Owner's Ace Blog

At some point in our lives, we've all heard the expression that "money can't buy you happiness".  I can remember my parents lecturing me that buying a new baseball bat (when I already had 3 others) wasn't the best idea.  I recall them saying it's the "experiences" that you'll savor and remember, ...

Over the past few years, I've seen new homes in Tampa and St. Petersburg getting smaller for a variety of reasons.  Since we have had our hands in the design and construction of several, I thought it would be helpful to share what we've learned.  Very simply - design is the key.  In a smaller hom...

A good friend used this saying and I about fell out of my chair laughing, but how true! It got me thinking about whether it was accurate when you take it to the next level. You know the notion that some people are dog people and some are cat people. Well, I'm not one for stereotyping pet owners, ...

So what do Napoleon, Nixon and Yogi Berra have in common?  Well, we can credit Yogi with this entertaining quote.  I'll take some creative interpretation to guess what Yogi was attempting to say.  I think he meant that everyone has their moments of imperfection, which Napoleon and Nixon certainly...

I recall the very first home that I built.  It was for my family.  The sheer number of decisions that needed to be made was pretty overwhelming.   We had to pick the appliances.  That was easy.  Then came the flooring, which was fairly straightforward for carpet and wood, but then we hit the lite...

There are simply too many energy saving items for homes these days.  So what makes sense for a Florida custom home?  In other words, which energy saving features are worth the upfront cost?  As a homebuilder in the Tampa Bay area, I am constantly looking at new items that come on the market.  I w...

Nothing irritates me more than poor customer service.  As a homebuilder, I unfortunately get to see far too much of it.  Sometimes it comes in the form of our friends at the local utility companies.  Other times it's the permitting and building departments that we must work with.  And as good as ...