Varga Homes builds waterfront homes on the Palm Beach coast — on the Intracoastal, on the barrier islands and on the canals behind Delray Beach. A waterfront lot is a different problem from an inland one, and most of what makes it different is settled long before anyone pours concrete.
What makes a waterfront build different from an inland one?
A waterfront lot carries approvals, constraints and specifications that an inland lot does not. The seawall and the dock are permitted separately from the house. Flood elevation sets the height of the finished floor, which in turn sets the stair, the ceiling heights and the massing of the whole building. Everything on the water side has to be specified to survive salt air. None of those are finishing decisions — they shape the design, which is why they are settled first.
The seawall and the dock are their own permits
On this coast the structure that holds the land up is reviewed separately from the house that sits on it. Seawall and dock work runs through its own approvals, on its own timetable, and a house design that assumes an existing seawall will stay where it is can be expensive to revisit. It is one of the first things to look at on a lot you are considering.
Flood elevation decides the floor, and the floor decides the house
Flood zone and elevation requirements set how high the finished floor has to sit. That single number then drives the entry stair, the relationship between the house and the pool deck, the sightlines from the main rooms to the water, and how the building meets the street. A house designed without that number settled at the start tends to get redrawn once it is.
Salt air decides the specification
Anything on the water side of a house on this coast is exposed to salt in a way an inland house never is — fixings, railings, window and door hardware, outdoor kitchens, pool equipment, finishes on the loggia. Specifying for it costs more at the outset and costs far less over the life of the house.
Do you build on the barrier islands?
Yes. Varga Homes has completed homes on the Intracoastal at Manalapan and Ocean Ridge, oceanfront on the barrier island at Ocean Ridge, and on Hypoluxo Island at Lantana. Access, staging and delivery on a barrier-island lot are their own logistical problem, and one that is easier to plan for than to discover.
Waterfront homes we have built
Five of the seven published homes are on the water. Each page carries photographs of the finished house, inside and out.
Where we build on the water
Varga Homes builds along the Palm Beach County coast. Stephen Varga is an avid boater and has lived on this stretch of water since 1982.
Considering a waterfront lot? Stephen will look at it with you before you buy — what a site allows is the first thing that shapes a home here. Start a conversation.