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We have been working with one of our builders for over 4 years now and enjoy a good working relationship with them. The Director of Residential Builds sits on the Charlotte Builders & Contractors Association as well as the South West Florida Code Compliance Committee and the Charlotte County Building Department Sub-Committee. This makes them a very professional and knowledgeable Company to work with.

During our time together, we experienced the damage caused by Hurricane Charley in 2004 when it swept through Punta Gorda and east of Port Charlotte. Homes built by them came through unscathed, despite several homes being in the path of this major Category 5 hurricane. This is what the Director had to say when asked to explain hurricane resistant construction:

"First you need to understand what causes most of the damage to a home in a hurricane. Without question the biggest problem is the roof coming off or letting go. Once this happens it opens the home up to all of the elements and weakens the entire structure. This is the reason for all the promotions for shutters and impact glass, to keep the wind out of the home and prevent uplift on the trusses. Most homes are designed as closed structures, or in simple terms somewhat air tight. This is the cheapest way to engineer a home, but not necessarily the best, actually it's the worst. Engineering in Florida is based on the hurricane wind codes and a wind velocity of 130 MPH constant. On a closed structure this is easily met, in several different ways. I’ll discuss this later. On our hurricane resistant homes, we go at things an entirely different way. First of all the homes are engineered as partially enclosed structures, which requires much more stringent engineering. What this means is that they are engineered to meet the 130 MPH without the windows in place, or in other words with the 130 MPH uplift on the trusses, without compromising the structure. Building a home that is engineered as a partially enclosed structure, costs a lot more to build, but, when you are finished and once you install the windows, you have a home that will withstand winds in excess of a category 5 hurricane, like Charley.

OK, lets talk about the difference in how homes are constructed. On most homes, fully enclosed structure engineered, you start with a standard sized footer, with rebar coming up at all the openings, then you have a block wall, and on top of that you have your lintel block, with a piece of rebar going down the center, then it’s poured full of concrete, with connection straps for the trusses. A lintel block is like a u shaped block, that is just mortared to the block beneath it. Then the trusses set on top, and are strapped down. OK, now lets talk about our hurricane resistant, partially enclosed home. First of all, because of the additional uplift rating you have to start off with a bigger footer, with more steel in it, and more rebar coming up to the walls. The block is then set, and then instead of using lintel block, we form a 16 inch solid poured tie beam all the way around the top of the block. Once the form boards are up, we drop rebar down through the block and tie it off to all of the rebar coming up through the footer. Now comes the steel in the tie beam, instead of one piece of rebar like the lintel block gets, we have five pieces of rebar running through the entire tie beam. Now comes the pouring of the concrete, everywhere we have rebar coming up from the footer, you have an open cell, so that the concrete flows from the tie beam forms, all the way down to the footer. Also before we fill the sixteen inches of form boards, we put in oversized straps to wrap around the trusses. What you end up with is a sixteen inch solid tie beam attached with concrete and steel to the footer. Now this is what your trusses are attached to, a solid foundation. No matter how well you strap the trusses, it’s only as solid as what they are attached to, and that’s the problem with most homes. The lintel block gives way and off comes the roof, usually taking part of your house with it.

Now for those of you who don’t really understand any of this, let me make it really simple. We have close to 2000 homes in the Charlotte, Sarasota, Lee, and Desoto county areas, Basically Southwest Florida. Through the 2004 & 2005 hurricane seasons we had over 8 major hurricanes. Not one of our homes suffered any structural damage. So do you want to invest your hard earned money in just any home or do you want to purchase one of our hurricane resistant homes, it’s your call."

They build a good range of models and styles from 3 bedrooms up to 5 and 6 for our clients. The portfolio includes great room styles as well as traditional styles and being custom builders, they are able to make minor adjustments for clients prior to the signing of contracts. Pricing is extremely competitive for these well constructed and attractive homes.

Our builder doesn’t just build homes, they also build commercially and they have just completed construction of a stunning development of condo’s right on the banks of the Peace River. They are built to a maximum level of three-story buildings over parking. The condo’s immediately adjacent to the water have the option of buying a boat dock which has already been permitted and is now pending construction. It will be built in an arc in front of the condo’s with a gazebo style construction at its centre.

It is extremely difficult to find good quality condos with boat docks right on the deep water of Charlotte Harbor and these condo’s excel. Each room is spacious and each condo overlooks the water. There are 2 and 3 bedroom condo’s and also 2 town houses spread over two floors and each offering 4 bedrooms. Prices for the waterside condo’s starts at $629,000 for 2 bedrooms, fully furnished.

Set back from these are the exclusive resort condo’s which are available for unrestricted rental and have the option of being managed by the resort professionals. They come furnished and unfurnished and benefit from a club house, gymnasium, an outdoor asymmetrical swimming pool, Jacuzzi and small golf putting green. Prices start from $469,000 fully furnished.

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If you would like more information on either the range of resident builds and floor plans, or additional information on the condo’s, please contact us in the first instance on:

Florida: 941 627 5960 (Hugh McGough)
United Kingdom: +44 (0)1635 550 363 (Marilyn Down)
E-Mail: info@homesearch-overseas.com