Leading the Way 

February 2005

The Fox Valley Has Been Waiting for This

Have you been looking for a lot on which to build your high-end, custom home in the Fox Valley only to end up feeling like there is not a subdivision in the area that gets you excited about the idea? Well so have we. Until now….

For several years we have been eagerly anticipating the opening of Apple Hill Farms on the North side of Appleton (based on the long waiting list and fast sales pace it is obvious that many others have been too). You may have already heard about Apple Hill Farms which is being developed on the large piece of land that was owned by the Purdy family. It is quite different from anything that we’ve seen in the Valley and we feel that it will be the place to build for years to come.

Apple Hill Farms will be nearly 1,200 acres with large lots, an 80 acre wooded nature preserve which many of the lots back up to, several attractive ponds with lots backing up to them and interesting topography which will allow for walk-outs or good sized basement windows as well as views of the Valley. Restrictive covenants will ensure consistent property values. The minimum home size is 3,400 square feet and all homes are required to have at least 80% masonry on the exterior. This will be a gorgeous neighborhood where the beautiful homes will have large yards, great views and more privacy and space than has been found in Appleton in the past.

We recently began construction on our 7,184 square foot Lancaster model that is located on a ¾ acre, quiet cul-de-sac lot backing up to a wooded area. We are excited to show it to you during the August Parade of Homes event. Next door we started our 5,451 square foot Woodbridge model that backs up to the woods but also has views of a pond. Both homes have full walk-out basements. Also under construction in the neighborhood is a large home with an indoor pool that we custom designed for a family.

We’d love to tell you more about this exciting neighborhood or take you out to walk our available lots. Give us a call!

More Places to Build in Oshkosh and Green Bay

In Oshkosh, the second phase of Quail Run Farms subdivision is now open and three new homes have recently been built. Andrew Homes has lots available on which we can custom build your home. Many of the lots are wooded or have a wooded backdrop.  In Green Bay, a few remaining wooded lots are available in Sheltered Creek and Barnard Woods. A few golf course lots and one wooded lot are available to build on in Thornberry Creek Estates.

Upcoming Must-See Events in Green Bay and Oshkosh

The Brown Country Home Builders Association’s Spring Showcase of New Homes will take place February 26-27 and March 3-6, 2005. Andrew Homes will introduce two new homes here, both of which are must-see. The first is our 7,018 sq. ft. “Buckingham” model home, full of old world charm on a fabulous wooded lot in Barnard Woods. A spacious kitchen/dinette with granite countertops, butcher block island and rustic walnut flooring adjoins the cozy hearth room. Notice the unique plaster techniques in the powder room and study. The luxurious master suite includes a 2-person walk-in ceramic tile shower and dome ceiling in the bathroom. Don’t miss the children’s retreat and media room upstairs or the great finished lower level!

Our second Spring Showcase Home is our 4,360 sq. ft. “Lincoln” model home located in Sheltered Creek. The gourmet kitchen/dinette with a large rounded island and natural maple hardwood flooring opens through arches to the 2-story family room with a grand wall of south facing windows overlooking a great view of this wooded lot. The large master suite includes his and hers closets and vanities as well as volume ceilings. The large finished lower level includes a full bath and a 5^th bedroom or office.  Tickets for the Showcase of New Homes may be purchased at the Brown County Home Builders Association office or at any of the Showcase Homes during the tour.

In-House Design and Drafting

At Andrew Homes we pride ourselves on our creative custom design ability. Over the years we often hear from people who have walked through our parade homes, toured our models, or visited some of our customers’ custom designed homes. They tell us that they love the dramatic details, open feeling and flow of our designs.

Each family we work with has a different idea of what the perfect home feels like. Our job is to get to know that family and find out what is important to them in a home. Then based on our design experience, we help them sort through design concepts and material choices, ultimately designing their dream home.

Our models also start out as custom designs. We approach the design process the same way, whether it is being designed for a customer or for us. When we begin designing a new model, we typically already have a lot chosen. We then put together a list of design characteristics that will work best with the lot. Just like working with our customers, we define a budget and design the home to that budget. We rarely build the same model more than once, and when we do, we typically make some modifications to the second version. Sometimes our customers use ideas they have seen in our models to get their custom design started. Other times we start with a blank sheet of paper or work with photos clipped out of magazines. However an Andrew Homes custom design begins, one thing is certain, the design will incorporate original ideas and dramatic details to create a truly unique home that has never been built before.

At Andrew Homes, all of our design and drafting is done in-house. There are many advantages to this. If you have seen one of our sets of plans you have probably noticed that they include a huge amount of detail. Our trades people tell us that our plans are much more accurate and have significantly more detail than the other builders they work with. This limits the risk of an interpretation error or other types of mistakes. Our draftsman is involved in our production quality meetings and takes regular trips to our job sites to fine tune his details and ensure accurate plans. He is also kept in the loop regarding pricing and estimating, knowledge that he is able to use to incorporate value engineering into every plan we produce. It is easy to design an attractive home. The challenge is in designing an attractive home that fits our customer’s budget!

Another advantage of in-house drafting appears during the design process. Depending on the size and scale of a project, the design process can be quite long. We may produce as many as ten or more revisions of a plan before reaching the final version. Drafting the plan in-house allows us to turn the revisions around very quickly. We sometimes meet with our customers two or three times in the same week to look at new versions of their plan. It is a big advantage to our customers to keep the design process moving and fresh in their minds with no delays.

Finally, having both design and drafting in-house allows for constant communication between the designers and draftsperson. Our designers often find themselves looking over our draftspersons shoulder, suggesting modifications on the fly which speeds up the drafting process and leads to better, more creative designs.

New Products in Andrew Homes       

As designers, Andy and I try hard to learn about new products and design trends that we can suggest to our customers and design into their homes. We feel that because we have an opportunity to work on a large number of high-end projects each year, we have a unique perspective that can be helpful to our customers in picking and choosing between different products. One product that we find ourselves using more and more is a special type of structural concrete called Spancrete®.

Spancrete® is a pre-formed concrete slab that is used to support concrete garage floors in order to create open space underneath the garage. You may remember seeing the result of a Spancrete® garage floor in our Brown County Spring Preview in 2003 where we were able to create a golf driving range below the garage. The more common reason for using Spancrete® is to create more storage in the basement. Almost all of our customers these days are choosing to finish large portions of their basements which reduces the amount of available storage.

Using the space under the garage is a great way to make up for the lost storage. We have also used Spancrete® to create a workshop and are currently building a home with a half-court basketball court.  Let us know how we can use Spancrete® to create extra space in your next home.

Andrew Homes Maintenance Tips    

We recently had a little taste of spring, which got me thinking about home maintenance. With spring just around the corner, the frost will start coming out of the ground as the rains start to come and, along with snow melt, the soil will be at its most saturated point of the year. This is the season that your house is most vulnerable to water finding its way into your basement. The most important piece of equipment that will help keep your basement dry is your sump pump. This is the time of year to inspect your sump pump and make sure that everything is in working order.

Note: Spring is an important time to inspect your sump pump because it may be working over-time, but you should also inspect it periodically throughout the year.

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