GableworthDesign-Build · Cold Spring Harbor
Dune Shingle House at dusk: three shingled gables joined by a low spine, windows lit, dune grass in the foreground.

GableworthDesign-Build, Cold Spring Harbor

No. 37 / Dune Shingle House / Bridgehampton · 2025Plan a build
Gableworth Design-Build / since 2011

We design and build houses on the North Shore and the East End. One contract, from the survey to the keys.

Gableworth is an architect and a builder in one studio in Cold Spring Harbor. We walk the lot before we draw. We price the house before we draw the second sheet. The people who drew it are on site when it goes up. New houses, whole-house renovations and the occasional addition, two to four a year.

Projects since 2011
38The eight on this site are in six towns.
Final cost over the fixed price
+1.6%Average of seven finished houses, each priced before construction drawings.
Superintendent per house
1Dana Whitlock on the North Shore. Luis Amaral on the East End.
Index / 08 worksAll projects, with filters
  1. 38
    Creek House framed and sheathed beside the salt marsh, two carpenters setting rafters on the ridge.
    Creek HouseSoutholdNew houseUnder construction3,240 sq ft
  2. 37
    Dune Shingle House at dawn: the three shingled gables in soft early light, a pale sky and dew on the dune grass.
    Dune Shingle HouseBridgehamptonNew house20255,200 sq ft
  3. 36
    Bluff House from the bluff lawn at dusk, three stepped levels of cedar shingle with the living level lit.
    Bluff HouseLloyd HarborNew house20244,860 sq ft
  4. 35
    Vineyard Barn House at dusk, a black barn form at the end of the vine rows with its tall door lit.
    Vineyard Barn HouseSoutholdNew house20233,050 sq ft
  5. 34
    Gable Pair at dusk: two shingled 1920s gables joined by a long low glass hall, lit from inside.
    Gable PairOyster BayWhole-house renovation20233,420 sq ft
  6. 33
    Whaler's Cottage from the street at dusk: a white clapboard Greek Revival house with black sash windows and a picket fence.
    Whaler's CottageSag HarborWhole-house renovation20222,180 sq ft
  7. 32
    Harbor Hill Addition at dusk: a shingled cape with its new wing stepping down the lawn.
    Harbor Hill AdditionCold Spring HarborAddition2021940 added
  8. 31
    Kettle House in the oak woods at dusk, its glazed living room reaching out over the rim of the hollow on steel beams.
    Kettle HouseLloyd HarborNew house20203,340 sq ft
Vineyard Barn House at dusk, a black barn form at the end of the vine rows with its tall door lit.
PL. 01 / Vineyard Barn House, Southold. A barn form on a flat field, its 11-foot sliding door lit at the end of the rows. Dusk, harvest week.
Survey to keys

One house, from the first walk to this week.

Creek House in Southold: walked in July 2025, signed at a fixed price in February, framed and closing in at week 31 of 69. One contract, one superintendent, and a price that narrowed to a single number before anyone dug.

TRUSTEES BUFFERFLOOD ZONE, LOWER THIRD95SALT MARSHTidal creekROAD98.594.5N050 FTCreek HouseL-1 · CONTOURS EVERY 1 FT · HIGH 99.7 · LOW 91.9
Before the build
  1. Survey stakes with flagging tape and string lines at a house corner in wet morning grass.
    01 / Walk and survey · July 2025

    We walked it before we drew it.

    2.3 acres of lawn running down to a salt marsh. A surveyor staked the corners, we walked it with Rachel and James, and the test pit found groundwater at nine feet.

  2. Hands marking a floor plan with a pencil, two material samples resting on the sheet.
    02 / First price · September 2025

    One sheet, one band.

    An L of two gabled wings inside the setbacks, the long one on the creek. Sam priced that one sheet before anyone drew a second.

  3. The drawing room in the old boatyard shed: long plan tables under exposed timber trusses and north windows.
    03 / Design and approvals · November 2025 to February 2026

    The marsh draws two of the lines.

    The trustees set a buffer along the marsh that nothing crosses. The flood zone set the first floor 30 inches up. The rooms were drawn at their sizes and every change was repriced before the next sheet went out.

  4. Creek House, week 2: stakes and string lines on the lawn above the marsh.
    04 / Contract and stakes · 2 February 2026

    A fixed price, then string lines.

    Signed at $2,962,000 with eight draws that follow the work. In week 2 the corners went back in the ground; the orange flagging is the buffer line.

  5. Creek House, week 11: foundation walls waterproofed below grade.
    05 / Foundation · Week 11

    Thirty inches above the lawn.

    Poured walls, waterproofed and inspected. The north-east footing went 30 inches deeper after the engineer saw a soft pocket of soil: change order CO-02, paid from the contingency.

  6. Creek House, week 18: first-floor walls standing, the creek through the openings.
    06 / Frame · Week 18

    Walls standing, creek in the openings.

    The first-floor walls went up in three weeks. The big openings face the creek, and Luis posts the photographs every Friday.

  7. Creek House framed and sheathed: two gabled wings in an L, grey underlayment on one roof, a carpenter where the two ridges meet, two cedars at the marsh edge on the left.
    06 / Roof · Week 31, this week

    The roof is closing in.

    Framing inspection on 13 October, windows the week of 26 October, cedar shingle from week 37. Keys are planned for the week of 21 June 2027, week 69.

    Follow Creek HouseThe seven phases
What we build

Three kinds of work, one way of doing it.

Bluff House from the bluff lawn at dusk, three stepped levels of cedar shingle with the living level lit.
From $1.2M · 26 to 34 months

New houses

On a lot you own or one we have walked. Survey, design, approvals and the build under one contract.

Whaler's Cottage from the street at dusk: a white clapboard Greek Revival house with black sash windows and a picket fence.
From $600,000 · 20 to 24 months

Whole-house renovations

Old houses kept, leveled and made to work in February. Most of the price is in what we find in the walls.

Harbor Hill Addition at dusk: a shingled cape with its new wing stepping down the lawn.
From $350,000 · 12 to 18 months

Additions

A wing that reads as a wing, on a house you want to stay in.

What we build, and what we do not
Lots

Four lots we have walked.

We do not sell land. These lots are on the market with the owner's broker. We have surveyed each one, dug a test pit and priced a house on it. Pick one and the planner opens on it.

Harbor Hill Meadow

Cold Spring Harbor1.8 acres · 9 ft of fall · AvailableAsking $1,150,000. A 3,600 sq ft house: $3.5M to $4.05M.

Creekside

Southold1.9 acres · 5 ft of fall · Under contractAsking $1,690,000. A 3,600 sq ft house: $3.55M to $4.15M.

The Ridge Lot

Lloyd Harbor3.4 acres · 34 ft of fall · Survey onlyAsking $1,425,000. A 3,600 sq ft house: $3.9M to $4.5M.

Field Lot

Bridgehampton1.1 acres · 3 ft of fall · AvailableAsking $2,350,000. A 3,600 sq ft house: $3.8M to $4.4M.
The six towns, on a map
The planner

A rough number in three answers.

Figures at 2026 prices, all in: construction, site work, design fees and contingency.

$3M to $3.5M

Design, approvals and build: about 25 months.

Open the planner
The client portal

The job, in one place.

A photo log every Friday. A price beside every selection. A signature before a change is built. Rachel and James let us show theirs: Creek House in Southold, week 31 of 69.

See the Creek House portal
CO-03 · Owner change · Awaiting your signature

Window seat and casement at the stair landing

+$9,632 · +2 working days of framing · keys date unchanged

Review the change
Draw 2 · Foundation complete
$444,300Paid 15 May 2026
Draw 3 · Framing and roof dry-in
$599,200Next, at dry-in, about 26 October (week 35)
Draw 4 · Rough mechanicals inspected
$444,300Scheduled, week 44
Journal

Notes from the drawing room.

A test pit in a meadow: dark topsoil, tan loam and pale sand in the side wall, a folding rule standing against it.
9 September 2026 · Site · 2 min

What a test pit tells you

A survey shows the shape of the ground. A hole five feet across shows what it is made of.

A price sheet lying across a floor plan on an oak table, with a pencil, a folding rule and two material samples.
12 August 2026 · Method · 2 min

Why we price the house before the second sheet

A first price is a band, not a guess. Here is how we make it, and why it holds.

Creek House framed and sheathed beside the salt marsh, two carpenters setting rafters on the ridge.
21 July 2026 · Site · 2 min

Thirty inches: building in a flood zone

The map draws a line across the lot. Here is what it does to the foundation, the stairs and the price.

All notes

Start with the survey.

A site visit takes an hour, on the lot, with an architect and our estimator. The planner puts a first band beside the questions you bring.

Plan a buildCall (631) 555-0147

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