We are thrilled to have the opportunity to present a 3D tour of one of our custom home projects on Cape Cod Bay.  This home was designed and built by the REEF team, and underwent an extensive design and permitting process, primarily driven by the environmentally sensitive nature of the site, and of course the owner's aesthetic and living space requirements. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the ability to tour this home in a 3-D virtual environment is worth way more than that!  Let us know what you think!

If you are considering designing and building your custom home on Cape Cod, consider the REEF Builders Team, with over 35  years in business and over 1500 custom home projects completed on Cape Cod

We are proud to present exterior photos of our latest waterfront custom home project overlooking Cape Cod Bay! This home sits on a quiet hillside in East Dennis, with sweeping 180 degree views of the bay. 

This project was designed to take advantage of the views afforded by this incredible location, with a 3000sf , 4 bedroom main house and a 600sf , 1 bedroom guest quarters and office above the detached 2 car garage.  The site was very challenging, with wetlands on 2 sides and limited room to build, but REEF team was able to design around these limitations and the results speak for themselves.   The rear of the home features a large deck, patio, fire pit, and a hidden roof deck over the screened porch area, all designed to take advantage of the views.  We were even able to get a water view out of the walkout basement!

If you are considering  designing and building a new home or major renovation on Cape Cod, please consider the REEF Builders team for your next project.

We're proud to present our latest project- the Brewster Bay View Beach House. This home was designed, permitted and built by our talented team here at REEF Builders. In addition to the exceptional location, on Cape Cod Bay in Brewster, this home features over 6,000sf of living space, and a 3 car garage with a room underneath the car bays. REEF was involved in this project from day one, meeting with the owner and real estate agents to discuss possibilities and development potential and created an effective and efficient permitting strategy and design that allowed our customers to maximize the home size and location on the site. The permitting process for this home took just about 1 year to complete, as we pursued permits for both the house and an extensive beach nourishment protocol, allowing the owner to protect their investment from the wave action inherent to this site.

The final results were fantastic and we are thrilled to have been part of this project!

If you are looking for waterfront property on Cape Cod, we would highly recommend downloading both our Waterfront Property Guide and our Guide to Buying Land on Cape Cod

Have you ever wanted to see how a custom home is built on Cape Cod from start to finish? REEF and it's team of contractors have been selected for a special project called "Follow the Build" where you can watch one of our current projects from start to finish. The project is a custom home in a FEMA flood zone near Barnstable Harbor which was designed to meet all of the special requirements of flood zone construction and still meet the stringent requirements of the Old King's Highway Historic District. The original home on the property was built in the 1950's and was flooded twice during the winter of 2018, and the decision was made to rebuild.

Due to the small lot size and busy location near the harbor, the REEF team worked with our suppliers and framing contractors to build most of the project components off site. This minimized the time on the site, and the number of deliveries as the summer traffic near the harbor can be incredibly heavy. We worked with Shepley Wood Products and Cape Cod Panel and TM Framing to pre-fabricate most of the project off site. So what are the results? 1) Incredibly accurate and well made framing, assembled with computer controlled nailing machines, that far exceed the high wind zone structural requirements 2) Dramatic savings and time and waste on the job site, in fact we were able to build the frame of this 2300sf home with porches and decks in about 1 week !

Follow the build project here: Follow the build with REEF!

If you are considering building a Custom Home on Cape Cod, click here to find out more about Cape Cod Construction Costs

If you have a Waterfront Project in mind, click here to download our Waterfront Property Guide

The 2018 Construction Cost Guide is here! See how all of the various economic, labor, building code and trade issues will impact your Cape Cod home project.

Click Here to download: 2018 Construction Cost Guide

Since the last part of this series a lot has happened! We completed the design process and were able to obtain our final building permits through the town's building department. This process should take about 30 days, but with a large home, expect lots of questions from the building commissioner. Structural details and engineering had to be submitted and reviewed with our engineer and this process takes time. We began work in September, clearing the site and moving out excess soil that would have otherwise been in our way for construction.

Most of this soil will have to be brought back into the site for back fill, due to the limited area to work and the constraints inherent to construction in a conservation area. With the fill removed, we were able get to work on the basement footings and walls.

After the footings are installed, the next step is to form and place concrete in the lower level walkout basement walls, which will remain below grade once complete - you can see the form work in the next photo

Once the concrete has been poured in the lower walls and it has cured, the forms are removed and rigid foam insulation is placed against the walls to protect from frost from migrating through the foundation walls and heaving the soils below the house.

Here are some pictures with the foam insulation installed:

With the foam in place - the lower walls can now be back filled and we are ready to grade and compact the soils under the areas inside the footings to prepare for the flood slab. This is an important step in the process, as it saves time because it would be impossible to use heavy equipment inside the foundation after the walls are poured.

Next steps? This week we will be setting up the rest of the form work for the basement, installing the remaining reinforcing bars and pouring concrete in the walls! We will also start working on the foundation waterproofing system, drainage work and the plumbing that will go under the slab for the basement bathrooms.

If you are considering designing and building a waterfront new home, please consider our team here at REEF!

Here are some more useful links!

Construction Cost Guide for Cape Cod

Waterfront Property Guide

Interested in Post and Beam construction - check out our Timberpeg Page