Bergen County is a special place for any family to lay their roots. You have access to New York City nightlife, beautiful state parks and shoreline for relaxing weekends, and world-class education for your children.
We see many young families coming into Bergen County and moving into homes new and old. When they are in need of construction on their homes, we find that these young families decide on the following options:
New Home
While not the most common path for new Bergen County families, we do see young families moving into new homes in the area. New homes in Bergen County are largely built in one of two ways.
A developer-built house is a house built by a construction developer who intends to sell the completed project to a buyer. These houses are sometimes referred to as "spec houses," because they are built speculatively - without a specific buyer when the work starts. Spec houses are actively marketed on real estate listings, even before the construction work is completed. This ensures that potential buyers will see the listings as early as possible.
Spec houses are usually built in contemporary styles that will make them feel as new as possible, and include many popular amenities, so that they attract as many potential buyers as possible. Spec houses in Bergen County always target a high-end price, because the developer needs to recoup their costs from purchasing the property and financing the construction. It rarely makes financial sense for them to build and sell something for less than seven figures.
Custom built homes are another option for new home construction in Bergen County, and are the method of new home construction that J. Campoli & Sons is most experienced with.
For a custom-built home, the homeowner will contact an architect and develop their vision for what they want their new home to be. The architect will design a fully-custom home to the style and wishes of the homeowner. The architect will then produce a set of construction documents, so that a contractor may build the home and bring the plan to life.
A very comfortable home can be built in Bergen County the six-figure range, depending on the level of finishes and amenities called for in the plan. For this reason, this is a slightly more popular option among new homeowners moving into the Bergen County area.
Addition
More commonly than a new Bergen County family moving into a new home, we see families performing alterations on older homes. There are a plethora of well-built Baby Boomer houses in Bergen County that easily take on a new home feel with some thoughtful alterations.
Because young families have young children, and may be having more children in the future, space becomes a valuable amenity in the home. As the kids grow up and get bigger, they will need their own bedrooms, and a big enough living space in the main part of the house to feel comfortable. The way to get modern amounts of space in an older home is with an addition.
A common kind of addition on a Bergen County home is adding a level on a split-level home. The Baby Boomer developments of the 1950s and 1960s had many split-level homes with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a great way to modernize these homes is by adding a top-floor master bedroom and bathroom suite on top of the existing home. Because of the layout of these split level homes, extending the central staircase up one more level and building on top of the existing living room becomes a cost-effective way of increasing the floor space of the home.
Add-a-levels and other types of additions are performed on other styles of Bergen County homes, too. There are many ways to add the modern amenities of current homes to a house that was built decades ago.
These additions can be performed in the low six-figure range depending on the finish and amenities of the specific project. They are a very popular method of improving a new home and making it more comfortable for a young family.
Renovation
The most straightforward way of improving the space in your home is renovating the interior space. This doesn't get into the same amount of work that an addition requires, because you're not expanding beyond the foundation of your current home.
A renovation is best if your home has a specific pain point. An outdated bathroom or kitchen can be particularly difficult for a young family to live with, and modernizing it with clean finishes can be a very straightforward way to update the home without taking on a very large construction project. Having a modern bathroom with an open shower can make the efforts of bathing young children much simpler, and a new kitchen can reinvent the entire first floor of your home.
A renovation is typically the lowest-cost option for having construction work performed on your home because you are not modifying the existing layout of the floorplan or going beyond your home's foundation. Typically limited to one section or room of the home, it can provide a ton of utility for the work when performed thoughtfully in the highest-leverage parts of the home.
Young families in Bergen County require a thoughtful contractor in order to perform this work on their homes successfully, and that's how J. Campoli & Sons has operated since 1946. We provide our clients with as much of our insight as possible, so that you are left with the best results for you and your family going forward. For more information about our residential construction services, schedule a consultation here.