# Summer Oaks custom home > Water was crossing the back of the lot and the covenants wanted the house fifty feet back, behind the trees they wanted to keep. So before we broke ground I went to see the neighbors, and then the HOA. - Project type: Custom home - Builder: Flenn Custom Homes and Remodeling, Georgetown, TX ((512) 677-3992) - Page: https://flennhomes.com/portfolio/summer-oaks-custom-home/ - Neighborhood: Summer Oaks - Type: Custom home build - Site challenges: Water crossing the rear of the lot · sloping grade · fifty-foot setback covenant · mature trees to preserve · future pool ## Three problems that were really one problem Summer Oaks project, custom home for a client. Beautiful home, nice lot. Part of the difficulties on this was site drainage and also the slope of the lot. **Drainage.** Water was coming across the back of the lot, and the grade sloped. I could tell straight away this was going to be the issue. **The covenants.** The neighborhood required the home to sit fifty feet back. **The trees.** There were mature trees at the back the owners wanted to keep, partly for their own sake, partly because they planned to put a pool in back there eventually and wanted shade around it. Fifty feet back put the house into the trees and into the water. Every one of those three constraints was fine on its own. Together they didn't fit. ## So I went and talked to people **First the neighbors.** Before anything started, I met with them about the drainage. We talked through what the water was doing, and we were able to make small adjustments to divert it closer to the property line and away from the back of the lot. That's a conversation that goes very differently before you build than after. Afterwards it's a complaint. Beforehand it's two parties solving a shared problem, and neighbors are generally reasonable when you arrive before the concrete does. **Then the HOA.** The house next door on the left sat further forward than the covenant should have allowed. I don't know what the reason was or what their builder managed to arrange, but it was a fact on the ground, and I took it to the homeowners' association. My argument was partly precedent and partly common sense. Their neighbor was up front. If we sat fifty feet back, the two driveways would be close together while the houses were badly out of line, one right up front, the other pushed back. It would look odd, and it would look odd permanently. They agreed, and we got the home pushed forward. Which solved the other two problems at once. Moving the house forward is what saved the trees at the back, and it kept the future pool area shaded the way the owners wanted. Meeting with the neighbors before construction to negotiate minor adjustments is what diverted the water flow closer to the property line and away from the planned house and future pool area. ## What the house is It turned out to be such a neat home. I really love the look of it, especially the steep 12-pitch roof and the white stucco with dark trim. That contrast is just a great combination. It also features a three-car garage connected by a breezeway. Vaulted ceilings in the living room, with windows across the back for the view and the pool that's coming. ## The doors that came off a farm One really neat detail is that the owners salvaged 100-year-old doors from their farm in Southwest Missouri. Leading into the pantry, they repurposed these historic doors throughout the home, including in the kitchen and laundry room. There's something about a door that's already worked for a century turning up in a brand-new house. It's the sort of thing you can't buy. ## The fireplace, and what I'd never have thought of The fireplace surround is cut stone, two inches thick, laid dry-stack style, no grout showing at all. The decorator on this project did a fabulous job with it, and here's the part that took me back. If you look closely at the stone, she turned the saw cuts around so that they match each other across the whole surround. The grain lines up. I wouldn't have done that. It genuinely wouldn't have occurred to me, which just shows you I'm not the decorator in the group. She spent an afternoon out here with the mason getting it lined up. Dry-stack takes a different approach than a grouted wall to begin with, and matching cuts on top of that is a real piece of work. Up close it's a phenomenal job. She's very good at what she does, and she was great to work with. ## Two more things worth mentioning **The bunk room.** The owners had seen raised bunk beds on Pinterest and wanted them in the guest room. We built and designed an upper level inside the room, two full-size beds below, two bunks above. A nice touch, and a good use of a room that's empty most of the year. **The tub screen.** Because of where the primary bath sits in the neighborhood, we needed some kind of blind at the primary tub. So we built a standalone screen out of Hardie board on metal posts. A small piece of problem-solving that reads as a design feature rather than a fix. ## The result A house with a lot of nice touch features, sitting where three conflicting constraints said it couldn't, because we sorted that out with the neighbors and the HOA before we started rather than after. The coloring, the finishes, all of it: the decorator did a fabulous job. ## Details and materials Twelve-pitch roof · white stucco with dark trim · three-car garage with breezeway · vaulted living-room ceilings · rear window wall to the future pool · reclaimed hundred-year-old farmhouse doors to pantry and laundry · dry-stack cut stone fireplace surround, two inches thick, saw cuts matched · wainscoting · custom raised bunk-bed structure, two full beds below and two bunks above · Hardie board and metal-post privacy screen at the primary tub · rear drainage diverted to the property line --- Building on a lot with drainage, setback or tree constraints? Request an estimate at https://flennhomes.com/request-an-estimate/ or call (512) 677-3992. Lifetime Warranty on Craftsmanship: We provide a lifetime guarantee on the quality of our craftsmanship. If any issues arise related to the work we perform, we will address them promptly and professionally.