southern showcase

By PATRICIA LETAKIS

At the end of a cul-de-sac in Maitland, a vacant lot with splendid views of Lake Ann framed by oaks dripping with Spanish moss was an irresistible find for Jeff Schnellmann, owner of Silliman Cityside Homes.

It’s where he wanted to build a home like no other. In fact, it’s where he wanted to live. His company, after all, had a reputation for finding “hidden gem” homesites — sometimes vacant, sometimes containing older homes ready for demolition — in well-established neighborhoods where there had been no new construction for years.

“I bought the lot with the intention of building the home for myself,” says Schnellman, who has more than four decades of experience in the industry. “A week after I started the design process I was in the shower, where I do some of my best thinking.”

There, as so often happens, Schnellman had one of his ahha moments: Why not offer up his personal project as the New Southern Home?

The 4,200-square-foot labor of love would, he believed, be perfect for the Southeast Building Conference (SEBC) showcase home. SEBC, a gigantic summer trade show for homebuilders and trade vendors, is sponsored by the Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA). The 2022 gathering was held, as usual, in Orlando.

“The idea is to show off something different, and this clearly is something different,” says Schnellmann, who points out that the home even has a basement — a rarity in Florida.

The New Southern Home also offers an opportunity for building product manufacturers of all sorts to show off what’s new and what’s hot — from the latest appliances, fixtures and finishes to the most state-of-the art behind-the-walls technology.

“The beauty of this home is in the design of it — taking advantage of the lot on which it’s built,” notes Schnellmann. The design boasts large windows on the side, which offer stunning lake views.

The upstairs of the two-level, four-bedroom masterpiece encompasses a great room, a master bedroom, a second bedroom, four bathrooms and an incredible kitchen — which has become the home’s centerpiece.

Schnellmann’s pride and joy is the wall of three chest-level Thermador linear stainless-steel ovens — convection, microwave and steam. Adding drama are the countertops, crafted of quartz with a free-flowing black and grey striated wave pattern. This striking detail carries through to the backsplash and was even used for stair risers at the home’s entrance.

Another noteworthy kitchen element is an induction cooktop, which was similarly used in the outdoor summer kitchen. Electric currents are used to heat pots through magnetic induction, leaving the cooktops themselves cool to the touch.

Besides a lovely stairway to the lower level, the home has an elevator. The downstairs features a family room, a wet bar area, a bathroom, storage closets and two bedrooms — one that overlooks the lake and offers direct access to a lap pool and a beautifully landscaped yard.

Just like a northern home, the New Southern Home has a basement space for mechanical equipment and a controller for solar panels. Like most new homes these days, this one is green — well, not the color green, but green as in eco-friendly and energy efficient.

“We used spray foam insulation, which keeps the heat out of the attic as opposed to insulating between the house and the attic. It’s a much better approach,” Schnellman says. “Win- dows are where you gain most of your heat in Florida. We use double paned, low-E, argon-filled windows.”

The home also has solar panels. Schnellmann was hoping to use shingles with solar panels built into them. However, he says, they’re not as efficient as traditional solar panels — yet. In five years or so, he adds, such shingles will be de rigueur.

For water conservation, Schnellman installed a drip irrigation system rather than a spray version. He also clustered plants and used native species in landscaping.

Schnellmann who was born and grew up in New York state, made his way to Orlando in 1988 and worked for years as a homebuilder and an executive for homebuilding companies. In 2012, he joined legendary local builder Bill Silliman at Silliman Homes — later Silliman CitySide — as chief operating officer.

Two years later, the pair launched “Silliman Dream Planner,” described in a press release at the time as “a user-friendly technology designed specifically for our new home-building venture, Silliman CitySide.”

Silliman and Schnellman are believed to be the first builders in the country to have adopted the technology, which allows a prospective buyer to select a home plan — there are 20 or more from which to choose — and a location then calculate the monthly payment based on a specific down payment.

Schnellmann, who bought the company in 2015 when Silliman retired, kept the name for brand-recognition reasons. “Silliman” had become synonymous with high-end design, superb craftsmanship and innovation. And the company had won a plethora of industry awards.

For Schnellmann, it’s been a smart move — largely because simple and straightforward never became synonymous with unimaginative. The more standardized approach results in homes every bit as luxurious as most original custom creations — but requires far less hassle (and usually lower cost) for buyers.