Homes are selling at The Highlands!

Langley Builders has sold two homes during the week of April 15 – 20, 2012  at The Highlands! We have one home left in our current inventory, the Peregrine on Lot 21 with vaulted ceilings in the great room and a limited view of Puget Sound.

Langley Builders will start construction in the next four weeks on another Robin floor plan located on Lot 2.  We are also designing a new floor plan that will have three bedrooms and will be built on Lot 1.  Elevation and floor plans will be available on this website over the next couple weeks.

Whether you hire an Architect and Builder or find your dream home among the floor plans available on our website; there are a variety of vacant lots still available for your dream home.  Watch our website or call 360 221-1026 for more information.

Langley Builders has designed another floor plan, the Sandpiper that will be available for viewing on this website in early May 2012.  These home will be available on a “pre-sale” basis only.

Spring Cleaning Tips and Tricks

The weather is warming up, the scent of flowers is in the air and bird’s songs greet us in the morning.

It must be Spring!

I always enjoy throwing the windows open to allow fresh air to blow through my home in the Springtime.  But then the urge to freshen up the rest of the house moves me to get cleaning.  It can be a daunting task but getting organized helps make the job manageable – both in time and materials.  Here are some tips and tricks to try to keep our homes and neighborhoods green.

I read this information recently in a blog called Finely Ground that you might find useful.  She has taken the job of spring cleaning and made a list of each task.  This makes the smaller tasks more manageable.

The Highlands is a Low Impact Development and is built over the aquifer for the City of Langley.  Therefore, many  of the household cleaners commonly used are not permitted here.    I read about green cleaning products in Beyond the Label by David Steinman in The Doctor’s Prescription for Healthy Living magazine and thought I would pass this information along.  If you are a” do-it-yourself” person, this blog One Good Thing by Jillee has recipes for homemade cleaners and detergents  – and more! – that might be worth a try.

This is only a couple of ideas that might be helpful.  If you have a green product or practice that works well for you, share it here!

New Homes are less expensive to maintain

The National Association of Home Builders publishes a blog entitled Eye on Housing.  A recent post by Robert Dietz states: “April is new homes month. And one of the virtues of a newly constructed home is the savings that come from reduced energy and maintenance expenses.

Data from the 2009 American Housing Survey (AHS) offer proof. The AHS classifies new construction as homes no more than four years old.

For example, for routine maintenance expenses, 26% of all homeowners spent $100 or more a month on various upkeep costs. However, only 11% of owners of newly constructed homes spent this amount. In fact, 73% of new homeowners spent less than $25 a month on routine maintenance costs.”  Click here to read the full article.

In addition to being the first Low Impact Development on Whidbey Island, The Highlands is a Built Green® Community.  Built Green® is an all-encompassing approach to home building, starting with how we treat the land we are building on. With minimal site disruption, we are less likely to develop drainage problems, and more natural landscapes will require less care. More careful use of raw materials, and more engineered uses result in less forest destruction per home. Designing the building envelope to be tighter and better insulated keeps heating and cooling costs low, and helps us control interior air quality.  The Highlands provides all this and a connection to a warm, energetic and involved community  – Langley, WA!

The Highlands have a number of lots available with prices starting at $99,ooo.  The Highlands will work with any architect and builder you choose.  We encourage you and your architect to build a Built Green® house.  The elevations of any house plan must be approved by The Highland Design Review Committee.

Langley Builders currently has two homes available for sale at The Highlands:  The Finch on Lot 6,  Built Green® 3 star and The Peregrine on Lot 20, Built Green® 4 star. For more information on theses homes, click the For Sale tab above.

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