Topsider Homes has been building houses in the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands since the early 1970s. Our custom designed homes range from small cottages built slab-on-grade to large luxury two-story floor plans. And our unique homes can be found throughout the BVI and USVI on Tortola, St. John, St. Thomas, St. Croix and elsewhere in the Virgin Islands.
Many Topsider homes there took direct hits from category 5 hurricane Irma and have weathered the storm.
 This two-story luxurious hurricane-resistant Topsider Home was built into the hillside on St. John, US Virgin Islands, overlooking the ocean. The house was built on top of a large cistern for water-catchment. |
 An extraordinary panoramic view of the bay below can be seen from this Topsider Home's floor-to-ceiling folding glass walls and outside decks and patios. Topsider's multi-sided designs allow expansive views from every room. |
With several hundred house plan designs online, it is easy to view the many building options available with Topsider Homes. We even offer No-Obligation Free Cost Estimates for our online house plans so that prospective clients have a good starting point from which to work for design and budgetary considerations.
 Prepackaged treated lumber walls and structural components with galvanized steel couplings staged and ready for shipment. Topsider's high-quality building components are made to the highest quality standards and are easily and quickly assembled on site. |
All Topsider Homes built in the Virgin Islands are engineered to be earthquake– and hurricane-resistant, and are specified to be low-maintenance and energy-efficient. These specifications include high impact glass windows, high windloading structural characteristics, treated lumber, galvanized and stainless steel fasteners and exposed steel couplings, composite decking, wind-rated roofing materials, exteriors of HardieBoard, LP SmartSide, stucco and many other options.
Each Topsider Home is designed and prefabricated to the highest quality standards, and then shipped in precision component (or kit house) form for local home builders (who we recruit and pre-screen for clients) to assemble and finish. Because of the simplicity of Topsider’s unique prefab Post & Beam timber frame building system, house construction is simpler and faster than “stick built” construction methods — whether built on stilts (or pilings), pedestals or slabs. |
 This secluded double pedestal house is shown while under construction on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. It is elevated so that the living level will have a magnificent ocean view. Pedestal houses are ideal for severely sloping terrain and do not require extensive excavation and site work. |
 The prefab timber frame Post & Beam structural system of this home built in the Virgin Islands was designed with half of the lower level used as a concrete cistern for water-catchment. Elevated above a hill top on Water Island, this multi-story home will have 360 degree seascape views. |
Because so much of the Virgin Islands’ terrain is severely sloping land with magnificent ocean views, Topsider’s pedestal homes, stilt (or piling) homes, or two-story daylight basement house plan ideas can be perfect. We specialize in difficult building site planning and execution, and are experts in working with, not against, the natural landscape for positioning and designing homes with breath-taking panoramic views. We also speak with experience on cistern design issues, acquiring building permits and technical assistance from site planning to house construction completion.
