Childhood friends Katherine Hill and Michele Poole have always had two passions: the Florida Panhandle and real estate.

In summer 2020, the friends—and their husbands—decided to go “all in” and build their dream beach house on the Emerald Coast, Scenic Highway 30A.

“It was always a special place for us,” says Poole, who married her husband there in 2002.

Although the women had taken many Florida vacations together— starting with spring breaks in high school — they hadn’t yet visited “the Hamptons of the South” together, though it remained a favorite area for each of them.

When Hill and her husband, Scott, visited in early 2020, the couple decided to start looking at properties. Since Scott was a professional contractor and the pair had already built five homes, they wanted to buy a piece of property to build a dream beach house.

Hill and her family lived in Warner Robins, GA, while Poole and her husband lived in Ponte Vedra, FL. But Hill had her eye on the small coastal town of Old Seagrove along 30A, the scenic highway that threads along the crystal waters of the Gulf.

“I called up Michele and said, ‘I have this crazy idea. What do you think about building that dream house we’ve always talked about?’” says Hill.

‘I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be there tomorrow,’” says Poole.

Building a house together during the pandemic

They ended up paying $650,000 for an empty lot at 69 E. Grove Ave — a block from the beach and in between two beautiful, stately homes. Each couple split costs down the middle.

“It was a little scary,” admits Hill. “The pandemic was just edging up. We didn’t know what would happen with real estate, but we were all very aligned in wanting to do this together. So we said, ‘Let’s jump off the edge. Let’s do it.’”

The pair had a history of being adventurous together. Whether it was sailing around Greece or the Bahamas, or skiing in Colorado, they loved to travel and find spur-of-the-moment things to do together.

“We have always had an adventurous mentality,” says Poole. “Katherine and I are very seat-of-the-pants spontaneous. We’re kindred spirits that way. I might call her up and say, ‘I’m going to New York City for the weekend, come join me.’”

Still, building a dream beach house is a huge commitment, not only time and energy-wise but financially. But each say they weren’t concerned the stress of building a dream home might fracture their friendship.

“I think if we were building newbies, it would have been different,” says Poole.

Challenges along the way

The couples had already had experience hiring contractors to oversee the building of several homes, though not together. Their shared building experience made the idea of collaborating on a 30A beach house a little less scary.

The couples each put down a 10% deposit, and split the construction loan 50-50. Since Scott Hill wasn’t licensed in Florida, the couples hired Borges Brooks Builders as the contractor. (Scott later ended up working for the company as an independent builder.)

“It wasn’t too much like jumping off a building, since we all knew and trusted each other,” says Hill.

Also very important was that the two childhood friends shared a vision in terms of design.

“We both like a clean, beautiful design,” says Hill. “You don’t want a partner into midcentury modern if you’re into classic coastal. From what color to paint the walls to the fabric on the banquette to the tile on the backsplash, we both wanted a very clean, coastal look.”

Though they did have that one divergence in tastes. Hill preferred a certain expensive wallpaper for a tiny powder room. The total cost for the paper would have been $5,000 — enough to pay for the fire pit they wanted for the backyard.

“Michele is the voice of reason,” says Hill. “She counseled me through letting go of the wallpaper. It was like, ‘Do you want this beautiful lighting fixture here that everyone will see, or the wallpaper in the powder room that no one will see?’”

Given the shortages during the pandemic, finding furniture was another challenge. “I would call her up and say, ‘I’m at my wits’ end. I can’t find furniture,’” says Hill. “We’d work together and knock out decisions.”

With the house finished, the couples moved in June 2022. It had taken exactly two years from closing to move in.

“Our kids were so excited,” says Hill. “They walked in and were like ‘This is our beach house?’” Poole has three daughters, and Hill has a daughter and a son.

It’s not all about finances

After enjoying the house for awhile, the couples began thinking about their next project and decided to test the market. They listed the five-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom, 4,262-square-foot home for $5,541,000 in April 2023. It failed to sell.

“We might have been a little too proud of our baby,” says Hill with a laugh. “It was priced a little on the high side.”

The median sell price in Santa Rosa is $937,500. In November, they pulled it from sale.

“We weren’t motivated to dump it with a low price,” says Hill. “We took it off the market. It was fate.”

They now short-term rent the home for 25 weeks of the year, leaving the couples to enjoy it the rest of the time.

The house rakes in $12,000 a week in the high season, paying for the home’s annual expenses. “If you can build a property and rent it out, it can definitely cover expenses,” says Hill.

Building the house at an average $500 per square foot was also a better deal than buying one in the area, with homes in the area running an average of $900 per square foot.

Additionally, the women were thrilled to not only get to choose everything from the drapes to the tiles, but to spend time together.

“We can never spend enough time together,” says Poole. “And now we have so many memories of building this house.”

The pair say they are definitely open to selling the house in the near future, as they would need the sale to cover expenses for another project.

If they don’t sell, they are happy to rent it out while also getting to enjoy Thanksgiving in the home.

Building the dream house was such a positive experience that Hill and her husband decided to move to Santa Rosa and start their own bespoke design and construction firm, called Dwellings 30A.

“Building the home changed our lives,” says Hill. “It was a very good investment. And we’re in a great equity position. But at the end of the day, it is really about making so many memories and strengthening our friendships.”