Contemporary Home Construction

A current house in a familiar shape

Plenty of owners want a house that does not feel like 1985 inside but are not after the flat roofs and bare minimalism of a strictly modern design. A contemporary house sits between the two. From the street it has a familiar form, with a gable or two, a pitched roof and proportions that look at home beside a Cape or a colonial. Inside it has open living space, more daylight and cleaner detailing than a traditional house.

That mix has practical advantages here. A pitched roof sheds snow and handles ice better than a flat one. A familiar form fits zoning, the character of the street and, where it applies, a historic district review more easily. And the house tends to age well, because it is not chasing a look that will feel dated in ten years.

The hard part is making the inside and outside agree. We spend time early on the junctions: where an open room meets a sloped ceiling, where a big window lands in a traditional wall, where two cladding materials meet.

Most owners come with photos, and we look at those together early to sort out which pieces are about the inside and which are about the outside. That keeps the house from turning into two different ideas stuck together.

Open plans under a pitched roof

Open floor plans and vaulted ceilings are what most owners picture when they say contemporary. Both affect structure. Removing interior walls means the roof and floor loads have to be carried another way, often with engineered beams or posts placed with care. Vaulting a ceiling under a pitched roof removes the attic, and with it the space where insulation and ventilation usually go.

A vaulted roof can be built several ways. A structural ridge beam can carry the roof so the walls are not pushed outward, engineered rafters can span the room, or insulation can go on top of the roof deck. Each choice changes how the ceiling looks, how the roof stays cold enough to avoid ice dams and how the house meets the energy code. We go through those options with you and the designer, because they decide what you see from the couch.

Open plans also need thought about sound and heat. A big room with a high ceiling carries noise and warm air up and away from where you sit. Heating and cooling zones, ceiling fans and duct routes are planned at the framing stage, not added later.

Long spans also affect the levels above and below. A beam that replaces a wall has to land on a post that carries down to a footing, which can mean extra footings in the foundation. Planning that before the foundation is poured is far easier than adding it later.

We go through those options with you and the designer, because they decide what you see from the couch.

Mixing cladding without creating leaks

Mixed cladding is common on contemporary houses: clapboard or shingle on the main body, with vertical boards, panels or stone on a wing or around the entry. It adds interest, and every change of material is a joint where water can get in if the detail is wrong.

Each transition gets flashing lapped in the right direction and a clear plan for how water that gets behind each material drains out. A rainscreen gap behind siding helps the wall dry. Where siding meets stone or a panel system, the trim and flashing details are drawn before the materials are ordered, because those joints are where trouble starts on a house that is ten years old.

On the South Coast and the Cape, salt air adds another layer. Fasteners, flashing metals and finishes are chosen with that exposure in mind so the cladding does not stain or fail early.

Color and finish need thought on mixed cladding too. Factory-finished siding, stained wood and natural stone weather at different rates, and we talk through how each will look in ten years so the combination still works as it ages.

Bigger windows in a New England wall

Contemporary houses usually carry more glass than traditional ones: larger windows, corner windows, a wall of sliders to the deck. In a pitched-roof house those openings still sit in a wall that carries the roof and, on a two-story house, a floor above. Headers and beams are sized for each opening, and the window layout is worked out together with the structure.

Placement matters as much as size. A large window in the right spot lights a room all day. In the wrong spot it cooks the room in July and leaks heat in January. We look at orientation with you while the plan can still change. Every opening gets sill pans and flashing like any well-built window, and the bigger units get extra care, since more glass means more water running down the wall in a storm.

Window trim is a small detail with a big effect. A contemporary house usually uses narrower, simpler casings than a colonial, inside and out, so the openings have to be framed square and the drywall returns finished well.

Custom pieces and how they stay on track

Contemporary houses often hold more custom work than they appear to: a stair with an open rail, a fireplace wall, built-ins in the main room. Steve keeps those selections in writing with you, and every change is written up and priced before it happens. You get regular updates and one person to call, from the first walk of the lot to the final inspection.

Exterior choices get the same written treatment. Siding profiles, trim widths, window colors and roofing are agreed before ordering, because on a house that mixes materials, one wrong color or profile throws off the whole front. If something has to change on site, you see it before it changes.

At the end you walk the house with Steve room by room, and anything not finished the way you agreed goes on a list that gets closed out before he calls the job done.

See the rest of our homes work, or browse the gallery for rooms we have finished.