Halcyon Homes - Tampa Residential Builder

From a cramped Ranch house to a spacious Craftsman home

kimberly — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:52:16 +0000

Halcyon Homes’ Newest Renovation in South Tampa

From small closed-in rooms to a spacious, open floor plan, this recent renovation in South Tampa by Chris Bates, contractor and owner of Halcyon Homes, fulfills the dreams of a Florida family. Raising the ceiling provides natural light and a feeling of spaciousness which was much desired by our clients. The new kitchen flows into the family room where a wall of glass doors opens onto the pool and landscaped back yard. This provides a seamless transition between the indoor and outdoor living spaces so popular for Florida style living.
“The secret of the success of a good renovation is to optimize the space you have, and create a floor plan to suit the family’s needs,” says Cristi Schultz of Red Rooster Design, architect for the project. By gutting the interior and re-designing the layout, it was only necessary to add 400 feet of heated space to the original house to accomplish this goal.
Much needed seating and storage space were provided by a large island in the beautifully re-designed kitchen featuring all the upgrades. The clients received rebates for installing Energy Star appliances and also had significant savings by taking advantage of the lowered costs in building materials available now.
The present competitive market is a benefit to anyone thinking of building or renovating. By taking advantage of the downturn in the market, money is saved on material costs as well as labor. Subcontractors are able to schedule crews without delays because the work force is eager and available and finishing the job quickly saves money.

Before the roof line was changed it was a simple ranch house

After the craftsman style porch have been added and a second garage too!

: The entry was hidden in the corner

The new entry and paver walkway leads to an inviting front door beckoning you in

Kitchen Renovation that Utilized Wasted Space

kimberly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:30:11 +0000

A Kitchen Remodel with a New Laundry Room Carved Off Too!

Halcyon Homes has just finished a kitchen remodel that not only brings our clients a beautiful upgraded kitchen, but it also adds a new laundry room/ mudroom. This project, designed by Red Rooster Design, incorporates all of the clients’ desired improvements without adding physical space and therefore keeping costs down. The kitchen was opened up to the rest of house (including a pass-through over the sink) creating better flow and allowing for more natural light. The custom built island distinguishes itself from the surrounding cabinets anchoring it as a focal centerpiece and doubles as a breakfast nook. A laundry / mud room was carved out behind the kitchen and leads to the garage. The end result is greater functionality and better use of space.The new cabinets offer all kinds of modern conveniences and space- saving options. New energy star appliances were installed, which are not only modern and sleek, but will result in substantial energy savings. The new tankless water heater will qualify for the maximum government rebate. This renovation brings new life and vitality to the entire house. Although the home is small, the opening up of walls and the kitchen gives the home a new spacious feel.

Roof Renovations Can Be Complicated

chris — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:37:57 +0000

Halcyon Homes is in the final stages of a renovation that involved a very complicated roof line. As the Housing Inspector walked around the house to view the progress of the changed-out flat roof design by overlaying a new pitched roof system without disturbing the interior space, he gave his nod of approval. Aside from feeling relieved that we passed the inspection, as any contractor knows these guys can be tough, we felt quite proud of his complimentary comments regarding the complicated roof design and a job well done. He was particularly impressed with the craftsmanship of our framer and noted that only few contractors could be trusted with such a task. Another hard days work pays off!!

If you have any questions about raising your roof or altering a complicated roof line, leave us a note.

Mini Extreme Makeover = Another Satisfied Customer

chris — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:34:34 +0000

“Thanks very much - we are enjoying our ’new’ home!” This is the note sent to us by one of our current customers! I really liked how our clients planned their remodel and if I ever do a small-scale remodel- this is how I will plan it too! The family went on a 10 day vacation and returned to a very nicely upgraded new home. At first I thought, there is no way we can get in and out of there and get all that accomplished, but we did! The homeowners have a new office space with a complete cabinet/shelf system; a fresh new master bedroom with a new built- in closet, new carpeting and fresh paint; three updated bathrooms with new tile, plumbing fixtures and paint. Oh, and a laundry room with newly installed cabinets and shelves surrounding the washer and drier.

If you are interested in a small version of “Extreme Makeover” give us a shout.

Red Rooster Design Joins Our Team

chris — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:38:30 +0000

Halcyon Homes is pleased to introduce a new team partner, designer Cristi Schultz . She is the owner of Red Rooster Design, an award winning design firm, and has worked with us on various projects over the last ten years. Red Rooster Design will be offering services to clients seeking innovative designs to add space to their home, or re- design the space in their home to make it more efficient and updated. If you are interested in constructing a new home it would be hugely advantageous to consider using a green design and the latest technology. Cristi Schultz of Red Rooster Design is LEED certified and has been recognized and published for her “green” design. Read more

Project Rescued

kimberly — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:58:08 +0000

We were fortunate to find Chris Bates, the owner and President of Halcyon Homes, after we were forced to fire another contractor during middle of our construction of a two-story addition. After hiring Halcyon Homes, the next five months went without a hitch. Chris and his crews were competent, professional and innovative. He far exceeded our expectations.

Sophia and Mark Basurto

Tamko Shingles and their lack of Customer care

kimberly — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 22:10:43 +0000

Did a major roof over a flat roofed home addition with a re-roof on the rest of the home at the same time. Now, I have been in construction for a long time and I have never seen this before but it is called Tobacco juicing. Basically the roof reacts with the air, contaminates in the air, a bird looks at it funny, who knows what, but then it leaves brown streaks down the front of your fascia after it rains. This is something the roofing companies know about and have published reports so when you have a job that gets this problem they can point you to it and say not our problem. BS, the roof on before did not streak or the tar paper did not streak. As soon as your “Tamko” roof shingles went on, the roof streaked. I called and had a rep come out but they did nothing. Now keep in mind I’m not talking about just one or two spots but the whole way around the roof. I put in another roof 3 months later a half a mile away but did not use Tamko and got 3 streaks on the whole project, that is a problem I can deal with. I will say that the home owners have been great and understanding and realize it was not an installation issue but a product issue. I have finally come up with a solution of adding an additional metal drip to make sure no water touches the fascia and that seems to have cured it but I will never buy, use, or tolerate the name Tamko again. They just pawned it off as not their problem. Tamko has poor customer care in my books and never even answered my request placed on the main company website. Tamko if you read this, you have an unsatisfied customer for your lack of caring in my case and I will do everything I can to see your shingles are gathering dust in warehouses across the south. Tobacco juicing is caused by your product and you need to figure out a solution and not tell me to water the roof during droughts and wait a year to see if it lessens. It did not lessen in 9 months and it rained the whole time, leaving streaks every time after I cleaned it off. It is not water soluble either; you have to use mineral spirits to clean it off. According to them you just spray it with a hose to clean it off but as I learned,Tamko was wrong on everything else so that does not surprise me either.

Would you accept that on your house?

Small Kitchen Remodels

kimberly — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:55:05 +0000

I think most people are shocked at the cost of a kitchen remodel when they start looking for bids. They need to realize that the cheap two man crews that will do it for nothing close to a contractor’s price are cutting a few corners and breaking a few laws. The second you touch the sink you need to be a licensed plumber and as soon as you move that light fixture you need an electrician. Here are the rules for the City of Tampa on what needs a permit, Click Here , basically if you are thinking of hiring a contractor you need a permit. So I, as a contractor, get plans if needed $, pull the permit $, hire a licensed plumber and electrician who both pull the needed permits too $$$, and pay for insurance and bonds $$. Is it any wonder why they are cheaper? It takes a lot of work and experience to become a licensed contractor and you have to really decide if you are getting a better deal. When I built my first home, for myself, I did everything, except the drywall and A/C, I don’t mean I hired subs I mean I personal ran all the wires and hung the fixtures, all the pipes and placed the fixtures, put up the insulation, dug the foundation and poured the slab, framed it all, put on the metal roof, heck I even built the kitchen cabinets from scratch. I truly did it all so yes I can do all the work needed remodel your kitchen in my sleep if I were allowed. Would it be cheaper, heck yea but I can’t take the time to get every single license I need to do that and I would still need all the permits and insurance so the cost would go up compared to Joebob’s. The city raised their permit fee’s the other day too, they just about doubled them on the work that I have done lately, got to thank the building dept. for making a tough time as a contractor suck even more. Somebody leave a comment and remind me why I do this?

Roof Repairs on a New Home?

kimberly — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:21:07 +0000

So I’m looking at a tile roof job built by another builder* because the home owner is trying to get everything fixed before the one year warranty expires. There are numerous cracked and some just missing tiles in the roof and in one spot the underlayment is questionable. The roofing company who did the job is out of business now, that’s not a good sign, and the original contractor is complaining because my bid to fix it is high. Few points here:

1. The original contractor hired a now defunct roofer who did a slap it on and run job.

2. The original contactor has had plenty of time to fix it if they wanted to but has stalled and said it is fine.

3. Yes my bid is higher than they would like because my roofer does a great job and the second I touch the roof it’s my fault for sure on anything else that goes wrong. So I’m going to be left holding the bag for their roofer’s crappy job and I’m suppose to do it for free?

Now in this same house they are touching up and re-calking half the crown on the second story because, in my opinion, the roofer miss stacked the tiles when he preloaded the roof and after setting the tiles about 7 trusses rose up about 1/8” to 1/2” in the worst stops. It’s ashamed to see small faults like this in a multi-million dollar home on the water but it’s even worst to not stand behind your own work.

* As much as I would love to name names to lessen my competition, Tampa is a small place and I’m a better person then that so I’m going to leave names out of all these “Contractor Thoughts” posts.