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Many of the waterfront lots available in Pinellas County today are not large. They are narrow canal lots, older subdivision parcels, or redevelopment sites where a smaller house once stood. On a lot like that, every foot matters. The house has to fit within setbacks,...

Pinellas County offers two very different kinds of waterfront living. Canal lots, common in places like Island Estates, the waterfront neighborhoods of Dunedin and Palm Harbor, and much of the Gulf beaches, give owners protected water, easier boating, and neighbors on...

Most people who plan a waterfront custom home in Pinellas County start with a budget for the house. The square footage, the finishes, the kitchen, and the pool are easy to picture. What is harder to picture is the work that happens before the first wall goes up and...

Every home on the Pinellas coast needs a plan for protecting its windows and doors when a storm approaches. On a luxury custom home, that decision carries more weight than it used to. Larger openings, walls of glass facing the water, and multi-panel sliders onto the...

Pinellas County is a peninsula with water on three sides, and a large share of its lots sit close to the Gulf, the Sound, Tampa Bay, or a canal. That makes the flood zone on a lot one of the first facts to check before you buy land or sign a design contract. Two lots...

For a long time, a Florida house was planned from the inside out. The great room came first, the kitchen and bedrooms were arranged around it, and the lanai was added at the back as a place to put a grill. That order is changing. A growing number of custom homes in...

Two waterfront lots can have the same width, the same price, and the same flood zone, and still produce completely different houses. The difference is which way they face. Orientation decides where the sun hits the lanai at 4 p.m., which rooms get the view, how much...

Outdoor living in Pinellas County has moved well past a patio and a grill. Buyers who are building custom homes now ask for outdoor rooms with real ceilings, real furniture, and features that extend the season. Fire features, summer kitchens, and full outdoor living...

Large glass openings are one of the defining features of a modern coastal custom home. A wall of sliding or folding glass between the great room and the lanai makes the house feel bigger, brings in the view, and lets a breeze move through when the weather is right. It...

A pool on a custom home in Pinellas County is rarely just a rectangle anymore. Buyers who are already spending on a lot, a coastal foundation, and a full interior want the pool to feel like part of the house, not a backyard add-on. The pools that get the most use...

Plenty of Florida outdoor kitchens look great in a photo and sit unused by August. The grill is too hot to stand next to. The countertop is too far from the real kitchen. There is nowhere to sit that is out of the sun, and the bugs show up at six o'clock. The owner...

In Pinellas County the outdoor room is not an extra. People eat, entertain, and spend most of a mild winter day out there. The real question is what kind of room it is. A covered lanai, a screen enclosure, and a retractable glass wall can all sit behind the same...

Drive the canals off Island Estates, Victoria Drive in Dunedin, or the Gulf-side streets in Belleair Beach and you will see the same scene on more lots than you used to. A mid-century ranch or a tired 1970s waterfront house sits empty. Dumpsters show up. Then the...

Crystal Beach is not a gated golf community and it is not Clearwater Beach. It is a small, unincorporated pocket on St. Joseph Sound, west of Palm Harbor, between Ozona and Tarpon Springs. The streets are a grid. Live oaks cover a lot of the interior lots. Neighbors...

Florida does not care what floor looked good in a Colorado mountain house. Humidity, slab moisture, sand, pool traffic, and the occasional storm surge will find the weak product. In a custom home you get one chance to spec this right. Pick by room and by how the house...

A lot of Florida custom homes get painted “coastal” and end up looking like a faded rental. Everything is beige-white. The trim disappears. The rooms go flat at 2 p.m. when the Gulf light slams through the sliders. Then the owner wonders why the $80,000 kitchen feels...

Building a custom home is one of the most exciting milestones you’ll ever experience. It’s an opportunity to create a home that reflects your lifestyle, your family’s needs, and your long-term vision. Unlike purchasing an existing home, building from the ground up...