What's New?

Last Friday the work began to prepare the existing house on this property for its big move.  It has now been separated from the foundation, is on the trailer and scheduled to hit the road on Wednesday night.  If you’ve never seen an entire house moved, and really how many of us have, come out on Wednesday and watch the process.  It is really an amazing sight.

5600 Grove Avenue is going to be another beautifully constructed home in the heart of Edina.  This custom home will be built on a beautiful corner lot in the Countryside area of Edina.  Rather than tearing down the existing home, Passages is having the home moved for reuse by another family.  The process for moving the home has begun and the actual move will occur early next week.

This beautiful house is now complete and waiting for you to come and see.  Our realtors are holding an open house this Tuesday, January 17, 2011 from 11:00-1:00.  Come and see if if this could be the perfect house for your family!

With the home now complete, we’re ready to show it off.  Our realtors are holding an open house this Sunday, December 18, 2011 from 1:00-3:00.  Come and see if this beautiful new home could be the perfect fit for your family to ring in the New Year.

The exterior of this new Pasages home is almost complete.  Garage doors were installed yesterday, landscaping went in last week, and today the sod was laid, giving this home a beautiful curb appeal.  Interstingly, the sod installers use oversized rolls of sod that are spread with a tractor and laid in long strips.  One strip alone, covers from the front to the back of the home.  The sod is cut in the morning and installation is finished within hours, ensuring that there is absolutely no yellowing of the sod. 

http://www.passagesdesignbuild.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sod-movie.mp4

THe foundation is now complete.  The frames were removed from the poured concrete foundation walls so you can now see the footprint of the home.  Waterproofing and  installation of the drain board was completed and the backfilling began.  We are now all ready for the framing to begin.  Everything is running right on schedule.      

Moving of the existing home on this property was completed last week and construction has begun.  The house was moved in three pieces.  When the WCCO heard about our recycling of this home, they came out and spoke with Navid Pouladian.  You can watch the interview and read about it by clicking here. http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/6079426-recycled-home-moving-from-edina-to-montrose/

With the excavation now complete, the foundation walls are being poured.  This home will use 8″ thick poured concrete walls.   Poured basement walls are stronger, drier, more durable, and can be constructed more quickly than block basements while also offering  greater design flexibilty.  

The process of moving the existing home on this property has really moved along.  To prepare for the relocation, the house has been split into two  sections and will transported out of the neighborhood in pieces.  If you have never seen this process, you should really come out and watch them work – however, unless your a night owl, you’ll miss the actual move of the house as they won’t head out with the house in tow until 12 midnight!

Everything is ready to go for the house currently sitting on this property to be moved – well it would be if we weren’t currently in the middle of government shutdown.  The house has been prepped for the move and all utilities shut off, but the movers are unable to obtain the necessary permits to move the house.  Just as soon as the movers can obtain the permits, this house will be on the move to make room for a new, beautiful custom home.  Having the existing home moved, rather than demolished is so much better for the environment - moving the home is like a large recycling project.  Rather than have the pieces of the home fill-up a local landfill, someone else will be able to use it.

Build your new home in Serenity in Eden Prairie located on Michele Lane.  This community has easy access to 494, Crosstown/62, Hwy 5 and Hwy 212.  The businesses that are close are Menards, Costco, Home Depot, Rainbow Foods, LifeTime Fitness, Eden Prairie Mall and many restaurants.  The Eden Prairie Community Center, Eden Prairie High school and Forest Hills elementary are close, too.  If you like to golf check out Bent Creek Golf Club.  There are many walking and bike paths and Round Lake and Starring Lake Park.  If your job takes you downtown, there is the Southwest Bus Transportation Center.  Amazing convenience!

Centennial Shops

The Centennial Shops is a good place to grab a bite to eat at Five Guys, Leann Chin, Pinstripes or Potbelly.  Pinstripes has a balcony area that has a nice view of Centennial Lakes.

Afterwards you can do some shopping at The Container Store, West Elm or if you need art supplies check out Blick.

Build your custom home in the Prestigious Seven Green Community of Upper Bracket Homes located in Wayzata School District. The community features open space, parks, ponds, sidewalks, boulevard trees, playground and sports court.  There will be 70 single family homes and it is close to restaurants and shopping.

Bedroom

bedroom

Construction at this home is moving quickly. With all of the drywall completed, giving each room its “definition”, it is exciting to get a real feel for how this home will look when completed. The exterior of the house is sided with LP Smartside, a product that gives the home all the warmth and beauty of traditional wood, plus the durability of engineered wood. The manufacturing process of this product creates products that are engineered for strength, performance and protection from fungal decay and termites. 

Exterior Back

 

Exterior Front

Significant progress is being made on this custom home in Southwest Minneapolis.  The framing is complete and insulation now in.  The walls of this home are insulated first with a 1-inch layer of spray insulation to provide a seamless air barrier and high R-value.  The benefits of this spray foam insulation include long-term energy cost savings as it ensures that there is no air or moisture infiltration into the home.  On top of this layer, we added additional insulation to all the exterior and interior walls to provide the maximum noise reduction.

Despite delays in March due to SNOW we have been able to save time by building our interior and exterior walls indoors, in a climate controlled environment.  These were then shipped to the site for installation.  In addition to saving construction time, this allowed us to enclose the building up to 30% faster to reduce exposure to weather elements and  save on construction waste and noise in the neighborhood. By the end of first day of framing, most of first floor walls were done.

Started our new custom build home in Armatage neighborhood of SW Minneapolis near Minnehaha Creek.  It will be a two story cottage inspired home and this is what it will look like.