There’s a house on Jackson Swamp Road, just past Bath. At just over 3,046 square feet, with a large outbuilding, and sitting on more than 10 acres of land, it’s a substantial property. It’s new construction, but the oversized brick exterior and six-over-six paned glass windows lend it a more established look.

This home is top of the line, inside and out. But more interesting is that it’s a hobby house — that is, building luxury homes, and building them right, is one Beaufort County man’s hobby.

Ricky Keech is owner of Keech’s Painting, and has a busy schedule himself, but when he’s not painting interiors and exteriors, he’s dreaming up ideas for his next home.

“I like projects. I’ve always got to have something other than doing paintwork. I just have to have a building project. I love it. I really do. I enjoy thinking outside the box. I think everybody needs to think outside their box,” Keech said.

Keech’s thinking outside the box is apparent in the Jackson Swamp Road home. From a zero-humidity crawlspace beneath the house ensuring the ground beneath stays dry, to the highest-rated in energy efficiency Andersen windows, to R-16 insulation under the roof, R-16 and spray foam insulation within walls and beneath the house and a 60-year guarantee on the roof shingles, Keech has chosen quality at every point in the home’s construction.

“We tried to make it as energy efficient as we could,” Keech said.

Even the backup for energy is energy efficient: in the case of an outage, a 22-kw generator powered by a 1,000-gallon propane tank buried in the yard will supply electricity to both the house and the outbuilding.

With all the built-in efficiency, Keech said the home’s utilities have come in at less than $100 a month.

“It’s just features that a lot of folks don’t do, because it costs more,” he said. “It costs a little more, but it’s well worth the money.”

High-end doesn’t stop at energy efficiency, however. It can be seen in the home’s casually rustic design. Throughout the common areas of the house are solid hickory floors of staggered 5-inch, 3-inch and 2-inch widths, complementing the stick-built hickory cabinets surrounding Thermador appliances in the kitchen. The kitchen, a single, large room, extends into a great room where the Tennessee ledgestone surrounding a wood-burning fireplace climbs all the way to a cathedral ceiling. The same stone can be found in the master bath where it was used to build the wall of an enormous walk-through shower with a rain showerhead. Keech said he’s a fan of big showers.

“I had one before in another house that I had and I loved it. As far as the design goes, it was just something that just blew up in my mind,” he said.

While the shower itself can be considered a work of art, an actual work of art is an integral part of the bathroom. Keech thought a stained-glass barn door that slides along a rail would be a better fit than a traditional door. He engaged artist Alison Ellis to create the work of earth- toned shades of glass pieced into a waving pattern.

“It just needed something other than a plain, white door there for that bathroom,” Keech said. “I thought, ‘You know, put a little character to it, add to the stone and the tile.’”

It’s a wonder of a house, and every part of it was put together by Beaufort County people. Keech said he makes of point of hiring local folks for his projects: contractor Patrick Tetterton; flooring by J.W. Woolard; carpet and tile by Chubby’s Carpet; custom cabinetry by Alligood Cabinets; D.R. Alligood’s driveway construction; Cooper’s Drywall, Washington Electric and the list goes on.

“Because that’s what I do. I’m a paint contractor. I’m local myself,” Keech said. “Everybody that worked were local except a few that Patrick (Tetterton) uses, like the framing crew — they were from Greenville. … We’ve got a lot of local talent in Beaufort County; a lot of good, talented people who do excellent work right here within miles of each other.”

And those talented people managed to build a house on time and on budget, Keech said.

“It sounds impossible, but it’s true,” he laughed.

Keech acknowledged that the homes he’s built over the years are a little above the average homeowners’ budget. With a listing price of $634,900, the Jackson Swamp Road house falls into that category, but Keech said he’s not concerned about finding a buyer: for the last three or four houses he’s built and sold, the right person always shows up.

“The right one comes along, they’ll fall in love with it, and they’ll buy it. It’s not a normal house,” Keech said.

It’s worked in the past, and feedback from buyers about the energy efficiency has been very positive, he said.

For one man, each house may be a hobby; for several homeowners, it’s a dream home. And for Keech, it’s all about building right the first time.

“Insulation is a key factor and, in building, not cutting corners,” he said.

For more information about the Jackson Swamp Road home, call Coldwell Banker Coastal Rivers Realty broker Andrea Heekin at 252-943-1010 or broker/owner Maria Wilson at 252-946-3367.