Saving money in new construction

We would like to build a new home.  Just.  For.  YOU!

We recently completed a new home for some very nice people who got exactly the home they wanted.     They found a Langley Builders floor plan and a lot at The Highlands they liked and signed an agreement to purchase the house upon completion of construction. They had the ability to choose their finishes as the house was being built.   This is called a “PreSale”.   It cost them less money than buying a finished “Spec” home.

Why??  We, the builder, pay less interest to the bank and there is less waste of time and materials – no repainting, changing of appliances, carpet, cabinet faces, lighting fixtures and other miscellaneous items that can occur when purchasing a newly constructed house.

How much less?  You can save between $4,000 and $6,000 for Builder’s construction interest costs and approximately $4,000 to $6,000 in change orders and upgrade costs.  That’s $8,000 to $12,000 in potential savings!

Come and look at our construction.

Check out our floor plans.

Meet with us – together we can make your new home a reality!

Peoples Bank answers your questions about financing at The Highlands

On March 3, 2012 Peoples Bank and The Highlands at Langley will host an informative Question and Answer session from 1PM – 2PM at 1056 Village Loop, Langley.   Tami Fallon, Real Estate Loan Officer with Peoples Bank of Coupeville will be covering the following topics:

• Is home ownership within your reach?
• Are you qualified for a loan?
• How much can you afford?
• What is my best interest rate?
• Investor programs
• Loans that offer down-payment financing

Coffee, tea and cookies will be served.

Location:  1056 Village Loop, Langley.  This is the Langley Builders LLC model home in The Highlands at Langley.  See MAP.

For more information, call 360 221-1026 or comment here.

Winter in Langley

2012 is off to a good wintery beginning fulfilling my wishes to cross country ski tour right from my house around our lovely seaside village of Langley, stopping along the way for quiet moments, meeting friends and enjoying our shops.  A surprising 4” of fluffy snow offered a respite from the usual hubbub for a leisurely start and time to connect with friends.  After attending to urgent business, I joined my sister for a stroll to the Langley Village Bakery for Biscotti and discovered a fabulous Marjolane with its layers of hazelnut cake, butter cream and chocolate ganache!  I was absolutely transported to Austria with its snowy winters and delectable pastries!  That also happens when I pop into the PS Suisse Bakery in the Langley Village, but that will have to wait until they are open at week’s end.

Returning home with a few winter storm necessities from the Star Store, we admired bare trees resplendent with snow outlining their arresting branches and were greeted with a distant honking as a flock of snow geese appeared, forming and reassembling their V, flying northwesterly to the clear, blue horizon. Catching up on client emails & listening to KUOW, Garrison Keillor shared the perfect poem, New Year’s, by Dana Gioia, ending with………..

The new year always brings us what we want
Simply by bringing us along—to see
A calendar with every day uncrossed,
A field of snow without a single footprint.

Wow! Serendipity. Wrapping up chores, checking to be sure friends made it home,  I layered on ski clothes and headed out to make tracks in the unbroken snow outside my back door.  Perfectly compacted and snow kissed, a lane offered sunny, snowy vistas over Langley, capturing icy blue Saratoga Passage framed by heavy, snow laden clouds, edged and broken by blue sky.  I stopped briefly to enjoy & snap the snowy scene & water views from the porch of the new cottage under construction in the Highlands at Langley for the new owners. Continuing, I skied open fields to Fairgrounds Road for a couple glides down & treks up before heading off to Noblecliff to check in on a snowbound client.  It was exhilarating to find some packed snow, snowplow broken snow and fluffy snow interrupted just intermittently by bare spots under snow laden fir boughs.  Ski touring, at home!! I am reminded of Annie Proulx skiing around her Wyoming Bird Cloud!  Fortunately only a few good citizens had scraped their walks & drives late in the afternoon!  Schussing gently down Camano and Cascade was perfect!

After catching up on tasks on foot in Langley, a Jagermeister seemed just the thing to compliment a perfectly crisp, starry evening and my romantic, snowy winter memories of back country skiing the Enchantments, Cascades,  Sun Mountain, Oregon’s  Wallowas and the Austrian Dachsteins with its cafes and bakeries along the way for indulgent layered cakes, Knoblach Suppe,  Gluwein and Jagermeister!  Better than I could have imagined, good friends Bob & Bern were among the few intrepids at the Prima Bistro, so good conversation combined with piping hot French onion soup and a soul warming Jagermeister.  This perfect gift of a day was topped off by a starry ski home to a driveway plowed by a friend new to the neighborhood—Ryan Haines—thank you!   Listening to Pink Martini, I am counting my blessings for this place, these friends, good health and the gifts that appear given time and space.

 http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

http://wp.langleyhighlands.com/

http://www.primabistro.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Langley-Village-Bakery/124136437657921

Slide show for the NEW Peregrine House

The Peregrine houses are finished and look great!  We made a slide show of photographs to give you an idea of the spaciousness and warmth of these homes.  Watch the video – Read our blog that talks about the construction of these homes – Then come see them in person.  We would enjoy showing you the quality and energy efficiency of these homes.

Sales at The Highlands

It has been a wonderful fall!  We have four new sales at The Highlands since August and the fall colors have been glorious!  The BEST  BUY currently available is our floor plan we call the Finch on Lot 6 for $279,000.00.  Come see what The Highlands has to offer!

Open House/Grand Opening

1056 Village Loop

Open House/Grand Opening

December 3 and 4, 2011

1:00PM to 4:00PM

Join us for a friendly visit and a cup of hot cider.

 The Peregrine homes located on Lot 20, 1056 Village Loop and Lot 21, 1050 Village Loop are now finished – including the landscaping!  We have furnished the home on Lot 21, 1050 Village Loop, as a model home which includes a refrigerator and a front-loading washer with dryer.

The comfort of the BiosmartTM Infrared heating technology is immediately noticeable and the energy savings will be noticed for years to come. The attention to detail and the finish work is outstanding.

We will have special financing available for these two models through the end of December.  Copies of the details for this special financing are available at the Model Home at 1050 Village Loop.  As an additional incentive, Langley Builders is offering the refrigerator, washer and dryer included in the price on Lot 21, 1050 Village Loop for $349,500.00 and on Lot 20, 1056 Village Loop for $334,900.00 until December 31, 2011.

Final energy testing

The Peregrine on Lot 20 attractively landscaped.

WE PASSED OUR FINAL ENERGY TEST WITH FLYING COLORS!

There is a lot of technical information contained in this blog.  Please take some time to read and familiarize yourself with the terminology and the requirements.

The blower door test determines how well the building is sealed.  This test is a new requirement in the Washington State Energy Code.  All new homes in Washington State must pass this test.  The minimum standard to pass is measured at 0.00030 Specific Leakage Area (SLA).  Here are the results for Lot 20 Duct Testing Calculator and for Lot 21 Duct Testing Calculator. They are identical:  SLA = 0.00013.  This indicates that our homes, the Peregrine floor plans are .5666% better than the standard which adds to your comfort, lowers your energy usage and saves you money!

This plus a 4 Star Built Green rating is why this house is a perfect investment!

Robert Stockmann of Pinnacle Inspections, who performed the tests, adds: “Here are some useful links…it’s a long explanation at times but the old axiom “Build it Tight & Ventilate it Right” equates to superior indoor air comfort and increased energy savings for the homeowners.  No matter how well or how much insulation you have in a home, it doesn’t matter one bit if the house is “ leaky”.  Once air is allowed to infiltrate the wall, floor and ceiling cavities of a home in an uncontrolled manner, it basically renders the insulation useless, produces uncomfortable indoor climates, increases energy consumption for heating and/or cooling AND it can cause numerous other issues, such as interior moisture condensation issues.  When the homes reach a specified air infiltration rate, then mechanical ventilation is required to produce necessary air exchanges within the building.  This is why the HRV is an excellent choice to provide a good balanced exchange of bad indoor air and fresh outdoor air.”  We have installed the Panasonic ERV  to maintain the indoor air quality in the Peregrine homes.

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/blower-door-basics

http://www.pct.edu/wtc/docs/articles/Blower-Door-FINAL.pdf

http://www.buildingenergysolutions.com/pdfs/bdtest.pdf

Close to Completion-The Finishes

Close to completion–The finishes …
This is the phase where of all the planning, preparation and attention to detail from the early stages of construction start to show.  This is the FRUITION: Where form and function are evident and good planning and execution are on display.  Now is the metamorphosis from a raw “box of construction” to a livable house.

Please join us during the final stages of completion.

Finishes being installed: cabinets, flooring and lighting

Insulation inspection and dry-wall installation

The insulation inspection by the city building inspector and our independent inspector\verifier was completed and we passed without any issues or repairs or re-inspections necessary.  Now the process of dry-wall cover is in progress which includes proper nailing and screw patterns and the application of special corner treatments such as rounded or square corners on passage-ways, windows and alcoves. The City of Langley is one of the few places left that do a nailing\screw pattern inspection on dry wall.  Once all the dry wall is in place the floors are cleaned and covered with kraft paper prior to finish application which is both dusty and wet . Dust & moisture control procedures are paramount and must be adhered to strictly.  THIS IS WHERE THE INTERIOR OF THE HOME STARTS TO BE DEFINED.

Whidbey to be featured in Where to Retire magazine

Whidbey has been selected as a Top Retirement Town in the September/October issue of Where to Retire magazine available on newsstands August 23, 2011.

Some of our homes at The Highlands are the perfect size for those looking to downsize.

See You at the Island County Fair

Come by the Coldwell Banker Tara Properties’ booth at the Island County Fair in Langley from Thursday, August 17, through Sunday, August 21. The Highlands will be featured with brochures and flyers and you can get any details on the project, the new construction, availability of lots and houses plus any information you may want on living ‘green’ in Langley on Whidbey Island. We hope to see you there!

Insulation: FLOORS, WALLS, CEILINGS and AIR BARRIERS

INSULATION – FLOORS, WALLS, CEILINGS and AIR BARRIERS

The areas between the floor joists are filled with batt insulation and the entire subfloor area is covered with a radiant air barrier.  This radiant air barrier provides protection from air wash which can reduce the effectiveness of the insulation. The radiant barrier also reflects any radiant heat back into the warm floor insulated area preventing heat loss to the cooler earth at the bottom of the crawl space.

Crawl space showing plumbing and air barrier

The same installation process applies to the walls and ceilings.   All insulation and barriers exceed WA State building code for this area.

Wall and Ceiling insulation

We are now ready for 3rd party independent verification of application and R-value prior to the installation of the sheet-rock.

Traveling around the Sound

If you are traveling around the Puget Sound area this weekend check out the Washington State Department of Transportation website for travel advisories.  It will help make your trip safer and easier.

The Neighbors are Friendly at The Highlands

Anybody Home?

Some neighbors stopped by when I was holding an Open House

at The Highlands.

The were friendly.....

and they were very handsome young bucks but…..

sadly they didn't stay long.

New homes for older couples add ‘snore rooms’

Check out this link…Snore Room Article… I came up with this solution long ago and it is great that developers have caught up. Should we do this at The Highlands? What do you think? Let us know!

Summertime events on Whidbey Island

Plan a visit to The Highlands on Whidbey Island to view our progress on the new Peregrine homes and visit our model home at 283 Laurel Loop – just follow the signs!

Add some fun to your weekend by attending a nearby event.    There is always something going on in Island County!   Events on Whidbey Island this weekend, August 6th and 7th have an outdoor theme:

Check out the Island Shakespeare Festival at the Chinook Land starting at 4PM.

Listen to the Whidbey Island Music Festival Program III,  Saturday and/or  Sunday.  Check website for locations.

Listen to Chamber music in the lovely Meerkerk Gardens Sunday, noon to 3PM.

A visit to Whidbey Island August 13th or 14th could include a drive to Greenbank and/or Coupeville.  The 13th Annual Highland Games are at the Greenbank Farm in Greenbank and the 48th Coupeville Arts and Craft Festival is in Coupeville, of course!  Both offer fun and food with spectacular scenery!

There is always the lively and lovely-to-look-at Bayview Farmers Market every Saturday until October.

Click the link to find a list of the fun and interesting events on Whidbey Island.

Heating and Ventilation

Heating and ventilation in the Peregrine models at The Highlands.

The first photo below shows the two BioSmart® Therapeutic Ceramic Far Infrared In-wall Heaters and the Panasonic ERV, energy recovery ventilation installed in the Greatroom.   The Panasonic ERV is the black box in the middle and the two heaters are to the left and right of the ERV.  The WhisperComfort energy recovery ventilating fan provides indoor air quality with a balance of supply and exhaust air.  These systems work together to provide an integrated, therapeutic heating and indoor air quality system for maximum comfort and energy savings.

The second photo shows how we sealed all wall, floor and ceiling penetrations. All of this specialty sealing is in preparation for the final installation of insulation and radiant barriers.

Peregrine models have rough electric and plumbing

The rough electrical and plumbing are complete on the Peregrine models.  Sealing and special insulation is underway, with wall, roof and floor insulation starting next week. This an excellent time for a site visit to see the ‘bones’ of the electrical, plumbing and ventilation systems.   These systems will provide improved indoor air quality and make these unique and well constructed homes very comfortable.  We will provide construction site tours Wednesday, July 27 through Sunday, July 31, 2011 from 11am to 4pm or by appointment at later or earlier times on these same days. This is a short window of opportunity beginning July 27th because once the drywall is installed you won’t be able to see this, so come out and have a look!!!

Lot 20 Siding	Lot 21 Heaters
Lot 21 Electric Panel

Insulation at the Peregrines

Insulation for energy efficiency at the Peregrines. These photos show the 1st stage of insulation that Langley Builders installs to provide you with an energy efficient home.  This is a radiant insulation barrier applied over the exterior sheathing. This product called Low E Perforated Foam/Foil House Wrap which provides a thermal break around the total perimeter of the house and a radiant barrier deflecting a large percentage of heat generated by the sun. This product keeps the home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. You also can think of this as your whole house “blankie”.

Check here to follow as the exciting drama of full insulation and sealing is brought to you in future editions.

Lot 20

Lot 20

Peregrine models are ready for plumbing & electrical

The Peregrine models are ready for the next phase. The attention to detail during site work, footings and foundation paid off with a level, square and straight platform for the framing crew.  Now the walls are up, trusses are on and the building is ready for plumbing, electrical and preliminary insulation, sealing and preparation for some of the most important work to insure a comfortable and efficient home. Be sure to stop by and watch these new homes as they get closer to completion.

Lot 20

Lot 20

Framing and roof trusses on the Peregrines

The structure on each home is progressing quickly. As you can see, the roof trusses are now on.

Lot 20 Framing	Lot 21 Framing
View from the westside

Energy efficiency components in the Peregrines

Lot 20 framing

Lot 20 framing

The photos below show the energy components as the floor system is being installed. Note the long green board and adjacent to it the pink foam board insulation R-10, highly compacted very efficient insulation provide a thermal break between the foundation wall and the floor joists.  This is the first step in providing an integrated, sealed insulation system from the foundation walls up.  We will continue to provide you with detailed pictures for why this may be the best house you can buy!

Lot 21 subfloor

Lot 21 with thermal break

Waterproofing the Peregrine models

Waterproofing is on the foundations, backfill comes next and then we start framing. Note the black waterproofing on the outside of the foundation in the 2nd photograph.

Lot 20 and 21 from High View St.

Foundation with water-proofing

Foundation forms on the Peregrine models

On both Peregrine models, the forms for each house are being put up. Here are photos of the temporary forms. After the concrete has set, the forms will be removed and waterproofing on the exterior will begin. Construction will move fast. Soon the framing will start and you’ll be able to see the house take shape.

Lot 20 Forms in Place

Lot 21 over to Lot 20 house Forms

Footings are in on the Peregrines

Footings are now in place on each of the Peregrine models. The first step in the creation of the framework of each building has begun. Here are photos of the footings in place for the houses and one of the garages.

Lot 20 Garage Footing	Lot 21 over to Lot 20 house
Lot 20 House

Peregrine homes get backfilled

On both Peregrine models, the foundations have been backfilled and are ready for the lumber and framing which starts this week.

Lot 20

Lot 21

Construction on the Peregrines Begins

This is the initial phase of construction for the two new Peregrine models at the Highlands in Langley on Whidbey Island. Leveling of the building pad and ‘digout’ of the perimeter of the home for the foundation footings. The first 2 photos show the lots before any work began.

Lot 20

Lot 21

Lot 20 digout	Lot 20 digout
Lot 21 digout

Langley’s Walk Score

Walkscore.com rates the walkability of cities, indicating shops, restaurants, parks, entertainment, post offices, etc. within a short distance of any address. Out of a possible 100, Langley comes in at a very high score of 89. (The average score is only 49.) If you’d like to see the breakdown of services available in Langley from walkscore, click here.

Park Dedication