Hilton Head Monthly Magazine Voice of the Lowcountry 
Todd Hawk and his family-owned company H2 Builders in Bluffton have been building beautiful custom-designed homes in the Hilton Head Island area since 1996, many in the traditional or transitional Lowcountry style. And that style is becoming more popular than ever.
But perhaps none of these spectacular homes are as quintessentially Lowcountry in every exacting detail as the one he built for himself, his family, extended family and friends in the small town of Pineland in Jasper County.
The Leamington homeowner didn’t really know what she wanted, but she knew she wanted it to be beautiful.
She and her husband bought their 4,600-square-foot second home three years ago because of its location, straddling a lagoon and the Arthur Hills Golf Course, and the interior layout. The only hitch was a black-and-gold and yellowish color motif.
In the good old days, interior cooling and heating were limited to a specific room or portion of a building with localized units. That worked out just fine, so long as the entire family didn't mind camping out in the living room. Some could afford more than one unit. Most could not.
Luckily, the invention of HVAC units changed the game.
The phrase “Southern charm” brings to mind delightful images, wonderful memories, soft sounds, generations of tradition and a distinctive lifestyle. Live oaks and magnolia trees, flowing creeks and magical marshes, friendly neighbors, front porches, a sense of being, comfort and a quiet contentment … you get the picture.
Now picture a Lowcountry cottage in a homey neighborhood in a quaint town that embodies “Southern charm.” Picture Habersham, a stone’s throw from Beaufort, and which was selected last year as South Carolina’s Inspired Community by Southern Living magazine.
Nathan Cameron of Cameron & Cameron Custom Homes builds a house unlike any other in Palmetto Bluff.
Nathan Cameron had never seen anything like it. So the local homebuilder built it. Now he lives in it, and it’s a showpiece professionally.
RENOVATED WEXFORD HOME MAKES MOST OF LOCATION ON UPDATED GOLF COURSE
Like a vintage bottle of red wine that matures into greatness in time, Terry and Chris Baehr of Wexford Plantation have come to appreciate the jewel of a golf course that straddles their backyard on Yorkshire Drive on Hilton Head Island.
This wasn’t always the case.
What is this year’s trend in the Lowcountry homebuilding industry? We reached out to four local professionals to find out.
Ken Crast
Owner Crast Custom Homes, Hilton Head
“Our clients want to design and build homes to retire in instead of building rental and second homes. They want their homes to feel warm, as if they were built many years ago to include old world craftsmanship. Our clients want their homes to feel old, although they want all of the latest modern technology.”
The numbers from last year tell the residential construction stories in Hilton Head and Bluffton. Both stories being told are good ones, but for different reasons.
On the island, fewer homes are being built but they are more expensive than ever; whereas, in Bluffton, there is an unprecedented new-home construction boom that topped 2013’s number by 50 percent.
On the island, the number of single-family home building permits dipped slightly from 177 in 2013 to 168 last year, but the valuation of those homes rose 20 percent, according to data from the Hilton Head Community Development Department.
Green has been the lifeblood color for Hilton Head Island couple Ray and Sandra Wenig for decades. But it’s not just a color Sandra Wenig uses in her work as a fine artist, and it’s not just something Ray Wenig considers in his work as an industrial engineer and consultant.
25 trends in home and garden design for this year:
