What we build · Waterfront Construction
Waterfront — The Lot Is the Project
On a waterfront lot the building is often the straightforward part. The water table, the seawall, the flood elevation and the permitting are what decide the program and a large share of the cost.
Bring the drawings at whatever stage they are. An honest range and the decisions that move it, before anyone quotes.
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
Self-perform
Dewatering, SOE and deep foundations in house
Leadership
Delivered Fifth Avenue and Central Park West interiors
Open book
Where the contract is cost-plus, the books open
Everything upstream of the slab
Groundwater is tidally connected and moves twice a day. The seawall may be at the end of its life and is frequently shared with a neighbor. Flood elevation drives the whole ground floor. And the permitting can involve agencies well beyond the building department. None of that appears on the architect's renderings, and all of it comes before anything visible is built.
What has to be resolved first
- Seawall condition and ownership — frequently shared, frequently ambiguous.
- Flood elevation and freeboard, which sets the finished floor.
- Tidal groundwater, which changes the dewatering design completely.
- Dock and marine permitting, on its own much slower timeline.
- Substantial improvement rules, which a large renovation can trigger.
How we handle it
- 01Survey the seawall and establish ownership before design is fixed.
- 02Confirm flood elevation and the freeboard the jurisdiction requires.
- 03Model tidal groundwater — we self-perform this rather than subcontract it.
- 04Start marine permitting early, because it will not be quick.
- 05Build, with the ground works as part of our own scope.
Salt changes the specification everywhere, not just at the waterline. Concrete cover, reinforcement protection, fixings, hardware, HVAC coils and exterior finishes all have marine specifications, and the difference between a coastal and an inland specification shows up in year six rather than year one.
Said plainly
Where we stop
If the seawall is failing and the budget does not cover it, we will say so before design proceeds. Building a house behind a seawall at the end of its life is spending money in the wrong order.
FAQ
Common questions
- Who owns the seawall?
- Frequently ambiguous and often shared. Establish it in writing before design is fixed — it is a title question, not a construction one.
- What is substantial improvement?
- A rule that can require the whole structure to be brought to current flood standards once a project passes a value threshold. It catches large renovations.
- Does salt really change the spec?
- Everywhere. Concrete cover, fixings, hardware, HVAC. The difference appears in year six, not year one.
- How long is marine permitting?
- Longer than building permitting, and on a separate track. Start it first.
The decisions
Fixed Price or Cost-Plus
The contract type decides who carries the risk of the unknown, and both answers are legitimate. What is not legitimate is a fixed price on drawings that cannot support one.
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Choosing a Builder
Three builders will show you three beautiful portfolios and three numbers that differ by a lot. The portfolio tells you what they photograph, not what they are like to build with.
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Allowances & Selections
An allowance is a placeholder for a decision you have not made. A contract full of them is a contract whose final number has not been decided.
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The Program
Every owner is told a number at the start and most projects take longer. The gap is usually permitting, long-lead items and decisions — rarely the building itself.
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Change Orders
Change orders are normal. Designs evolve, owners change their minds, and buildings reveal things. What is not normal is finding out about them at the end.
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More what we build
Custom Homes
A custom home is the only project where every decision is still open, which is exactly why it is the easiest one to lose control of financially.
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Whole-House Renovation
Renovating an existing house is harder to price than building a new one, because a meaningful part of the scope is behind finishes nobody has opened.
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Historic Restoration
In a historic district the approval process governs the design, and it operates on a timescale that has nothing to do with construction.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.