We are very proud of our association with this house. We were invited early on to be part of the process from conceptual drawings to construction drawings. This is a Mike Brown house. At 3,200, this house is about details. You could not take your hand off the wheel for a second on this house. A small mistake in the early stages would have lead to a disaster in the end in terms of details not meeting up with each other. Fortunately, no such problems occurred. I can't say enough about the owners. This house is not easy on an owner to build. I missed my cost estimate by nearly 30%. Plus, we hit more rock than you can imagine - which is a sound that no owner wants to hear. But my owner had the resources to build a house like this and wanted it built to the drawings.

The challenges - beyond cost estimating - dealt with maintaining elevations and maintaining the coursing on all the masonry units. Plus, at times, we were literally building in space on a curve, which is difficult for a builder who likes square lines and the ability to pull off of an existent line to get my next line. Lots of theoretical leaps of faith to build parts of this. The heating system is in-floor hydronic. The floors are a combination of stained concrete, hardwood and ceramic tile. The ceiling in the great room is complex. It is curved and sloping. The only way to build a curved and sloping ceiling is to start at the first thing you know, and go from there.

By way of an update on this house, it was chosen by the Garden Club of Virginia to be on its 2008 statewide home tour. This is quite an accomplishment for a house only 5 years old and a "modern" one at that. Over 500 people toured it on a beautiful day in April, and we were very honored to be invited by the owners to attend. My owner has told me that he would love to build again, and that he would build with us if he did. However his wife had a look in her eye that said that might not happen. Stay tuned ......