IRIDIUM DEVELOPMENT INC.
Tag Construction
Reoccurring Flood Damage
Home DIY
Flood Prevention 101
Here are some tips to keep water where it should be
Did you know that “INSANITY” is defined by doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?
Replace drywall, install new cabinets, moldings, flooring, furniture…wait for it….BOOM! the next storm surge (not hurricane) your home is damaged again. Be angry at those property owners who drove past your home and created a wave that gets your house wet. How dare they leave the house they own to get away or go the house they own to check damage. You have every right to be upset, you just replaced all of the damage created from the last flood and now your home is damaged again.
If your house flooded from a storm surge and you only replaced everything, you could be INSANE. You need different solutions to stop future water damage.
Where was water infiltration entry?
How high was the surge and water level outside and flood water inside?
What height (off the floor) are the entrance doors to the house?
Take this information and create a plan.
Most likely the height of the water level caused the damage. Raise all of your door entrances up as high as possible. Replace the space above your doors to installing that space below your doors. Add a landing outside to enter, and one inside if needed. Waterproof the lower elevation of your home, the entire perimeter. There are many waterproof membranes that can be applied as paint and will stop any water from entering. Besides being easy to apply, you can also paint over so it is not visible. Build the grade around your house up, add planting beds to buffer water and make sure you waterproof continuously behind and higher than the beds prior to creating the beds. Your garage, raise everything off the floor, be sure to waterproof the all of the walls 24″ up and to the concrete slab. Remove HVAC units, water heaters anything in the way and replace after applications are applied generously. Cover the entire concrete slab, be sure to raise the entrance door from the house to the garage to the max and add landing as needed.
Raise your exterior doors to create a buffer below. This work may be involved but if you do it once correctly you won’t have to do it again unless something huge came through. If your home has 8ft ceilings and you door sits on the floor of your home, you have these options:
Option 1 remove the lintel and replace with a laminated wood beam that is short in height and fat. Use the difference in height to raise the door with cement infill and waterproofing. A typical door is supporting 1 or 2 trusses so a 4″-5″ tall laminate beam is suffice.
Option 2 remove the lintel and open the ceiling up inside, install a flush header above the block walls and joist hanger the trusses into the beam for support. put your door to the ceiling line and add the space below with cement and waterproof to bottom of footing.
Option 3 open the ceiling, remove 2-4 trusses entirely, create a reverse gable roof and infill with framing. Raise your door 2ft and create an entrance outside and inside. Be certain to waterproof your exter to the bottom of your footing or at the least to the top of your footing well below your concrete floor elevation.
What is the cost? What is the amount of work involved? Slightly more than the work to replace what is damaged. So if you do this work while you are repairing your home the cost is nominal and you would not feel it. You would stop the stress worrying about flooding again, you would also increase your homes value. When you have a claim on your home it is noted and recorded. Your premiums and future owners premiums will be higher and it will be an issue later.
Recap, doing the same thing and expecting different results is Insane.
Give us a call we provide free estimates and we can help you. 561-597-0021
Home Flood Prevention and Mitigation
Flood Damage
Flood Mitigation
When you have water damage the first thing you need to do when the water recedes is to dehumidify the area. If you have a dehumidifier set it up to run 24-7. If you do not have one then you can set your thermostat low and run your ac until you are able to get your hands on a dehumidifier. Remove everything that is wet from the house including drywall. Cut the drywall above the waterline until you find dry area. Drywall will soak the water so the sooner you cut it the less you will need to purchase later. Remove wet wood moldings carefully so you can possibly re-use when it drys out.
DIY PREVENTION
Besides raising your home there are steps you can take to prevent damage from storm surges. One is notice how the water has entered your home. Through the walls, through doorways etc. If your home is block construction on concrete slab (like the one in the picture), the focus needs to be on waterproofing the lower level of the masonry walls. Raise your entrance doors and help offset water damage to the extent possible.
Raise Exterior Doors
In the picture (above) you see the step up to enter the home at the front door, this is good and you can also see the space above the front door to the ceiling. Raise your front door, create steps and landing outside, modify the ceiling inside and outside, create a landing inside to step down. This would need to be done at all exterior doors including the one from the garage to the house.
Next, waterproof the entire lower section from below the interior floor level. Dig the soil away where possible by hand and apply a waterproof membrane. Manufactures are plenty (Laticrete is a brand we use often) and apply this over the surface and include the area you raised under your door ways. Cover the surface area heavily including wall to floor along your garage floor and walls, apply multiple coats after each drys properly. You can also apply Laticrete to the lower section of your finish interior walls and the corner of the floor, this will stop water from intruding into the wall and prevent your drywall from getting wet in the event you experience water intrusion. Laticrete and most products can be painted over so this will allow you to blend it in. They have a fabric that can be applied at the corner of the wall and floor, this will seal the edges and keep the wall dry.
The steps above will help resist water from flooding into your home based on the elevation but it is not a sure fix. Elevate your home is a sure fix and this can be done by building over your existing walls. The cost to elevate your home will reduce your flood insurance and increase your home value. Repairing will help prevent damage from surges at the lowest expense to you, but it will not increase your home value.
Information to know, single story masonry block wall homes are built on top of concrete footings set in the dirt. The floors are concrete slabs installed over compacted soil. Your interior walls are built over the concrete slab. House movers raise homes, these homes are typically wood frame homes (floor & walls) built on top of foundations. The interior floors are structural wood floors with beams posted down to concrete footings. To raise a wood frame home there are location points used to jack up the home, because the floor is structural they use the post locations to raise the floor and the entire home.
Could you lift a slab on grade single story masonry home in similar fashion? Yes but in order to raise it supports have to be added to the existing concrete slab that your interior walls sit on. So you tunnel underneath to add supports and lift or you cut up the existing floor and add supports to lift. Think of the amount of work involved. Labor is expensive and really what are you saving in the end?
Elevate your Home
Our solution is to remove your roof demo all of the interior walls and flooring, reinforce footings as needed with masonry piers, plus necessary anchors, then build a new floor, with new walls on top of your existing block walls at the elevation required. 3-4 months work and done to the style design you want all new.
The cost to elevate your home increases the value of your home offsetting the cost to do the work. We can raise your existing home at a cost of $111-$185 per square foot. The price is based on the structural integrity of your existing foundation and maintaining the same footprint of your existing home.
If you are interested give us a call and we can provide you with a free estimate. 561-597-0021.
Saint Petersburg Florida
How is St. Petersburg Different?
Saint Petersburg has so much to offer that other Florida cities and towns are missing.
Yes there are white sand beaches with turquoise waters, amazing sunsets and sunrises across the bay. Yes there are tiki bars and live music almost everywhere along with outdoor seating. There are dog friendly bars and a dog martini bar, outdoor sports, concerts, so much to do all year long and everynight.
What you might not know is besides your beach town activities there are also choices for fine upscale dining, theater, museum, art and everything you would expect from a large city. What is missing in St. Petersburg can be found 20 minutes away in Tampa. Location, Location, Location.
Under Valued
With interest rates hopefully coming down, a cooling economy, Saint Petersburg continues to sell homes. The map above shows what single family homes sold in the last 7 and 90 days from today 12/12/23 (note this does not include condos or lot sales).
Downtown Vibe
You are always walking distance to numerous restaurants and nightlife, Straub Park with its ancient Banyan trees, the Pier, Central Ave, Beach Drive, plenty of hotels and parking. Scooter rentals, electric bike rentals, major league baseball, Dali Museum, Mahaffey Theater, Vinoy Golf Course, and all this just 20 minutes from beautiful white sandy beaches.
Unique to St. Petersburg is the upscale neighborhoods on Tampa Bay. Snell Isle, Old NorthEast, Shore Acres, and many others all within 2-3 minutes of downtown and still 20 minutes away from the beaches.
Naples has a vibrant downtown full of shops and restaurants and upscale neighborhoods with entry pricing in the mid $20M for new construction.
The other Gulf coast towns have exquisite beach front homes and neighborhoods but all lack a vibrant downtown with choices.
Saint Petersburg has more to offer than the other towns plus much more. You are 30 minutes from Tampa International Airport, 30 minutes from Raymond James Stadium for football and concerts, 2.25 hours from Naples and 3.5 hours from Miami. New homes in St. Petersburg start at $278K in south St. Petersburg and go up to $13M in Snell Isle. St. Petersburg has options for all and that is what makes it special. If you appreciate the laid back feel from being near the beach but also like to go out and have a great dinner with a nice bottle of wine, everything is available in St. Petersburg and that is why I feel it is undervalued today.
Not your Average Beach Town
How to hire a Remodeling Contractor
Remodeling in Pinellas County
New Kitchen or Bathroom is very important to you and your Family. The added space or versatility in use or just updating the design to something current requires selecting a licensed contractor to do the work.
There are many steps in the process and everyone wants to save money. What typically happens is the cheapest path becomes the most expensive and sometimes never completed. Horror story after horror story, clients have paid contractors more than 50% + of the contract and no or little work is completed in place.
Make sure you have answers to these questions in writing:
What precisely is the scope of work?
How long will the work take overall?
What are the work hours/days?
Will I be out of a Kitchen for 2 weeks or 9 months?
What happens if the project takes a year?
What happens if you did not add work but the Contractor wants more money?
Who is responsible for managing the subcontractors?
Is the contractor capitalized to operate business?
Typical issues
Google Reviews, There are companies you can hire to create multiple positive Google reviews. Companies with lots of positive reviews are not safe from being bad companies. But there is a way to vet the reviews to help pick good from bad. Read the reviews and you will start to see who the company truly is. You can tell the fake ones from real, the anger from clients and the absurdity from the contractors responses.
Renovation in Naples
If you follow these steps you will reduce a bad experience.
Read the reviews and responses.
Stay away from narcissistic responses from the contractor.
Meet face to face with the contractor and go over the work ask about all details.
Review the estimate provided by the contractor beyond the price, look for details= product description, qty, cost.
Ask for written language of time duration and how will the work be managed.
Ask for missing details to be added.
Define what you are expected to do and what you expect from them.
Add language for delays.
Transparency
Selecting the contractor because they provided the lower cost doesn’t mean that is the real cost. I have seen this numerous times over the years, clients pick the lower cost.
Now what?
The number was wrong, the contractor did not include 1/2 the work and you find out when you are to far in. You signed a contract that has no finish details but pages of how you cannot give a bad review or negative press.
If you have no details explaining what is included in your project then do not hire the contractor, this is true for Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC, Roofing, or General Contracting, Lawn Mowing, Car Repair, etc.
Contractor not showing up
Above we discussed how to avoid a bad situation, but what if you are already in one?
Here are some things you need to know.
Confront your contractor and request a completion schedule in writing, make sure you paper all interactions going forward.
Request a list of who and what was paid to date along with signed, notarized lien waivers.
The lien waivers are proof of payment and you need to know who was paid and how much by your contractor.
Regardless of how much you paid your contractor, if the subcontractors were not paid they can legally (within 90 days) lien your home and foreclose on your property.
The state of Florida is very difficult to obtain a contractor license. You can use this as leverage, all contractors are out of business without a license. Report your contractor, it is a class one felony to take a clients payment and use the funds for anything outside of the clients project.
Threaten a lawsuit and hire an attorney. Most likely you have paid for the majority of the work and nothing or hardly anything is completed on site. Hire an attorney and go after the liability insurance the contractor has, also you can go after the state for allowing this person to operate. If this has happened to you there is a very high probability there are many more clients in the same situation, find them and share the cost.
If you have come to terms, sign a new amendment to go with your original contract. Be certain to have an agreed completion date, cost to complete, timeline and penalty for delays, all missing details of what is included, and all lien waivers that match your overall payments to date and request lien waivers for all future payments.
If you are in a bad situation with your current contractor we can help you by providing you with a real cost to complete the work. This can be used to collect the overpayments you have made to your contractor. We can also work for you as an owners rep and help manage your contractor to complete the work at or near the contract price if possible.
New Bathroom or Kitchen
If you want to remodel your home please contact Iridium Development Inc. We provide free transparent estimates that are detailed. Our contracts are detailed as well and we use industry standard AIA contracts. During the construction process, we provide our clients with login portals to view who we paid and how much we paid each vendor and sub.
You can be assured our prices are very fair, the cost includes the entire scope of work to perform the work and complete the work. We stand by our timelines and minimize the overall duration. With our full transparency we eliminate stress and drama and that is always our goal.
New Construction
St. Petersburg
Florida
4 bedroom, 3.5 baths, Viking appliances, quality upgrades, block construction.
2024 Completion
info@iridiumdev.io
Office Conversion
Cost to Build Apartment Conversion
What will happen to all of the lenders who are overextended on office building loans?
Some of the largest office developers are handing over the keys to entire buildings and defaulting on loans.
What will happen to these building values? If you have an office building leased and you are current on your loan, your building value will decrease along with these defaults. Banks will be stuck with loans for buildings that no longer have 50% of the underwritten valuation. Some developers may not be able to refinance in this environment causing more defaults and decreasing valuations lower.
Convert Office Space to Residential Apartments
It is not hard to see that we are in the beginning of a major crisis. The time is now to convert office buildings into apartment rentals.
Iridium Development is converting full floors from office to residential in most major cities for $6,300 per unit.
The time is now to convert losses to gains, consolidate the current office leases and utilize the vacant space for residential. Our in house team will work with you to obtain entitlements and value engineer the best use of the vacant space.
For more information please write us: info@iridiumdev.io
2 Bedroom/2 Bath Apartments
5/8 drywall, led lighting, shaker style doors, modern moldings, modern kitchens, caesarstone counters, laminate flooring, tile shower, tub, SS appliances, polish chrome plumbing fixtures, neutral paint finishes.
Approvals and demolition additional per application.
5 Months Start to Finish
I built this house in 5 months
We had over 500 people working on this project each day. When it came to the interior finishing we had people working 24/7. Leading up to the interior we could only work 7am to 6pm M-F and 9-5 on Saturday.
I am going to share how we were able to build this 18,000sf home with 1,800 sf pool house and 1,800 sf guest house plus a 700sf guard house on 12 manicured acres.
I will not name drop or share any costs as the ability to complete this caliber work in this timeline is the feature. I also state we and I, we includes myself and others and I includes myself who at this time was V.P. of Construction.
For those of you who build or work in construction you may ask, Why?
It was the challenge, the ability to accomplish something no one else has done. I have to be honest it was actually comfortable for me most of the time.
Let me start with the team, our client had an Interior Designer on board already who they worked with for many years prior. Very talented and open minded firm I grew very fond of during this project. We arranged the Architect who was someone I have worked with for years and very very talented. We also used an amazing local land use attorney, along with civil/structural engineer and surveyor who always met our needs. We also hired a state certified wetlands professional to oversee our site development and pond dredging. There were many others who participated on the team as well, the point is this project consisted of numerous professional entities along with processes to complete, we were not cowboys in the wild west.
Permitting, we started this project knowing we were going to build it fast. So to expedite the start I obtained a demo permit and site excavation permit. This allowed us to cut out the 20ft tall mountain that existed where we set the home. We developed plans and interiors while working on the site. We also were hung up momentarily with a zoning review on volume. We were able to submit our foundation plan and hedge our zoning approval to build the house designed, which you can see all worked out.
The Build,
As you can imagine it was difficult to onboard new subs and get them to agree to the timeline. It is something I deal with on a daily basis.
I remember vividly vetting the HVAC sub I wanted to use for the project. I had worked indirectly with them in the past on many projects and they were very capable. The sub we had been using prior had provided a really high price for the job and they were not worth the squeeze. So I brought in someone else, agreed on pricing and the start and finish dates.
The biggest challenge building at a reduced timeline is making sure everyone fully understands you are going to be on time for them to start. Delays in construction are typical (when or if allowed). Today there are so many ways to mitigate delays that you really have a lot of control. The only thing you cannot still control is mother nature but now it is when she acts extreme.
We were fortunate to avoid delays and when contracting the HVAC sub they were to start rough installation 5 weeks from contract signing. No big deal, except at that time we were still excavating for the foundation. The concern was raised from the sub and I assured them we were going to be ready and this is normal for us.
Well three weeks before HVAC start date we were pouring footings and the sub stopped by the project very concerned. I had a lengthy conversation and really delivered my message that I will be ready regardless of how long it takes everyone else to build that they work for. I could see this was really tough for them to swallow. In the timeframe of 2 weeks we finished pouring the foundation, waterproofed, installed underground piping and drains and backfilled ready for framing. I hired 6 framing companies to frame the house hourly under my leadership. They did not know they were going to be working with the other 5 companies. That monday am one of the companies left and I was down to 5 companies.
We started Monday am and framed the house complete by days end Saturday. The cost was equivalent to contracting one firm, the time savings was enormous. To put this in perspective it would have taken a framing company most likely 6-8 weeks to frame what we did in 6 days.
This type of processes was duplicated over and over again. Outside the box perspective and action to gain results. When we arrived at interior trim and millwork, I hired numerous companies to work by the hour again. I set up a millshop in the Family Room and we made mouldings and raised panels along with many other parts needed to complete the work. I used the architects autocad to work with the trimmers and reduce questions by expanding drawing profiles to see dimensional properties. I also had a meeting with each of the company owners and workers (alone) to offer time and half for anyone who was willing to work over 40 hours. I made sure the owners and workers were present so the money was assured to go to the worker and not in the owners pocket. I was also clear that they had to perform each week during the 40 hours or the overtime was negligible. They agreed and diligently worked as they felt comfortable performing.
I worked many hours weekly on this project coordinating everything from value engineering the pre-buy, permits and approvals, to overseeing field work, project management, inspections, processing invoices and tracking all expenses. Most companies have numerous people on the construction team. I had one supervisor, one pm, an office assistant, and myself. We did have a full accounting office, excavation, masonry, landscaping division and hundreds of laborers but on the construction management side it was the four of us (and we had other projects in various stages).
The painters were our employees and the client at this time changed the floor finish color after we completed the floor finish. To not extend the schedule I had a meeting with our painters and asked them if they wanted they could work from that Monday to Friday. They all looked at me smiling like I was certifiably crazy, “Lee we already work Monday to Friday”. I laughed and apologized for my shortness, I explained that I meant work from Monday 7am until Friday late evening and not go home in between. We can make a bunk area to sleep and I will provide dinner and breakfast, you will receive time and half plus double time, you work until you can’t then sleep and do it again. They all agreed at the opportunity to make extra money and they did it. I already had cameras set up to monitor work from anywhere on my laptop. But with the walls up it was tough to really monitor anything. So to make sure everyone was honest I would randomly show up at the house to check on the production and workers. 11pm, 1am, 3am, 8pm, 10pm never the same time and no pattern. I never encountered anyone taking advantage they were all great workers and exceptional people.
More to Follow..
If you are curious or want to learn more please reach out to us: info@iridiumdev.io
Buy or Build?
High Interest Rates
If you are locked in with a low mortgage rate it most likely makes sense to renovate instead of buying new.
The downside is living in a construction zone!
Selecting the right contractor can make a big difference. Organization is the first ingredient to a successful renovation. You can assess how organized your contractor is by the estimate they provide you.
Having a detailed scope of work and values not only provides transparency but also shows you that the contractor understands what is need to complete the work.
When we built Judge Judy’s Home we included every detail in the estimate from how many hinges to manufacture model numbers. This has been our standard process and always provided up front in our estimate.
Regardless if the project is cost plus or fixed price, we list every detail, qty, count, size so there is less confusion later.
We have found over the years that this makes the process much easier for the clients and for us.
If you are presented with an estimate (or worse a contract) and after review you have no idea what is included…..I can assure you that this is not going to be a fun or successful journey.
Our estimates have every detail.
Start with all of the details and cost, then execute the work. Doing the work is always the easiest, making selections and knowing the true cost is best when it is presented clearly upfront.
Construction Cost
What is the cost to build new in Florida?
Construction cost in Florida is surprisingly $135 pr ft.
Compared to the Northeast ($375.00 sft+) the cost to build in Florida is $135 per foot including landscaping!
Block Construction
Let’s break down the cost to build a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home with a 2 car garage.
What is included?
- Block exterior walls (two stories)
- Stucco exterior (painted)
- Asphalt shingle roof
- 20ft x 25ft brick paver driveway
- 1,700sf grass sod
- 20ft x 12ft paver patio
- 20ft x 21ft garage
- 12ft x 7ft covered front porch
- First floor powder room
- 25ft of Kitchen cabinets with Island eating area
- Premium GE Appliances
- 16ft x 20ft Great room
- 15ft x 10ft Dining room
- 2 Ensuite Bedrooms upstairs
- 2 Additional Bedrooms upstairs
- 3 Bathrooms upstairs
- $6 tile allowance
- Caesarstone countertops
- $2.25 laminate floor allowance for the entire house
- Hurricane rated windows and exterior doors
- Shaker style interior doors and millwork
- Lever door hardware
If the tile material allowance caught your eye as it being to low, the cost to upgrade is nominal.
4 Bed 3.5 Bath House
How is this possible? We build at this cost per foot in Florida today.
Experience and technique applied properly to create quality at affordable prices.
If you are interested in building a new home in Florida, contact us. We would be happy to provide a free estimate.
Iridium Development
561-597-0021