Farrell Building Company

Farrell Building Company is a Bridgehampton-based builder of speculative and custom houses on the South Fork. In a 2015 Dan's Papers profile, founder Joe Farrell described the job then underway as the firm's 400th project and said the company had delivered 39 houses the year before. He was holding 28 finished or unsold spec houses at the time, without debt, by his account.

A spec house is one built before a buyer exists. On a Farrell spec house the firm can be land buyer, developer, designer and builder at once, which is why the house attribution and the role need separating. Farrell has said the firm employs architects and engineers in-house and that Kristen Farrell leads interior and exterior design with a full-time architect. A Farrell house may therefore have no outside architect, or an outside architect of record on the permit with design direction from the firm. The building department file says which.

The model is volume. Farrell described designing the floor plan first and the elevation second, using the same trades on every house, ordering materials in advance and building in about six months. In 2015 he described the firm's approach as modern interiors behind traditional exteriors; its later houses include outright moderns.

Documented houses

The Research Desk lists only houses that a named press source attributes to the firm.

51 Sandpiper Lane, Bridgehampton. Reported by 27east in May 2021 as a newly built modern by Farrell Building Company: 7,422 square feet on 1.3 acres south of Montauk Highway, on three levels, with a rooftop putting green, floor-to-ceiling glass and a separate accessory building. See Bridgehampton.

Other Bridgehampton and Sagaponack houses are attributed to the firm in press; they will be added once each attribution is checked against the article and the building permit.

How to read a Farrell house

Separate land, design and construction. On a spec house the same company bought the lot, chose the program and built it. That concentrates responsibility, which helps when the documents are complete: one firm's drawings, specifications and warranty cover the house.

Check the warranty and the paperwork. Ask for the certificate of occupancy, the permit set, the specifications, the warranty terms and whether the warranty transfers. On a resale, read whom the warranty covers and from what date.

Compare like for like. Speed and repetition are the model's strengths. They also mean many Farrell houses share plans and finishes, so comparables should be matched on lot, location (north or south of the highway), date and specification rather than on the builder's name. See New Traditional and Contemporary Modern.

Lot and approvals. The lot came before the house, and its approvals shape what was built. Read the subdivision map, covenants, the septic approval and any wetlands or coastal permits for the specific lot. See Property due diligence.

Considering a Farrell-built house?

Request a property brief that confirms the builder and architect of record from the permit file, reviews the warranty and certificate of occupancy, and places the house against comparable South Fork new construction.