Budget Breakdown: This $865K Coastal Dream Dwelling Is So Much More Than a Starter Home

For the price of a Bay Area fixer-upper, a young architect builds a fire-resistant home where he can live, work, and surf.

Aug 14, 2024 - 20:51

Budget Breakdown: This $865K Coastal Dream Dwelling Is So Much More Than a Starter Home

For the price of a Bay Area fixer-upper, a young architect builds a fire-resistant home where he can live, work, and surf.

The pitched roof upstairs is set back from the flat-roofed main floor, breaking up its mass. The detached rear garage became an office for Moshe and firm partner Wayne Erb.

After living for years in a 350-square-foot studio apartment in San Francisco, architect Moshe Porter and his wife, Adanya Lustig, dreamed of having more space to start a family.

Moshe had recently founded a new firm with partner Wayne Erb, and he and Adanya realized that they could design and build their own home for the same price as buying an existing starter house—and Moshe and Wayne could even set up their office there.

A row of mature cypress trees from a neighboring property frame views of Moshe and Adanya's house from the street. — A row of mature cypress trees on a neighboring property frame views of Moshe and Adanya’s home in Montara, California.
Adam Potts

After considering small towns and suburbs around the Bay Area, Adanya and Moshe settled on coastal Montara, about a 30-minute drive from downtown San Francisco, which not only was close to Adanya’s extended family but also catered to Moshe’s love of surfing.

"Montara was the closest place to the city, our friends, and Adanya’s work that still felt kind of rural and quiet—and it’s a place where you could actually buy land," Moshe recalls.