Topsider’s Quality Prefab Patio House Designs and Guest House Plans are Great Ideas for “In-Law” Suites and “Granny Flats”

Posted on May 15, 2012

Sloping terrain and flood-prone areas are ideal for Topsider’s prefab pedestal guest houses and home additions.

Topsider’s prefab patio house designs make perfect guest houses and home additions for “granny flats” and “in-law” suites.

As the baby-boom generation continues to age, the trend of families adding an attached home addition as an “in-law” suite or a detached guest house as a “granny flat” is a growing trend. These houses and home additions are generally small patio house designs with floor plans that are functional and handicap accessible.

In many instances zoning restrictions will determine whether the additional space can be a “free-standing” guest house-type design, or if it must be attached to the primary home. In either case Topsider’s in-house design team can create home additions or guest houses to blend perfectly with existing architectural themes and building site demands.

Our high quality Post & Beam building system allows complete flexibility of design, so clients can build exactly what they want. And regardless of the terrain Topsider’s prefab guest

house plans and home additions designs are easily adaptable and built with foundations ranging from slab-on-grade, crawl-spaces and basements to piers, pilings and even our unique pedestal home foundation.

Topsider Homes makes it easy to get started with a wide selection of online house plans including numerous plan ideas for patio houses, guest houses, home additions and much more. With over 40 years of experience, we are skilled at creating house plans for any lifestyle or need.

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Topsider Prefab Homes are Ideal for Building in Hawaii

Posted on May 11, 2012

Hawaiian mountainside prefab pedestal home by Topsider Homes

This unique Topsider prefab pedestal home was built on a steep mountainside in Hawaii and captures breath-taking ocean views.

Topsider Homes has been designing and shipping prefab homes to Hawaii for decades. With a wide variety of climates, terrains, soil conditions and other considerations — e.g., earthquakes and hurricanes — building in Hawaii can be a complex undertaking. Topsider understands these challenges and has the experience and expertise to meet them.

Each Topsider prefab Hawaiian house plan is custom-designed, individually engineered and prefabricated to the highest quality standards to allow it to adapt to local environmental conditions and regulatory requirements.

Many Hawaiian Topsider homes are built on the sides of the island’s mountains utilizing our unique pedestal home foundation. Others are built on short piers or pilings, and some are simply built on slab-on-grade foundations. Each home design is customized to homeowner needs and to those of Mother Nature.

Whether you plan to build on the Big Island in a rain-forest area or in a lush and remote location on Kauai or Molokai, Topsider Homes has been there and can make your island living dreams become reality.

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Topsider Homes’ Signature Collection is the Ultimate in Custom-Designed Luxury Prefab Home Living

Posted on April 18, 2012

With custom design flexibility for homes of any size, Topsider Homes’ in-house design staff will help make your homebuilding dreams become a reality. Visit Topsider Homes and see for yourself the beauty and luxury of a Signature Collection Home design. Topsider’s unique high-quality prefab home building system allows your new home to be built quickly and efficiently, whether at the beach, the mountains, or in an established neighborhood. Click HERE to see the photo album of the featured home below.

: This beautiful 3,645 sq. ft. Topsider Signature Collection House was built in an old and established neighborhood and looks like it has always been there. Visit our Photo Tour webpage to see more.

Only Topsider Homes provides FREE in-house services to our clients including design and house plans, kitchen, bath and interior finish selections, consulting engineering, permits and approvals, builder recruitment and project coordination. We make your project go smoothly from start to finish.

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Topsider Homes’ Latest YouTube Prefab Home Assembly Animation

Posted on April 17, 2012

Topsider Homes’ latest YouTube video animation shows how fast and simple it is to assemble its low-maintenance, hurricane-resistant homes built on piers, stilts or pilings for maximum storm safety.

Whether a small getaway cottage or a large primary home, from the foundation to the roof, Topsider’s high-quality precision-made building components fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. This time-tested building-system ensures fast and efficient home construction.

Topsider prefab home “weather tight” shell and deck assembly photo

Topsider Homes' Post & Beam panelized building system makes building a high-quality hurricane-resistant stilt or piling prefab home simple and easy - even in the most remote locations where limited skilled labor is available.

Click HERE to view our newest YouTube video. This prefab home assembly animation shows the step-by-step sequence for building a home on short piers, stilts or pilings.

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Import Duty and Tax Free Building in the Bahamas will Expire in June 2013

Posted on March 30, 2012

This Topsider prefab home was built on the island of South Andros in the Bahamas. Topsider has been shipping prefab homes to the Bahamas since the 1960s.

In 2008, the Bahamian Parliament voted to make select islands Import Duty and Tax Free for new home construction. This incentive, intended to stimulate jobs through tourism and construction, expires in June 2013. (Click Here to view the entire list of exempted islands). This exemption amounts to saving of as much as 35% on Import Duty and 10% additional Tax on the value of imported building materials. If you intend to beat the June 2013 deadline and take advantage of the Import Duty and Tax Exemptions, getting started now is critical. Builders are already booking jobs into 2013 and by year-end 2012, finding a builder at any price may be a challenge.

Topsider’s unique Post & Beam, panelized building system is ideal for remote Bahamian building locations. Our services include in-house design, consulting engineering for local building permits, builder recruitment, shipping logistics and job-site builder coordination. Most importantly, Topsider Homes’ high quality prefab house structures and panels are easily and quickly assembled. (Click HERE to watch the simple assembly sequence of a short stilt-pier home.)

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Topsider Homes Makes it Easy to Start Your New Homebuilding Project in 2012

Posted on December 29, 2011

Since 1968 Topsider Homes has designed and shipped literally thousands of homes throughout the US and abroad to diverse locations ranging from the Bahamas to the Arctic Circle. No matter where your home building project is located, our in-house design and technical staff, together with our many free services ranging from builder recruitment to building permit assistance, will help make your project go fast and smooth.

Topsider's Project Managers help our customers fine tune and customize their home designs to meet lifestyle and budget requirements.

Topsider Homes is a building system company that provides in-house design, consulting engineering and prefabricates custom home building components, all based on a unique post & beam, panelized homebuilding approach. Our services are extensive and include assistance with all types of permitting requirements and approvals, logistical planning, builder recruitment, project coordination and much more.

All new homebuilding projects start with house plans. Topsider Homes’ approach involves two “stand alone” steps – the first being the design phase and the second, the building phase. We encourage clients to start the design phase as early as possible, so that they can get the preliminaries out of the way early in order to allow as much time as possible to prepare for the building phase.

For more information about getting started click HERE.

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New 2012 State of Florida Wind and Wind-Borne Debris Building Code Requirements

Posted on December 29, 2011

This illustration shows Florida’s New Wind Load and Wind-Borne Debris Zones.

Florida’s residential wind and wind-borne debris regions are changing significantly in 2012. The new requirements will be officially adopted on January 1, 2012, and effective March 15, 2012 – and these changes will cause new home construction costs to increase. Plans submitted for permitting prior to March 15, 2012 may be “grandfathered” into the old requirements, so if you intend to build in Florida in 2012, getting started early could result in savings. Many other coastal states and Caribbean countries who follow Florida’s lead on building codes will soon be implementing similar changes.

The map above shows the new wind and windborne-debris regions. The dark areas are those requiring high impact missile-resistant glass. Most noteworthy of the changes is that the previous maximum windload requirement in Florida was 150 mph in The Keys. The new code raises that to 180 mph and increases wind loads for many counties below mid-state from 100 mph to 140 mph and up. Additionally, areas now requiring much more expensive high impact, missile resistant windows have nearly doubled and are no longer primarily in coastal areas.

Topsider Homes has been building its post & beam panelized homes in coastal areas of Florida and throughout the eastern seaboard and Gulf for more than 40 years with homes that have withstood the worst hurricanes in history. Our technical staff is well versed in these building code requirements and in dealing with local building departments and authorities throughout Florida and the surrounding states. For more information contact Topsider Homes.

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Topsider Kit Homes – Since 1968

Posted on December 29, 2011

Topsider Homes was one of the earliest kit home makers in the US, dating back to 1968. Its unique octagonal home designs and pedestal home foundations were [and still are] ideal for difficult building sites and locations with panoramic views. The earliest Topsider kit homes included everything down to appliances, carpeting and the finishing touches. Today, clients pick and choose what they want Topsider to provide. Some only want the “weather tight” shell components and panels, while others, particularly in remote areas like the Caribbean and South Pacific, want all materials and finishes supplied – often even to include interior furnishings and accessories.

These photos from 1968 depict the earliest days of Topsider Homes' unique kit house concept.

No other kit home or package home company offers the extensive services that Topsider Homes does. These services range from free in-house design and house plans, builder recruitment [when requested], assistance with all aspects of seeking building approvals, and logistical assistance and general coordination during the construction phase.

Topsider Homes’ house kits go together quickly and easily in “erector set” fashion. And unlike “stick built” and other building component companies, many of Topsider’s designs can be assembled to a “weather tight” state in just days, depending on the size and complexity.