Johns Island (aka St. John’s), South Carolina

In 2018 Brenden purchased an overgrown lot on Johns Island, also called St. John’s Island, in South Carolina. Backing up onto 17 acres of unimproved woodland this lot features seven beautiful oak trees, several of which are quite large, and enjoys a tranquil forested atmosphere.

With land acquired, Jeremiah was eager to build a SIPS home. He mentions that he had wanted to take on a SIPS building project since he began remodeling houses in the area (you can learn more about SIPS) and began planning the build in 2019 using popular resources like DWELL as well as several architect-specific books he purchased. With no previous experience in new construction prior to taking on this project, he and Brenden, who actually had a background building panelized super insulated homes in New York State, began the permitting process

But getting off the ground took a while! He writes,

The first SIPS panels go up on a Monday. — The first SIPS go up on a Monday…

The permitting process was very slow. The county didn’t understand what we were doing. The SIP’s were confusing to them as no one in the county had experienced them. In Charleston city they have but I guess we were the first or they just didn’t recall. At any rate this slowed down the permitting process quite a bit.

Permits eventually were issued and the two cleared the lot as needed and got the foundation mapped out in early February of 2022 and finally poured the slab on the Ides of March - March 15 - definitely a day of celebration!

SIPS walls and roof — By Friday the SIPS had been completed!

The SIPS were then delivered the following month - two weeks late because the semi hauling them got into a terrible accident and the panels were damaged enough that they had to be made again! With the SIPS on site they began assembling them the very next day under the guidance of Charleston’s Old City Builders, who also acted as the general contractor for the project.

And the rest is history.

I hope you enjoy seeing photos of this build as much as I have, here they are, and thanks to Jeremiah and Brenden for taking time to send so many photos and share their story. And Jeremiah may have more SIPS projects on the horizon!

Psst…after enjoying the construction sequence be sure to treat yourself to some of their finishing work over here on this post where there are even MORE photos!