2008 Parade of Homes

Last night I had the opportunity of attending the Preview Party of the Parade of Homes at the Saluda River Club presented by the local HBA. The parade officially opens tomorrow and runs through November 2. There are six fully-furnished and decorated homes open for tours. As usual in a parade of homes, there were some "over the top" features including a water closet with its own tv and a dedicated massage room.

The Parade is a great place to get ideas on home layouts, built-in features, interior design, landscaping, etc. I was looking for more green building materials and practices (since 5 of the 6 homes were obtaining the local Green Council's certification) but they didn't appear to be blatantly spelled out. In a way, its a good thing for people to see that green built homes don't have to look odd or futuristic. However, I think it would have also been good to highlight what makes the homes green. To give the Parade credit, they are hosting a "Green Day at the Parade" on October 29 where they will be presenting the green features of the homes.

I hope you get the chance to attend the Parade of Homes this year. And feel free to share your comments about it here if you'd like. I'll be at the ticket gate on October 29 from 2:30 to 7:00pm so maybe I'll see you there!

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Salim Khalil, CGP

SALIM I. KHALIL AWARDED

CERTIFIED GREEN PROFESSIONAL (CGP) DESIGNATION

Lexington SC, October 1, 2008 - Salim I. Khalil of Master Plan Homes Inc. recently became one of the select group of professional builders nationwide who have earned the Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation, identifying him as someone with knowledge of the best strategies for incorporating green building principals into homes.

The CGP program is administered by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) University of Housing and sponsored locally by the Greater Columbia Home Builders Association.

The CGP curriculum incorporates training by leading building industry practitioners and academics on a range of topics, including strategies for incorporating green-building principles into homes using cost-effective methods of construction, and how green homes provide buyers with lower maintenance and good indoor air quality. Techniques are also discussed for competitively differentiating your home products with increased indoor environmental quality as well as energy and resource efficiency.

Thanks For Stopping By

We get several visitors that stop by, or stumble upon, the Master Plan Homes Inc blog each day. Jon and I recently sent out a letter inviting several more to check things out. If you're here b/c of that letter, welcome! Thanks for taking a look and feel free to leave a comment. And if you have a new home construction related topic that you'd like to hear more about on this blog, email me.

On the right side of this blog you'll find a slideshow gallery of our pictures, a few useful links, this blog's archive, and a number of key word tags for this blog.

Here are a few of my favorite posts:

In The Field

Selecting a Lot to Build your Home

Picture It

Thanks again for stopping by. Bookmark this page and come back again!

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House Plan Design & Drawing

While things were slow for us earlier in the year, I took the opportunity to learn something new, something I've had an interest in for years - drawing house plans.

My goal was to become proficient enough to be able to design efficient house plans similiar to those provided by other local draftsmen. I have no intention of becoming an architect so if you need one I'd likely point you to our friend Pete at von ahn design. Thus far I've succeeded in my goal as I have drawn several plans, one of which I teamed with an engineer on and we are currently building. Another custom house plan which I drew for a client is on the schedule to begin construction in a matter of weeks.

Learning how to draw working house plans came pretty quickly for me for two reasons. First, I am drawing with a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software called SoftPlan. I was formerly a computer programmer and applications developer so I have a fair amount of computer-related experience working for me. Second, as a licensed builder, I get to see houses constructed in real life on our job sites. This gives me the insight to know of certain things that work well and others that don't at all. Not everything that is drawn on paper will work in the real world.

All this being said, everytime I work on a house plan I am learning new things. The learning never stops in the business of home design and construction. I think that's one thing that makes it fun... If you need your own house plan drawn, let me know and I'll be glad to assist you.

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In The Field

As Jon says, "we like to divide and conquer". But there are times when we will work side-by-side for the benefit of putting two sets of eyes on a project. For us, this usually happens at project proposal meetings, site location meetings, construction rough-in walk thrus, final walk thrus, etc. We feel this is a benefit of working with two licensed residential builders.

Last week we had the opportunity of investigating a lot for someone. This is often a great time to ask questions in preparation for breaking ground. Selecting a lot and envisioning your house on that lot can be a difficult task, but it's one that we like to participate in.

We are Jonathan (Jon) Foster and Salim (Slim) Khalil. We build in Lexington & Richland Counties. We are Master Plan Homes Inc.

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About Master Plan Homes Inc.

Let's get started out with a description of Master Plan Homes Inc.

Our company is owned and operated by Jon Foster and me (Salim Khalil). We both reside in Lexington SC and we both have offices in our homes. Having home-based offices allows us to keep overhead expenses down and therefore provide very competitive rates for our services. The primary service our company provides at this time is custom home building.

We typically work with people that have purchased a lot or land, either have or are working on house plans, and are ready to build their home. We have built homes across Lexington, Columbia, and Chapin ranging from under 2,000 square feet to over 5,000 square feet. Some of these homes have been in developed neighborhoods while others have been on private land.

Jon and I are known to be very honest men of integrity. When we build someone's house, it is very important for us to provide services with care and respect - it is going to be their home afterall. Often times our professional relationship with clients turns into personal friendships which we value.

If you plan to build a home in the area, feel free to contact us:

Jon Foster
803-331-8338
Jon@MasterPlanHomesInc.com

Salim Khalil
803-260-7546
Salim@MasterPlanHomesInc.com

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