A marsh-front homesite in Sullivan's Island before construction. Open views and native palms guide the site selection.

October 2026 The most consequential decision in a custom home build is not the floor plan, the finishes, or the square footage. It is the land. A well-chosen lot gives a great architect the raw material to design something exceptional. A poorly chosen lot creates constraints, physical, legal, and regulatory, that no design can fully overcome. For b...

This custom designed Sullivan's Island beach front home is a design-build project with Sea Island Builders in house architect.

The short answer: roofing failures during hurricane season in coastal South Carolina are rarely caused by the storm itself. They are caused by deferred maintenance — fasteners that have backed out from thermal cycling, sealant that has cracked at penetrations, flashing that has lifted at edges and ridges over multiple seasons of salt air exposure. ...

Custom Home Build: Sewee Magic - Photo Credit: Keen Eye Marketing

Custom Home Build: Sewee Magic (Awendaw, SC)Photo Credit: Keen Eye Marketing  Sea Island BuildersJuly 30, 2026 The short answer: FEMA Base Flood Elevation (BFE) is the elevation at which there is a 1% annual chance of flooding on a given lot. In coastal South Carolina, every custom home must be built with its lowest livable floor at or above B...

Sea Island BuildersJune 15, 2026 The short answer: When you're planning a custom home on the Charleston coast, you'll choose between two delivery models. In the design-bid approach (also called design-bid-build), you hire an architect to design the home, then put the completed plans out to bid with one or more builders. The two contracts are separa...

Harbor Front Home Open Floor Plan Concept

Designing Homes That Flow With Coastal Life In our recent post, Coastal Homes in Winter: Designing for Year-Round Living in Charleston, we explored how thoughtful coastal design ensures comfort and beauty even in the quiet winter months. As we move into the new year, that conversation naturally evolves. January is a time of clarity—when homeowners ...

Why This Season Highlights the Best of a Custom Home... December unfolds differently along the South Carolina coast. The Lowcountry takes on a softer, quieter character — warm interiors, crisp air, and long coastal sunsets that make homes feel more inviting than ever. For those living in a custom home, or dreaming of one, this time of year offers s...

Living near the ocean has its perks—scenic views and fresh air—but the salty sea air poses challenges for roofing materials. Add on top of that, the occasional hurricane or tropical event and you have the harshest conditions imaginable for metal roofs as they weather our coastal environment. Salt causes metals to corrode quickly, which often leads ...

 Preparing your coastal home for a hurricane involves several important steps to ensure safety and minimize damage. Here's a comprehensive list of preparations: Secure Windows and Doors: Install storm shutters or board up windows with plywood. Ensure all exterior doors are reinforced or secured. Clear Yard and Balconies: Remove any loose items...

By Gina Thompson Your forever home is where you will spend the rest of your life, sharing laughs and growing old around beloved family and friends. Not only should your home be crafted with luxury in mind, but your home design should be tailored to embrace coastal comfort. Thoughtful planning and quality building will ensure every corner of your do...

By Teri Silver Today's "smart" technology makes everyday living more comfortable and convenient. Buying or building a house with smart home technology is worth the extra money. Life is easier with a few high-tech creature comforts. Climate control, home security, entertainment, laundry, dishwashers ... just about everything can be wired up for smar...

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The Ultimate Spring Cleaning Checklist for a Spotless Home As the seasons change, spring cleaning returns, promising a fresh start for your home. It's a tradition that not only refreshes your living space but also has the potential to rejuvenate your entire lifestyle. With the longer days and warmer weather, there's no better time to dive deep into...

Awendaw has implemented a temporary ban on most new subdivisions, following a trend seen in many local municipalities. This moratorium aims to allow time for updating development rules to manage growth more effectively. Awendaw's move mirrors Mount Pleasant's recent history, where residents faced issues like rapid growth, increased traffic, and cro...

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At Sea Island Builders we work with many of the areas best architectural firms.  While there are many amazing architects in Charleston, Herlong Architects, Swallowtail Architecture, Beau Clowney Architects, and Anita King are the architects with whom we have the most experience.  This article highlights various project...

Sea Island Builders was recognized on October, 6th at the 2023 Awards In Excellence Banquet held by the South Carolina Home Builders Association as one of the best home builders and remodelers in South Carolina. Pinnacle awards are the most prestigious awards for construction excellence given by the Home Builders Association of South Carolina (HBAS...

Sea Island Builders broke ground on May 19th on the Cardinal Home, located at 28th Avenue and Bayonne St. on Sullivan's Island. This project is a design-build collaboration between Herlong Architects, Herlong Interiors, and Sea Island Builders. Other design team members include Steve Caskie, Caskie Engineering, Epic Engineering, mechanica...

Raising History: Breaking Ground on a Historic Project on Sullivan's Island, SC

Sea Island Builders is thrilled to officially announce our newest project, a historical renovation and addition on Sullivan's Island we are calling project Raising History. This historic home with a storied past has undergone various renovations over the years, with the original structure dating back to ...

Happy New Year from Our Family to Yours

Out with the old and in with the new! It is safe to say that 2020 was an interesting year. Regardless of the challenges we all faced, individually and collectively, we made the best of this unusual year. During 2020, we completed four major renovations, one new build, and broke ground on two new residential construction projects. We ...

Join us for our 4th Annual Holiday Food Drive Benefitting The Lowcountry Food Bank. You can safely drop off non-perishable canned food items as well as new/unused baby and hygiene items to the collection boxes located at the Sea Island Builders office, Sullivan's Island Town Hall, the Poe Library and The Island Club beginning Monday, December ...

Charleston Architect, Anita King

Anita King knew she was going to become an architect at the ripe old age of 12 years old. "My dad is a surveyor, so I was introduced to architecture plans and drafting at an early age," she recalls. She never wavered from her goal and went on to earn her Architecture Design degree from Clemson University. Fresh out of college, she worked at DP3 Arc...

Sea Island Builders was recognized recently as one of the best home builders and remodelers in South Carolina. Home building industry professionals were awarded the most prestigious awards for construction excellence by the Home Builders Association of South Carolina (HBASC). Award recipients were selected by an independent panel of experts who con...

Tips from the Experts on Designing a Tasteful Modern Home

Modern architecture has become increasingly popular and we are finding that more and more clients are looking for a home with modern design elements. Click the link below to read more about designing a tasteful modern home from experts in the field of modern design, including some helpful tips from us at Sea Island Builders. How to Design...

Proper planning ensures your construction project stays on budget

A cost overrun is a term commonly used throughout the construction industry. But what does it mean for the average homeowner looking to begin a residential construction project? Simply put, a cost or budget overrun is an unexpected cost, mostly due to an underestimation or excluded item during the budgeting process. Keeping a project on budget is o...

Ready to get to work on a new custom home

Even in the midst of a global pandemic, it's important to try and celebrate life's major milestones, such as building a new home. Last week we gathered some members of our project team together which included Herlong Architects, Interiors by Herlong, Red Bay Constructors and Southern Lumber (at a safe distance of course) to do j...

On a sunny day in early March, the Sea Island Builders team, along with some of our key partners, gathered with our clients to break ground on their future forever home located on a quiet spot with picturesque views of Hobcaw Creek. This was a special day for our clients as it was a celebration and culmination of nearly four years of planning for t...

The Annual People's Choice Award from the Houzz Community Highlights Home Remodeling and Design Professionals with Most Popular Designs and Top Ratings Sea Island Builders is proud to announce that it has won a "Best Of Houzz" award for Design on Houzz®, the leading platform for home renovation and design. Sea Island Builders has been pro...

 It's all about the view! Many people choose to live on the southeastern coast for its temperate climate and variety of amazing settings.  Whether marsh, ocean-front, deep-water, or small tidal-creek, each unique location provides different but equally beautiful views. Among the many considerations must be ma...

Completed Design-Build Project

Happy New Year! 2020 is off to a great start. We are looking forward to all of the exciting things 2020 has in store for our company. At Sea Island Builders, our clients are at the heart of everything we do. After all, we aren't simply building a house, we are creating a home for our clients to enjoy for generations to come. That's w...

The Charleston Home Builders Association recently held their 31st Annual PRISM Awards Gala and the Sea Island Builders team was honored to take home the award for Best Remodeled Home in the $950,000-$1 Million Category for our Charleston Harbor Front Estate Project.  This project was the result of creative thinking and great teamwork as w...

Sea Island Builders, along with Herlong Architects, recently hosted a Beach Sweep on Sullivan's Island.  Despite a cold, windy and rainy day, volunteers showed up and managed to pick up more than 284 pieces of debris from the beach front and nearby beach paths. Sea Island Builders has been based on Sullivan's Island for 9 y...

Design-build project successfully approved by the Old Village Historic District Commission

Are you planning to build or renovate a home in the Old Village Historic District of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina? Are you overwhelmed by the volume of information and forms to complete and find yourself unsure of where to begin? If so, you have come to the right place. Sea Island Builders has the knowledge and experience in getting projects succes...

What do California, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida and Colorado all have in common? At first glance, nothing really, but to the Austin family, they are stops along the road that finally brought them home to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Jeff Austin, a Comcast executive, originally from California, moved around the west coast growing up. When...

On Saturday, August 31, 2019, Governor Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency in preparation for possible impact from Hurricane Dorian and urged South Carolinians to prepare.​ The executive order enables all state agencies to coordinate resources and sets into effect the State Emergency Operations Plan.  As such, Sea ...

Do you have dreams of building or renovating a home on Sullivan's Island, SC? Many people do, and for those lucky enough to bring this dream to fruition, they will eventually find themselves face-to-face with the Sullivan's Island Design Review Board. For the uninitiated, those words may strike fear into the heart of current and potential home...

Sea Island Builders uses state-of-the-art technology to assess and provide studies of current and future Charleston flood maps and offers flood risk management studies   The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season is officially upon us. Beginning June 1 and running until November 30, potential storms are almost always a running topic of conversati...