The opportunity to build a home in Miami Beach is one of the most exciting prospects in South Florida real estate. Even more so when — either on a deepwater canal, along the shores of Biscayne Bay, or the Atlantic Ocean — your luxurious residence is a waterfront home.
Whether you're an investor looking to cash in on Miami's frenetic real estate market or a would-be homeowner wanting to build the luxury home of their dreams, crafting a custom abode in Miami Beach is no small feat. In fact, the sometimes months-long process will involve many ups and downs along the way. While the experience will indeed prove positive, any homebuilding will need to prepare themself for the arduous task at hand.
From locating and securing the ideal plot of land to establishing a budget and managing the cost of construction to dealing with zoning and permitting and the potential of the environment to impact your property (before, during, and after construction), there's a lot to navigate. Let's explore the common questions and concerns that you, as an investor or future homeowner, might face as you start the process of building a waterfront modern luxury home in Miami Beach.
First Steps
Before you ever get into the design process, it's critical to ask yourself what exactly you're looking for from your property. The answer might seem straightforward for an investor: a luxury spec home to sell at a (hopefully) considerable profit. However, with any deal-based proposition, you need to first understand the end buyer you're targeting. Is it a buyer seeking out a permanent residence, a second or vacation home, or an investment property? Are they the type of buyer who appreciates ocean views or the relative protection of a bayside home? Do they require a home where they can dock their luxury yacht?
For an actual homebuyer who's wanting to build, the questions are a little more involved. While they include many of the above considerations, like the type of home, location, amenities, the consideration goes far deeper when it's your own upscale residence. There's the home's finish-out, technology and comfort systems, and the thought of building for now or building for the future. Based on your current lifestyle and living situation, how much do you plan to utilize the home? Will you use it as a sometimes or all the time income generator? In both scenarios, there's a lot to answer upfront before you delve too deep into building your luxury Miami Beach home.
Work with Trusted Professionals
Much in the same way you'd want to partner with the best real estate professionals when buying or selling a home, you'll want a team of top-flight experts working at your side throughout the design and building process. Luxury construction places an even greater premium on ensuring you have the best agents, designers, contractors, tradespeople, and specialty vendors working towards realizing your ultimate homebuilding vision.
All the better if you secure the services of a team such as Kemper Development Group. A group that stands at your side from a project's earliest stages of design and site location through to its finish out and final walkthrough. They serve as your guide and advocate, managing the heavy lifting of building your Miami Beach dream home so that you don't have to. From spec home to custom residence, the better the team you secure, the more satisfying the overall process will be.
Cost of Construction
Even with a professional team in your corner, it's wise to understand several of the finer points of crafting a waterfront home in Miami Beach. First among these is cost. In general, the cost to build a home in Miami Beach will run anywhere from $300 to $500 per square foot. For a waterfront home, the per square-foot costs can run as high as $750.
This means that a 5,000-square-foot home will run anywhere from $2.5 million to $3.75 million. The more opulent the property, the higher the costs; however, it's important to note that this is simply a baseline number. Finish-outs, technology, landscaping, and amenities can all add considerable cost to your project.
Intangibles such as design fees (hiring an independent architect, for example), permitting, and utilities will also add more to your total cost. One aspect of Miami Beach construction that's often overlooked on the front end by those dreaming big is the expense involved in securing the right site and prepping that plot of land for construction.
Surveys, mitigation, earthmoving, and the costs of navigating the building requirements or limitations from neighborhood to neighborhood all have the potential to drive your budget upwards. Keep in mind that certain communities may limit how much of the lot you can build on, so that alone can increase your expenses if you have to manufacture a home within a very narrow space on your lot.
To keep your home-building budget from skyrocketing, work with your development team early to establish a workable budget. Perform due diligence to arrive at a set of numbers that accounts for every aspect of construction and allows room to maneuver should unforeseen surprises arise during the process.
Be Patient
While some construction projects run smoother than others, building a waterfront home in Miami Beach is indeed a challenge. Luckily for most, however, the process can be relatively seamless. Those who have the best experiences are those who recognize creating luxury takes time and patience.
When building a luxury waterfront home, a hundred different things are going on at any one time. There's also close coordination of a number of stakeholders and vendors all working together towards the same goal. All of it takes time and a lot of it. Realizing just how much time is involved in building a high-end, spec, or custom home will better prepare you for the long journey ahead. Early on in the process, permitting alone may take from three to six months. That's even before dirt is moved or a foundation is laid.
Overall, the actual building process ranges from 12 months to a year and a half. Smaller, less complicated builds will require a little less time, whereas grander, more opulent spaces will take longer. No matter the type of home you're building and where you're building it, plan for delays.
Build Where You Want to Be
Location matters. Miami Beach is an incredible place to live, or in the case of a spec home, a great spot to sell newly built real estate. It's also an incredibly diverse place to call home. South Beach, Mid-Beach, and North Beach are vastly different places to lay down roots or attempt to sell a lifestyle. The island communities of Star, Palm, Hibiscus, and the Venetian Islands also offer their own unique lifestyles and building conditions.
Ensure where you build is a place you want to live. For an investor, make sure your spec build occurs in an area where the home is in demand by the buyers you want to attract. Remember, not all Miami Beach waterfront homes are created equal. Certainly, each is spectacular in its own way, particularly new luxury construction, but with each body of water comes unique benefits and challenges.
Building along the Atlantic will bring more stringent building codes and the threat of Mother Nature. Canal homes require you to consider dock size, canal depth, and the ongoing costs of upkeep. Make sure to build in a neighborhood that accommodates the watercraft you hope to dock with the proper buffer between neighboring properties.
Develop an Eye for Details
Pay attention to the details of your home: the landscaping, amenities, comfort systems, lighting, and technology, and the home's space and planning. Just because you create a great home on paper doesn't mean it will end up being a great home for you (or your buyers) once it's built. Many investors or individual home builders gloss over the early design stage and the later finish-out selection process, believing they'll end up happy with whatever the final result is. Don't fall into this particular trap.
It's your home, so make it your home. Consider your lifestyle from an early stage and ensure your home features the rooms and spaces necessary to meet your needs now and later on. As for the finishes, consider that much of it - fixtures, lighting, knobs and handles, appliances, doors, windows, cabinetry, and amenities - are items you'll see, touch, and use daily. Your guests, your renters, or your buyers will utilize them too.
Take care and put thought into all of the extras that make your waterfront house a true home, and don't forget to budget for them. Otherwise, you'll end up with a property you might like but will never love. After all, building a luxury-laden waterfront home in Miami Beach should be about creating a property you or your potential buyer will genuinely love to call home.
If you're ready to explore the best of South Florida real estate and need a trusted partner to buy, sell, build, or invest, contact the Kemper Development Group today to start your real estate journey. From waterfront property for sale on Fisher Island to new development throughout Miami, allow the Kemper Development team to be your guide to Miami's coastal luxury real estate market.
