By Ana Good
As the school year comes to a close, families across the Birmingham area will soon trade backpacks and books for beach totes and towels. Some of these families will head to second homes across the state, including along the white powdery sand of the Gulf Coast or along the shorelines of Lake Martin.
Bob Farris, co-founder of Hufham Farris Construction in Birmingham, has helped oversee many of these custom second-home builds. Farris, along with his brother-in-law and co-founder, Coleman Hufham, will soon celebrate 20 years specializing in custom residential and commercial construction across Birmingham, Central Alabama, Fairhope and on Highway 30A along the Florida Panhandle.
Farris said that about 70% of the construction company’s work is in the form of custom-built residential properties, with a healthy number of those being beach or lake homes. The homeowners Hufham Farris work with typically meet first with architects to design the particulars of the house. When the design is at least 50% complete, the architects will ask Hufham Farris for an estimated cost to help ensure the plans remain in the homeowner’s budget, Farris said.
While work in the construction world often involves a bid process, in which plans are sent to multiple builders for budget estimates and oftentimes the lowest bid is awarded the contract, Farris said the same is not typical in the homes his company works on. The homeowners are often hundreds of miles from the build site, and trust between the homeowner and the builder is very important, Farris said.
“When it comes to second homes, homeowners would rather establish a partnership, find someone they trust, someone who they feel comfortable with, rather than just go with the lowest price,” he said. “We advise people against that. We always advise homeowners to interview the builder, get references and then couple that with their budget when making a decision.”
Farris said it is also important to ensure the builder provides timely updates of the construction progress, including progress pictures. The “nightmare” scenarios occur, Farris said, when a builder is working on a project where tweaks are made along the way and the builder fails to update the homeowner that the budget is being affected.
“It’s in those cases where you hear about the builder coming to the homeowner at the end of the build saying they need an additional $300,000 and it’s the first time the homeowner is hearing about it,” he said.
Farris said Hufham Farris provides updates to homeowners every other Friday, complete with progress photos. A typical Hufham Farris custom-home build takes anywhere between 12 and 24 months, depending on the size and complexity of the project, Farris said.
Life Goes Outdoors
While many of the homes Hufham Farris builds are considered “traditional” or “classical,” Farris said they are beginning to see more contemporary designs requested. Across the board, the most frequent request is an ample outdoor space.
“Outdoor spaces are very popular at second homes,” Farris said. “People want to be outside on the beach or at the lake.”
One of the most popular features these days to help accomplish outdoor living spaces is lift and slide door systems. Farris said, in which a door can slide away into a pocket in the wall to create a 10-foot high by 20-foot-wide opening that transforms an indoor room into an outdoor space overlooking a pool or courtyard at the beach or a deck at the lake.
Other details, though perhaps less exciting, are also crucial in second-home builds, Farris said. Homes along the beach must be built to hurricane standards, he said, including with high-impact windows. Many of the homes Hufham Farris builds in Alys Beach are considered “fortified homes,” which means they are built with masonry and concrete rather than with wood framing. These houses typically are a little more expensive, Farris said, and they must be deemed “fortified” by an outside entity following strict building standards.
“That’s a pretty solid house,” Farris said, which he said is particularly important along a coastline that can see several hurricanes and strong storms during a typical season.
No matter where the house is built, another important element to consider is waterproofing, Farris said.
“Water is probably the biggest enemy to houses,” he said.
Many new second-home builds are now being equipped with a water leak detection system, Farris said, which can help detect a leak and shut off the water supply in the event of one.
“You don’t want a leak to go on for a week let alone one to two months in your second home before it is detected,” Farris said.
Going 30A Way
Nick and Suzanne Pihakis of the Birmingham-based Pihakis Restaurant Group worked with Hufham Farris in the construction of their custom-built Alys Beach home – their second purchase in the 30A neighborhood.
Nick described the Hufham Farris Construction group as “the most professional and welcoming group of people I’ve ever been around.” They were instrumental, he said, in ensuring their custom build went smoothly.
The Pihakises have been enjoying that home for a little more than a year and a half now, Nick explained, following a three-year process from initial designs to move-in.
The Pihakises said they love the Alys Beach area so much that they ended up purchasing their new property directly across the street from their first one after they realized they had outgrown the space. Nick said he wanted a large pool in that first build, which left little room for grandkids and pets to run around in after it was complete. After months of staring at the large lot across the way, Nick said he purchased the property and set out to build a home better suited to their family’s preferences. The family worked with Birmingham area architect Gary Justiss to help their vision come alive.
The new property makes special use of the large lot, the Pihakises said, with particular emphasis on outdoor living.
“Every space is a room,” Nick said he learned from working with architects on the new build. “It doesn’t matter if its outside or inside, you need to design the space as if it’s another room in your home.”
Suzanne explained that her family, including three children and four grandchildren, is not the type to sit around a formal dining room table. Instead, they prefer to gather and sit together in various areas of a space – including in the multiple outdoor areas with various seating options. As a family who cooks quite a bit, Suzanne said it was also important for the home to feature a large kitchen complete with a scullery – a room adjacent to the kitchen that works for storage and prep – rather than just a pantry. The kitchen also features a large island where the family prepares and enjoys food.
“We love to go down there,” she said. “We all go down there several times a year as a family.”
The home’s five bedrooms provide ample room for the family, including the pets. Nick said it was important to him that the space feel like a home, rather than just a vacation space. The family worked with interior designer Rachel Halvorson of Rachel Halvorson Designs to ensure the space reflected their taste throughout. Oak floors, real wood beams and purposeful touches complete the space.
“If I could give somebody a piece of advice,” Nick said, “it would be to make that home your home. It should not feel like it’s a vacation home that you go to and it feels like you’re at a vacation property. Understand how you live and make it reflect that.”
