Design to Domicile

We started with a blank canvas. A vacant lot with some slight topography. Working the current slight right to left fall of the property KDH Residential Designs designed this custom home to maximize the allotted space. Kevin Holdridge designed this home with the garage on the low side of the lot to allow for the ability to work out a split level design on the left side of the property. The design allows for the garage to be located between the first floor and the basement. This home has a home office and recreation room over the garage which is a half of a flight of stairs above the standard first floor elevation. The almost finished front elevation, pictured here, ties this design feature in seamlessly. We were able to get a daylight basement to the rear of the property by using this split level design without a tremendous amount of fall from front to back on this particular lot. The elevated front porch gives the house great presence from the street and from the garage level we are a half of a flight of stairs in from the first floor or the basement. The traffic flow of the floor is wonderfully unique in that from the

home office, the owner is on an intermediate level five feet above the first floor and five feet below the second floor. This home office design allows for quiet and privacy during working hours with the flexibility of being near the family in a moments notice.

KDH Residential Designs is always looking for it's next challenge whether it's a new home design or a remodel to an existing home. Let us help you Unlock Your Imagination. www.kdhresidentialdesigns.com

Ask us about how to design green features into your home without breaking the bank.

Ask a Residential Designer

Question Small but Funtional Laundry Room


We have made a move to DOWNSIZE our life. And one of the hardest to do was my laundry room. We are a busy, stinky, dirty family of Five that has tons of laundry n a daily bases. So when we moved in to our new home and the laundry room was pint size I have to make some alterations!
First Thing we did was to take down the useless above laundry cabinets. Then we painted it all nice and pretty. They we added a shelf where we could put baskets to sort each family members small items. We made sure the shelf could also accommodate hangers. So now all laundry that comes out of the dryer is either hung up and sorted on the hanging part of the shelf or it is sorted in the baskets. Each day (in an ideal world) my family gets "their" folded and hung clean cloths and takes them to their room. Also I got a "over the door" shoe organizer that I sort each persons socks! If you have any organizing ideas I would love to hear them.

Answer Response
It sounds like you have already done a lot of the right things. At KDH Residential Designs we have been helping people downsize from a larger home to a smaller more sustainable home recently. When we can design for this from scratch we can design to take advantage of every inch of space. We also get involved with remodeling projects and quite often see your exact situation. Staying organized in a confined space is key. The use of the short hanging and basket storage that you have could possibly be more efficient if you were able to run a wooden shelf and rod a little higher than your existing shelf and left a center section for full taller hanging and built simple open faced cubbies on either side. The shelf can be near the ceiling because we aren't trying to access anything on top of it. The cubbies would be down lower and more accessible than the baskets you have now. I don't know the layout of your home but I know that quite often a laundry closet is near an attic or second floor stair. Locating this small area under a stair is useful for easy storage with minimal remodeling. With front load washers a counter top can be installed above the machines and provide you a much needed workspace or folding space also. Our company tag line when designing custom homes and remodels is "Unlock Your Imagination" and sometimes that relates to how you make your existing space work for you. Good Luck, I hope some of this helps. Kevin Holdridge - KDH Residential Designs.

If you have any similar questions that you need answered about how to better utilize space please feel free to drop us a line and we will try to help in any way we can.

Evolved Home Collection Launch

The launch of our Evolved Home Plan prototype at the Southern Ideal Home Show was a huge success. We won the People's Choice Award and the live model home was toured and admired by thousands of attendees. Furthering the momentum of the Home Show prototype, in October we are launching the second home design in this collection, Evolved Home Plan 2000. Follow this link to veiw all of the homes in the Evolved Home Collection

The Evolved Home Collection brings to life the passion Cobalt DBS has to provide affordable, sustainable housing that never compromises on style. Our designer, Kevin Holdridge at KDH Residential Home Designs
brings a unique vision to the partnership.

KDH Residential Designs and builder Cobalt DBS have team together to create a series of homes that are sustainable, green certified ready and affordable. If you or any of your clients are looking for land or currently own land and are looking to build an energy efficient green home, please check out these sustainable house plans from 1,000 sf to 2,500 sf. These plans are perfect for small infill lots. The feedback that we have received from the Southern Ideal Home Show proved that we reached a large demographic from empty nesters to first time home buyers. These are high performing homes with a tremendous amount of green features designed into the plans and specifications. Designing the home to use less material and have less waste is important but working with a builder to pull everything together is key. Cobalt DBS has teamed up with our firm to come up with a specification level that addresses water efficiency, indoor air quality, high performance windows, high perforamnce HVAC and insulation systems and the use of low maintenance veneers while staying on a very strict budget.
  
As a mainly custom home design firm, we can also offer any of these green design features to our custom clients that have specific needs. Please feel free to contact KDH Residential Designs at 704.909.2755 or Cobalt DBS at 704.365.3038 if you have any specific needs, comments or questions.

Team Building

In these times of slow to no development in the real estate market I have seen many of my Realtor contacts lose their positions or go into other forms of work. As one to Charlotte's premiere design firms we are all about team building and offering specials to like minded individuals. We have been running specials and referral fees with our builder clients that are members of the local HBA to build our business network. The one area that our company would like to focus on now is the Realtor market. Recently, I spoke to a few agents and asked them how I could help them sell lots in their subdivision. What we came up with was to design "phantom spec homes". They would give me their "trouble" lots that seemed to be less attractive to their prospective clients due to questions about how to use the site properly. I would design homes to fit these lots to show the clients what type of home could be build on the lot. Advertising the property with a vision of what could be built on the particular site helped the prospective clients to visulalize what their home could look like or how the current topography could be used. This has also worked for clients that need to fix up their homes or make small additions to make their property more desirable for re-sale. We will also create a quick sketch for a prospective client that is preparing to buy a current home but would like to make slight alterations after the purchase. When our Realtor associate hears that a certain client would buy the home if it had a screened porch or if the master bedroom was a little bigger, we can quickly go to the home and draw up what this addition could look like. From the design sketch the prospective buyer can figure into their budget the cost of said renovation and make an educated offer based on their findings. This is generally done by our associte taking a picture of the home and giving us a couple key dimensions. We offer this as a team building exercise right now at no cost to our Realtor associates. The effort is to build better business relationships and help boost new and old home sales. If you are interested about being part of the team please visit http://www.kdhdesign.com/ for our contact information and portfolio of work. Thank you and I look forward to meeting and building lasting relationships with some of our forward thinking associates. Also, I would love to hear if anyone has any other ideas about how our design firm could help you boost sales.

Evolved Home Collection

Recently KDH Residential Design was asked to come up with what we are calling "The Evovled Home Collection". The first plan in the series was recently built inside The Plaza during the Fall Ideal Home Show in Charlotte. This was a two bedroom / two bath house that was 920 square feet. It featured many luxury upgrades such as granite countertops and bamboo flooring and because of fore thinking and value engineering we were able to keep the price per square foot below $100. The home was designed to have a very high insulation value based on the way we designed the framing and the windows. We will be launching the rest of the series of homes soon to include plans in many different styles and sizes from 1000sf-2500sf. All of the homes will be designed to receive a green ceritifcation and all will have similar specifications. Over the week-end long show we received a tremendous amount of feedback from potential home buyers on this product line. Keep an eye on our website www.kdhdesign.com and the builders website www.cobaltdbs.com for more details.

Green building - Eat what you need

In past years we would design homes so that the owner could live in the house for up to five years, accumulate some value in the property and sell the home for a profit only to start the cycle again. This cycle has slowed down if not stopped. To me this means we have to change our way of designing a home. Now we are designing a custom home for the long haul. Our clients don't plan on moving again. They want to be comfortable but they don't need 4,000-8,000 square feet anymore. Energy costs are going up fast and the larger inefficient homes aren't going to be desirable anymore. We are seeing a complete market shift forced by lifestyle changes. Will it cycle out? Maybe. But the recent economic downturn has taught us all how to make the dollar stretch a little more.


We also hear this term "Green" everywhere. Whether it's flooring, paints, windows, homes, cleaners, automobiles, newspapers, office buildings, etc. What does it really mean? It probably means something different to everyone. To some of my builder clients it's a scary new place that is untested and different from how they build things now. Scary and new means more expensive to consumers. Granted there is some merit in this because some of the new products on the market are priced a little higher than the lower end items that some builders use in their homes. I equate this to fast food vs. healthy food. Ever wonder why society as a whole is getting fatter and out of shape? It's our economic and lifestyle choices. We need to get home from work and take the kids to soccer practice so we only have time to stop in for a burger and fries. An extra value meal is only five dollars, so why not save time and money. Buying fruits and vegetables is expensive and you may not have time to actually cook a meal before they go bad. We eat quick unhealthy foods because the alternative is time consuming and expensive. This thought process has increased other costs in our lives. Now we need gym memberships or lengthily doctor visits to give us drugs that reduce the effects of our unhealthy lifestyles. It's easy to make bad choices on the fly but now that the dust has settled and the building market is slow, shouldn't we be looking at healthy choices instead of fast food choices. But how we can pay for these expensive healthy items when building a home? Let's try using square footage to our advantage. The initial cost of building a home is dwarfed by the energy costs the home will consume over its life span. Anything we can do to reduce the amount of maintenance and non-renewable consumption in a home is good thing. People will talk to you about pay backs and how some things don’t make sense financially. Most of the time these numbers are skewed because of the unknown cost of future utilities. Non-Renewable resources are named that for a reason. The more we use, the less there is and the less there is, the more it costs.

This gets back to how we design for the long haul. We all want to age gracefully and the design of your home can attribute to that. Using products that require less maintenance, produce less allergens and that are easy to use is a must. As we age our vision gets darker. Things are not as bright and crisp as they once were. We need to bring more natural light into out homes. It becomes harder to get up and down stairs and to bend over as we age. This can be handled by designing most of our daily activities, if not all on one floor. We can also raise things to prevent excessive bending. Properly placed outlets, hose bibbs, and countertops. Air quality is a key in healthy living. Installing materials that reduce the amount of out-gasses in the air and installing and maintaining the proper filters on our air exchangers is high priority. Clutter becomes a problem the older we get, so having plenty of storage is going to help us avoid a cluttered home. Of course, the best thing we can do about clutter is not to have any. Find a way to repurpose or recycle some items that haven’t been touched in years. Keeping a clutter free home as we age also makes it easier for our family members visit and easier to tend to our possessions after we pass. This in turn will reduce the stress on our children and help keep a good relationship while we are still around.

Let's try thinking outside of the box a little. What happened during this economic downturn? Business owners trimmed the fat. We streamlined our companies to be smaller and more cost efficient by consuming less. Less energy, less rent, less payroll, less consumption. We can turn this same model to anything we make, especially houses. Homes can be built with less wood by increasing the stud spacing, stack framing and building with better products. Engineered lumber is a renewable resource and dimensional lumber continues to get weaker and weaker as the number of our old growth trees dwindle. Solar power and wind power both viable renewable resources that are being used today. High performance windows, water efficient fixtures, high insulation ratings, and HVAC system upgrades are important items to building an energy efficient home. The most important item that we always forget about when we are building a green home is the home owner. An uneducated home owner is the worst thing that anyone could ever put in a "Green Home". The home has a state of the art HVAC system, high performance windows, low flow water efficient fixtures and yet we still aren't seeing any savings. How could this be? Well our home owner continues to consume as much energy as possible without thinking of the consequences. The high efficiency HVAC system is running full blast while the high performance windows are open and the kids are all taking thirty minute showers.

Green is a lifestyle change not a gadget we can buy. Putting renewable, sustainable, low consumption items in our homes is only a piece of the puzzle. A great start. Going the extra mile to think about how you are effecting the consumption of non-renewable resources and teaching your children, your neighbor and your friends how to consume less is another piece of the puzzle. Education is the most important part of living green. One person might not make a difference but if we share our experiences with as many people as we can, maybe someday society will realize using less non-renewable resources is a healthy choice. The all you can eat mentality needs to be shifted. Eat what you need and leave some for someone else.

Southern Ideal Home Show

Kevin Holdridge at KDH Residential Designs has designed a 1000 sf house for the Southern Ideal Home Show. The homoe uses advanced framing techniques to reduce the amount of wood used during construction. The home is designed on a 24" grid system to reduce the amount of waste and was framed in 9 hours using these techniques. Scrap wood pieces were used as blocking and even for header supports to further reduce the amount of waste generated. The most expensive part of a home is the energy it consumes and the maintenance of the home. We have greatly exceeded the insulation values of this home and have used low maintenance products and sustainable products throughout the home. We have 2x6 exterior walls and the studs are all 24" on centers. This will allow us to install more insulation and by reducing the amount of studs we reduce the amount of cold spots. Wood has very little insulation value so taking wood out of the walls is the key to better insulating the walls. Many of the green features in this home will be on display this week-end Aug 27-29 in Charlotte NC at the Southern Ideal Home Show. After the show the home is designed to be taken apart in three modules and shipped to its final build site as a donation for low income housing. We have designed a fourth module to be added to the home at that time making it a three bedroom 1,200sf home.

http://www.wcnc.com/video?id=101295394&sec=552547

Green Certified Home

Currently under construction. We are expecting a gold NAHB green certification on this house. It will feature advanced framing techniques, high levels of insulation, and high efficiency windows, HVAC and plumbing systems. It was designed on a 48" grid system to reduce the amount of waste during construction. We will also be using an site recycle program to reduce our on-site construction debris. This home is being built on an infill lot near uptown Charlotte and will become one of four house plans offered in a "Sustainable Home - Designer Series" to be unveiled at the Fall Home Show in August.

Will an Eco-Firendly Home Be More Expensive to Build?

Kevin Holdridge June 1, 2010

Kevin Holdridge is a residential designer who was accepted as a professional member of the American Institute of Building Designers in 2007. That same year, he founded his own business, KDH Residential Designs, in Charlotte, North Carolina. In this article, he tells us what people need to know about cost before starting construction on a “green” home.

There is no doubt that some aspects or items involved in the construction of an “green” home will be more expensive. However, cost itself usually is not the main reason why most people decide to build an environmentally friendly home in the first place.
The concept of a green home is slightly different for everyone, so the amount that a green home will cost above and beyond a non-green home will depend on how far the builder went with the process and how many different types of technologies were included in the design.
I have a feeling that sometimes people get too caught up in simply buying cool gadgets and other things that are supposed to help us all save a little money, energy, and water. But the products themselves won’t be nearly as effective if people don’t decide to change their lifestyle at the same time.
In order to get the full effect from any energy-efficient product for the home, you have to be open to changing your behaviors and habits. If not, the product can’t take on its full effect.
For instance, one example that I frequently use is water-saving showerheads. Some of these claim to save as much as 20% of the water that you would normally waste in a typical shower, and that is great. But if you don’t change your behavior, and you continue to take showers that are a half hour, then you are still wasting a lot more water than is necessary.
So being eco-conscious or “green” is as much a state of mind as it is a product of buying certain things or building your home in a certain way. People do not just need to buy new gadgets and pieces of technology. They need to learn how to use them properly in order to maximize their efficiency.
Some gadgets and appliances that we can install in new homes are expensive. But the majority of those expensive things are focused on a small market of consumers who are more interested in having the new technology than they are in actually getting the payback of using less energy or water.
As an example, doing a complete solar house and getting that home completely off the grid can be expensive. If a person hopes to get enough solar power that he can then turn around and sell the wattage back to the electric company, then that will be even more expensive. And in doing a project like that, it will take the homeowners a long time before they begin to see a payback or even before they break even. In the case of someone installing enough solar panels on their home to go entirely off the grid, they would have to be willing to stay in that home for many years before they would see a financial payback.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t smaller and cheaper ways to make a difference. Putting in a solar hot water system, for example, is a lot cheaper than installing solar panels for the entire house electrical system. And the installation of a solar hot water heater will pay you back a lot more quickly, too. Putting energy-efficient lights all around your house is another example of something that is quick and easy to do. As something as simple as unplugging the television in your spare bedroom that never gets used is another example of something that’s free and easy. “Voltage vampires” is what all of those types of things are called. So those small differences probably save the average homeowner just as much money in the long run as a lot of the technology-heavy things that people purchase.
When people are looking for ways to obtain actual green certification for their homes without spending quite as much, we here at KDH Residential Designs have the mindset to tell people to pick the low hanging fruit, so to speak.
Although the specific items that people get points toward certification may vary based on the organization, we typically advise clients to get as many as possible of the small things that don’t cost a lot included in their home. Because those items all add points that can help a homeowner obtain green certification — even without spending a bundle.

Does Building a Green Home Impact It's Resale Value?

Kevin Holdridge is a residential designer in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a member of the American Institute of Building Designers, among other organizations, and owns his own residential design firm, KDH Residential Designs. Here, he shares his knowledge about how having a certified green home will impact your resale price.
Building a home that receives green certification will often be more expensive in upfront costs, but that same certification can also boost the home’s value if the owners ever decide to sell. So there are some definite pros and cons to going in that direction with a new construction home.
With the way that the housing market is there right now, a lot of unsold inventory is on the market. So if you are a homeowner who wants to build a house and sell it faster, then having a green certification is going to put you heads and tails in front of everyone else trying to sell a similarly priced home without any green technology.
If I was a potential buyer in the market to purchase a new house, and two similar properties were for sale, I would definitely check to see if either one was built with any energy-efficient materials. And so, and if I discovered that one of the two homes was built normally and one was built with a green certification, then I personally would definitely go with the home that came with the certification. This is especially true if the homeowner was able to prove that energy-efficient materials and appliances would actually be able to save me money on my electrical bills or my water bill every month. In that case, I would definitely choose the green house above the non-green one, even if it was a little more expensive.
Not only does buying an environmentally conscious home with green certification become a moral issue for some people, but it can also be a financial issue. If people think they can do something good for the environment — like buying a “green” home — while also saving money on utilities and home maintenance fees at the same time, then there is a major bonus which will make it much easier to sell your home to a buyer.
What oftentimes happens when people are building a home is that they get caught up in how much their mortgage will cost each month and how much they are going to be paying. But when you look at the actual figures that make up a monthly budget, the amount you pay in maintenance and utilities is actually quite a bit more than most people expect, especially during the hot summer or cold winter months.
The biggest investment a homeowner is making in his house, then, is actually in agreeing to pay for the maintenance of it. Utility bills, yard maintenance costs, irrigation systems, water bills — these things all add up when you look at them over a 50-year period. In fact, over a period of 50 years or more, the costs that a person has paid in maintenance fees and bills on a regular home is outstanding. If you add those numbers up, it will make your mortgage look small in comparison.
That is why it can be such a benefit to buy a high performing house. If your house costs less to maintain — thanks to the installation of energy efficient materials and energy-efficient building techniques that were used — then that will greatly boost the value in the long run and reduce the costs that you pay in maintenance and bills each month.
Despite that fact, though, the main reason people still get green homes built right now is as a way to do something good for the environment. But at the very least, the good news is that these homeowners also have the peace of mind in knowing that they are not wasting their money by installing a few slightly more costly fixtures and materials during the construction phase of their home. Because in the long run, doing so can definitely boost the overall value of their house.

Renovating a Pre-1978 House

A federal law has been passed requiring builders to be lead paint renovation certified before commencing any work to be done on a pre-1978 renovation. This law takes effect nation wide as of April 22, 2010. In North Carolina it has already taken effect as of January 1, 2010.
As a residential house and remodel designer, I felt it to be very important to obtain this certification to familiarize myself with exactly what the builders will be required to do. This has a two fold advantage. One, I can pre-test the home prior to the design phase and help my client choose the right builders to perform the work. Two, I know the proper procedures and precautions that must be taken to protect the home owners family and workers on site from exposure to lead dust.
During the certification class we learned of the effects of lead paint dust and how they affect our brain. Heavy metals in your blood system are not good at all. They could cause irrational thoughts and long lasting behavioral changes in most adults and greatly damage brain development in young children. The lead could stay in your system for upwards of thirty years. Studies have proven that the body stores lead and treats it as if it were calcium. Because of this pregnant women exposed to lead dust could pass lead directly to their fetus years after exposure. Our instructor used an example of how much lead dust it would take to harm a six year old child. The amount of dust was on fingertip.
Remodeling a lead positive house safely is not a difficult task. It just takes a few extra precautions. Workers will have to use plastic barriers in any area of work to catch any lead chips or dust to prevent contamination of other areas of the house. The HVAC system will have to closed and sealed during construction. All effected areas will have to be wet sanded and cleaned with the proper HEPA filter vacuums. The construction area will also have to be taped off and warning signs will have to be displayed to avoid any accidental contamination from unauthorized personnel.
If you are thinking about remodeling your pre-1978 house make sure your house is properly tested and that the contractor you choose to do the work is certified in lead renovations if your house tests positive. Even if you’re simply repainting your home, old painters tarps have been tested to have high levels of lead dust contamination. Make sure your painter in using new plastic drops to error on the side of caution.
If you have any questions about a future remodel please feel free to call Kevin Holdridge at KDH Residential Design, LLC. (704) 909-2755.

Green Building Starts with Lifestyle Change

Green Building means something different to everyone you ask about the subject. I have listened to a lot of people that perceive themselves as the foremost experts in the field. I have spent countless hours in Green Building classes and Green Builder Council meetings. I have read a number of books on Green Building and related subjects. I have received my Certified Green Professional certificate. There is now a television station devoted to Green Building on my satellite provider called Planet Green TV. There are infinite websites on the subject, countless discussion groups on professional networking websites, various companies selling green this and green that. The green buzz has become overwhelming. People are acting as if this is something new. Green Building practices have been utilized since the energy crisis in the 1970’s. Don’t believe me. Have you ever seen an old big bulky solar panel on a small bungalow house? Have you ever heard of a geo-thermal heat pump or double paned low-e windows? We have been using engineered floor systems (wood I-Joists) for over 10 years now in my southeast market. This gets back to Einstein’s theory of relativity. Green building has always been around us. Building science is not new; we just never realized it was there. It was never brought to the forefront until the world was hit with a struggling economy and outrageous fuel prices. Everything is relative. If you were building quality, tight, energy efficient homes you just called it a quality home. Granted this Green Building push has increased the quality of homes built by companies that prior only abided by the local building codes. For the most part quality builders have to change what they are doing very little to get a gold certified green home, besides the additional paperwork, third party inspections and the fees associated with both. To me the most important thing to consider when building a green home is framing the home as tight as possible. This will allow the HVAC contractor to better efficiently control the indoor air quality. After all in the whole scheme of things it is the next fifty years of energy usage after your home is built that matter the most. Energy consumption is the most expensive and can be the sole greenest item in the house. I’ll take a solar hot water tank over bamboo floors any day of the week. Not to discredit green building materials because there are a plethora of new things on the market today. Technology for building materials only keeps getting better, faster, and more ecological, but being green starts with personal strides to reduce energy consumption.
Think about easy things you can do to save energy. Things that may seem small and trivial will have a snowball effect and accumulate over time. Simple things like unplugging televisions and alarm clocks in rooms that get seldom use or unplugging phone chargers when not in use can lower electrical usage. Changing out all of your light bulbs to compact fluorescent lights will save energy. Turning off lights or installing dimmer switches are good ways to save energy. Walking or riding a bike to the park instead of driving and recycling bottles, cans and paper save energy. Creating compost for organic waste and reducing the amount of garbage you create all save energy in some way. Before you start thinking about green building you need to alter your lifestyle ever so slightly and start thinking about how you can consume less energy and create less waste.
Create a snowball effect. Think about ways to consume less to enhance your green technology. For example, save 10% less water by consciously taking a shorter shower now. When you build your house install a low flow shower head that will reduce 20% of your water usage on top of 10% you are accustomed to saving by taking shorter showers. Being green is a lifestyle change. It’s not just purchasing green technology or building an energy efficient home. The house is a system. The people living in the house are part of the system, consuming energy, using the HVAC, turning on lights, opening doors and windows. Does it make sense to build an air tight house and keep all of the windows and doors open while the air conditioner is running? No. Truly being green means using the new technology, building science and energy systems to the best and most efficient ability possible.