It seems that all that time we spent at home really changed our perspective about our living spaces and as a result, propelled us to make one of our most used rooms very nice, if not luxurious. Very nice we made them, indeed. In our custom home building business high-end owner’s bathrooms were the exception rather than the rule. Over the past couple of years just about every single bathroom we built featured professional design, upscale/ natural materials and sophisticated shower and bath set ups. The “Mermaid” tub as seen above became quite popular and helped turn the ordinary bathroom into a personal spa retreat for its owners.

2022 is starting out with the same craziness that we saw in 2021. Covid-19 all but shut down the entirety of the United States in 2020, including the construction industry even though it was categorized as essential service and its continued activity was encouraged. At the time, we were already experiencing a housing shortage and the reduction in building starts during 2020 turned that shortage into the crisis that we are experiencing today. Homeowners over the past couple years who were looking to build a new home or addition to their existing home found themselves questioning whether or not it was a good time to build, filled with the uncertainty that the Covid-19 pandemic offered and fearful of rising costs. Our small building company, along with our peers, saw clients and potential clients shy away from projects that they had planned, and some even permitted, only to come back a year or more later to move forward with their project and to realize significant cost increases, severe labor shortages and supply chain disruptions.

Back in October we shared a short video showing a set of trusses being delivered to one of our jobsites. We have since these trusses into place on a 40’ by 60’ dream garage project that we are currently constructing. We enjoy the excitement that big equipment brings to a job site and we wanted to share a bit of that excitement with you. We invite you to enjoy this video showing what it is like to set trusses on to the top wall on a beautiful and chilly morning.

A short video that shows what it is like receiving trusses onto the jobsite.

Markets for building materials vary wildly across the United States. What one manufacturer makes available in one particular market may not be available in another market. For example, a specific line of vinyl siding may only be offered in the Northeast and nowhere else. A brand of roofing shingles may be available in the Mid Atlantic Region in its full range of colors, but only have selected colors available to the Southern states and no offerings at all in the Southwestern part of the nation. This is partly due to demand for certain items. Materials designed for the harsh colder environments will be popular and needed in the Northern states but will have little practical use in the Arizona or New Mexico desert climates. The markets for building materials are also driven by the location of the manufacturing companies. Building materials are notoriously expensive to ship. They are often bulky and heavy, and long distance freight costs only add to the cost of the product itself. This is one reason that high end custom homes have the high price tags that go along with them. It is often the case to use highly specialized materials from an out of area manufacturer when building luxury homes. The issue becomes more about using a specific product because of its design elements and less about the cost to acquire that product. In normal, everyday construction projects, more standardized products are specified for use and those products are sourced as locally as possible.

If you are like us, then you love to be outdoors and have probably incorporated outdoor living spaces into your home environment. And like us, have found that those spaces are left unused for much of the Winter months. After all, we do live in Virginia and Winter weather can be quite challenging here. As we make our way through March, the gateway month to Spring, we begin to pine for the days that will breath new life into our outdoor living rooms. Our excitement to fire up the bar-b-que grills and outdoor kitchen grow with each sunny day above sixty degrees.

It was the first responders, the front line medical workers and all of the many essential personnel who went to work everyday to ensure that the country continued to operate . We salute all of them and have tremendous gratitude for their commitment and dedication to humankind. For many, the beginning of the pandemic meant that we stayed in the comfort of our homes. We limited travel and our interactions with others, many of those whom we love dearly, until we were able to begin sorting out the madness and develop a plan of action. The construction industry never stopped during this time. We were allowed to continue operations as an essential business practice and we were categorized as essential workers.

I was scrolling through some old photographs of my father’s, Ted Limbrick, construction projects when I was little boy. There are not a lot of old photographs like this one since photographing your profession really was not a priority back in the day. That has certainly changed with our phone’s having very capable cameras in them! I came across this photo that was taken during the renovation of the old (original) Mary Washington Hospital in downtown Fredericksburg in the late 70’s. At second glance I noticed that the little boy in the photograph was I.

It feels like a new home. It is brand new but with some of the elements of the old here and there. It is fresh and up to date with the latest technology and design elements. It was also time to make the move up to a new home for our website. Building a web presence is much like constructing a new home. There are so many elements that come into play and so much organization that takes place.