Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Green Backyard Home in Novato

We're working on a home we just set in Novato that will be done in a few weeks. It's a 688sqft. 1br/1ba home that we designed for a retired Architect. As nice as the home is to look at I think the best feature is that the home exceeded the Novato Green Building Requirements. We needed 50 points to pass design approval and 60 points to qualify for the city's "Gold Level Status". Our factory built home clocked in at 82 points total. The home was set last week as you can see on youtube . I will post some photos as we button up the interior and stucco the exterior to match the existing home.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

My version of an Ikea living space

What do you look at when you go to Ikea? Well I gravitate towards the small living spaces they set up. I'm not talking about the 20 living rooms or kitchens, but the little enclosed spaces that look like tiny homes. It's kind of a treat to me since I design and build little structures every day, but rarely get to see them furnished.



So today I was in the Sacramento store looking at some kitchen cabinets for a project I'm designing and as I was headed to the kitchen department this little 240sq.ft. space caught my eye. As I walked through the space admiring the layout and making mental notes on what wasn't to code I thought "What would this look like if it was an actual building?"


So here it is! I added a couple windows to let more light in and take advantage of the view into my imaginary backyard. We could dress this little home 50 ways and still not exhaust our options, but for now here's two different looks. The first elevation is in the spirit of Ikea and has more of a Modern look to it. I kinda dig this look myself! The second is more of a traditional looking structure. In either case I think this would make a great little backyard home. Don't you?










Steve Vallejos
Valley Home Development

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

New home tax credit applies to Backyard homes!


That's right, you can have a backyard home and get some money back from Uncle Sam! Since we build our Backyard homes using manufactured and modular homes, they qualify as a home purchase allowing you to take advantage of the $8000 tax credits for first time home buyers or the $6500 tax credit for repeat home buyers.


What's the catch? Well you need to be in contract by April 30, 2010 (purchase completed by June 30, 2010). There are some income limits but most of the projects we work on the clients are within those limits.


So what are you waiting for! Give us a call or shoot me an email and we can get you the beautiful home you've been dreaming of and some financial assistance from the tax man.


Steve Vallejos

Valley Home Development

(925)525-4900

steve@vhdonline.com

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Backyard Home in Los Altos HIlls

We are just a few days from getting the foundation started on this project. If we didn't get hit with the rains last month this house would be sitting on the foundation as I write this. Just when you get all the pieces ready, mother nature steps in. This customer has a nice terraced lot with an open area on the lower section for this home.



The 1000sqft. Backyard Home or Second unit, as the City calls it, is ready to go. Right now it's sitting in our storage yard waiting for the foundation. What's with the exterior you ask? Well this home is getting stucco applied once we set it, so the factory installs a concrete board over the house wrap and primers coats it to protect the material. We stucco over this once the home is set and secured to the foundation. This home also has fire sprinklers installed at the factory and we also had to do quite a few other upgrades to the home because the property is in the "Wildland Urban Interface Zone". This special fire zone requires the home to have noncombustible material for the entire exterior. It also requires the gutters that wont allow leaves and debris to accumulate so to reduce the chance of burning if a fire strikes the area.
I'll post some photo's as the project progresses.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Backyard home attached to a garage


Anyone have a detached garage in the backyard? Here's a great little Backyard Home plan we designed for a client in Menlo Park. This is 640sqft plan that was designed for hadicap access and it even an inside laundry. The structure is made to connect to the rear and side of the garage, so it wraps around it. It can be placed on either the right or left side depending on your needs.
For more info on this plan or any of our many plans, email me at steve@vhdonline.com

2010 Backyard Home Business

This year marks our 6th year in business as Valley Home Development. While quite a bit has changed in the building environment, one thing has remained a constant for us. The Backyard Home has continued to be the dominant activity for us and we are grateful to have the opportunity to meet and work with so many families.

As January comes to a close I wanted to let everyone know we are updating the website to reflect more recent activity and things to come. There is some exciting products and projects on the horizon so stay tuned for more info.