieces.

Hire a competent Architect! This is the most important person in this process. The Architect cost is a very small fraction of the overall cost of this process, but they have the ability to affect the overall cost the most. More than the builder actually. The Architect oversees and is responsible for his Draftsman, Structural Engineer, Mechanical, Plumbing, Electrical and Gas Engineer, Civil Engineer, and Landscape, Irrigation and Lighting Designer. Once the Architect has designed your dream home, he/she has to make sure that they hire competent consultants as listed, to ensure a good complete design. The General Contractor has to bid and build per these designs. So the better these plans are, the better your final product will be. Don’t hire the cheapest Architect, hire the right one.

A Structural Engineer once said something to me that resonates, “It’s easy to design the biggest, strongest and most expensive design possible. What makes my job difficult is to come up with the right design, with the correct strength or use, that costs the correct amount to build. That takes careful consideration and calculations.” My point is that too often clients try to save a few thousand or ten thousand dollars on an Architect and their Engineers, but end up costing tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands more on the final product because of this. Get references from a builder who has worked with plans from the Architect before hiring them. The builders are the ones who have to make these plans a reality, so they will be in the best position to give references.

Once you have a good set of plans, everything else is easy.

Also, if you plan to use an Interior Designer or Owners Representative, bring them on early in the process. You don’t necessarily need them, we can handle everything needed, but if you choose to, their involvement should start once the plans are complete and approved by you.

Good Luck!