If you are an avid fan of home tours, garden tours and open houses, 2020 was a year of chronic disappointment. Social distancing restrictions intent on preventing the general public from accessing the interior spaces of private homeowners left many of us feeling unfulfilled in our desire to see innovative design and construction ideas that are so often the focus on such tours. But for every challenge there is an innovative solution, and the creative professionals at The Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod, a local trade organization whose mission is to support home ownership by supporting their members through legislative, educational, business and civic endeavors, has introduced a series of virtual house tours called Parade of Homes.

Throughout the year, the organization will introduce an interactive tour of properties created by their members. This unique and innovative program kicks off with a deep dive into a signature home designed and built by Rob McPhee, president of McPhee Associates, who says that the home, which is in the Windward Village community, a bucolic neighborhood the company created in pastoral East Dennis, is unique due to its ability to provide luxurious living in a scaled down footprint. “These homes are perfect for the transitional homeowner who is making the move from a large home that accommodated their family through the years, to a more modest footprint that now entertains the kids and the grandchildren,” McPhee explains. “But what really makes them so attractive to our clients is that they are still getting a home that has been solidly and thoughtfully constructed and boasts top-of-the-line amenities.” 

That thoughtful construction McPhee references includes obvious details like first floor master suites and easy ground floor living, but extends to often over-looked details like curb-less walk-in showers that don’t have thresholds in the tile flooring to avoid tripping or allow for wheelchair or handicapped access if ever necessary. Spacious guest suites with en-suite baths give plenty of room to visiting guests and finished lower levels allow for energetic children and teenagers to have their space as well. Exteriors are designed to be low-maintenance while still providing a lush and inviting landscape since time on the Cape translates to time outside.

The top-of-the-line amenities translate to stainless steel appliances and elegant tile backsplash in a gourmet kitchen; engineered hardwood flooring for low-maintenance functionality; chunky molding that talented craftsmen have fashioned into classic tray ceilings, and state-of-the-art energy efficiencies that allow for 21st century living. These are the kind of features McPhee’s clients have come to expect from the homebuilder who is now at the helm after his father started the business almost 50 years ago. “Many of the homeowners in Windward Village are clients for whom we built their family or summer home,” McPhee offers. “They enjoyed the process then, we’ve developed strong relationships over the years, and they come to us to build the next phase of their lives.”

The Windward communities are a testament to the success McPhee Associates has had in anticipating the kind of homes, and neighborhoods by extension, their clients are looking for. The journey began with the original neighborhood the company created 40 years ago: Windward. Windward was a uniquely desirable option for homeowners who were looking for a seasonal home that would ultimately become a retirement home. “Most of our business is considered ‘scattered-site’, meaning we build and renovate homes on sites that homeowners already own,” McPhee explains. “Many clients would like to build a brand new home and therefore they are looking for land. But land is hard to find on the Cape. We were lucky 40 years ago to have acquired a parcel of land in Dennis that we could offer to those clients if they were interested; that was the first Windward neighborhood. It consisted of 53 executive lots that could accommodate 3,000+ square foot homes that would meet some clients’ needs.” Windward East came to fruition when access to a landlocked parcel McPhee owned adjacent to Windward was finally facilitated in 2009. That created the adjacent community, Windward East with 13 one-acre lots. A third neighborhood, across the street, Windward Village was established in 2017 with nine smaller 20,000 square foot home sites on nine acres, perfect for slightly more modestly scaled homes. 

All three communities are set in quiet, wooded settings that encourage walking, running, and exploration of the surrounding open space, and together the communities offer three levels of home ownership, all while providing the desirable neighborhoods with pride of ownership and the quality construction the McPhee name has come to represent. “The different price points are solely driven by the scale,” McPhee explains. “Across the three neighborhoods we have homes that meet the needs of homeowners who may be in different stages of their lives.”

Chris Flanagan, executive officer of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod says McPhee’s Windward Village is an ideal project to kick-off the Parade of Homes the organization is introducing this year. “Cape Cod occupies such a special place in people’s minds and hearts, that for those fortunate enough to have a home here, we hope this virtual showcase of homes will offer inspiration as well as education,” Flanagan says. “Our members are so talented and dedicate themselves to provide the best product possible for their clients and McPhee Associates exemplifies that perfectly. Add to that, the fact that Windward Village offers a unique solution to homeowners who want to downsize, but still enjoy the high-quality they are looking for.” 

For more information on McPhee Associates or the Windward East and Windward Village developments, visit mcpheeassociatesinc.com.

In 2021 the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod is introducing a new virtual home tour on their website capecodbuilders.org/parade-of-homes. 

Look for the behind-the-scenes story of future homes to be featured on the tour in each issue of Cape Cod HOME throughout 2021.