Building your home should be a wonderful journey of inspiration and collaboration.
Vital Habitats is dedicated to creating beautifully-crafted, enduring, sustainably and scientifically sound homes with so much care and love that they are the absolute best they can be. Within Budget. On Schedule.
"A BUSINESS HAS TO BE INVOLVING, IT HAS TO BE FUN, AND IT HAS TO EXERCISE YOUR CREATIVE INSTINCTS. "Richard Branson
We believe in a diverse range of personel to bring knowledge, experience, management and creativity to the table
Kimberly Eads, founder of Vital Habitats, has amassed the perfect combination of knowledge, skills and experience to build your ideal home, as beautifully and seamlessly as possible. Kimberly brings ten years of experience in construction management and real estate development in the Hamptons following a seven-year career in finance and a degree in engineering from Princeton University. In addition, Kimberly is currently enrolled in Boston Architectural College’s continuing education Sustainability Program for design and construction. She has completed the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Rating Training program (to verify a home’s energy performance) and is an Energy Star builder. In addition, Vital Habitats is a member of the the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). During her partnership in a Venture Capital Firm, Kimberly managed multimillion dollar investments and served on the Board of Directors advising her investment companies on financial, strategic and management matters. As a result, Vital Habitats has a distinctly disciplined approach to preparing budgets, monthly invoice reports, and regularly updated schedules. Additionally, Kimberly spent 2 years consulting to an architectural firm writing construction specifications focused on incorporating proven building science with sustainable design. Kimberly’s keen management skills and technological capabilities have allowed Vital Habitats to raise the bar on construction in the East End.
Barry manages all the field operations. He is responsible for implementing schedules, communicating all on-site work to all team members, managing field employees and subcontractors, and insuring that the quality of work meets Vital Habitats’ high standards. Prior to Vital Habitats, Barry spent close to twenty years with another luxury homebuilder where he helped build the company up—from one employee to a team of forty. Experienced in high-end building, his clientele included the CEO of Deutsche Bank, CEO of Tribune and managing directors of Travelers, Citibank, Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns. Barry began his career in San Antonio, Texas with Ed Baker, specializing in restoration work in the historic King Williams District of San Antonio.
Stephen Cotter brings eighteen years of construction experience to the Vital Habitats team. Stephen has delivered high end residential homes to real estate markets including the Hamptons, Manhattan and Connecticut. Prior to working at Vital Habitats, Stephen was the managing director of Cotter Woodworking Inc., where he designed and delivered top-line custom kitchens. Stephen’s experience and expertise spans from custom cabinetry design and build, to home extensions and new construction. Stephen excels at problem solving and is consistently focused on client satisfaction in terms of service, support, and finished product.
Our founder, Kimberly Eads, has experienced construction from all perspectives.. as an owner's representative, construction manager, architect"s consultant, developer, financial manager and contractor. With the benefit of these different viewpoints, we know our value is in creating the finest experience for our clients. The Hampton's market has an abundance of quality craftsmen and professionals but very few can bring them all together in a caring, financially sound way that fully respects and integrates design and construction while focused on creating fun client experiences.
We believe our work speaks for itself. Browse our most recent projects below.
At the heart of all our services is a love of design, sound financial management with full transparency, and fun, collaborative experiences.
We work with various architects who want a tighter, more collaborative design and construction process. Integrated project delivery brings the contractor and the architect together during the design phase allowing the owner and architect to benefit from our iterative budget process and construction expertise.
For those homeowners who want a single point of responsibility and one contract, we partner with incredible architects to create a unified design-build team. This offering is for new construction as well as smaller scale renovations and additions.
The Vital Habitats property management experience is about security, comfort, collaboration, and trust.
Westhampton Client and Architect
Bridgehampton Client
My experience working with Kathryn Fee and Kimberly Eads at Vital Habitats: I had a wonderful experience working with the above teams and it truly was great teamwork. Kathryn and Kimberly and the team offered great, creative suggestions at every step of the way and worked hard to create a stress-free environment so I could focus on making all the decisions from tiles, plumbing fixtures, door knobs, lighting etc, that needed to be made. Kimberly and Kathryn walked me through every question I had in the contract (and as a first-time home buyer, there were a lot). They laid out when certain decisions needed to be made and ordered so I could prioritize those items on my end (keep in mind this was in the height of Covid so delays could cause major snafus – luckily I had minor delays on certain items). When issues arose, they brought them to my attention immediately and we were able to resolve them quickly. Stephen Cotter was the Project Manager from Kimberly’s team and he was an incredible partner to work with and still is very responsive if I need anything. He kept the sub-contractors on schedule and I was only on-site to view the work in progress only 3 times in the course of 9 months of an almost completely gut renovation. They had weekly updates, posted photos on their website, and outlined any change orders that had to be done very clearly and concisely. I think we came in on budget or slightly below and only less than one month late to return to the almost completed project as they were just completing the finishing touches. I could not more highly recommend this Team to anyone. My property manager out East who introduced me to several contractors was blown away when he saw the quality and details in the work they did. Happy to welcome anyone who would like to see their work.
2024
“Vital Habitats renovated my kitchen, porch, deck and laundry area and finished when they promised they would. I was so pleased with the results and everyone who visits comments on what a difference they made. (Did I say they finished when they said they would? Important!)”
January 17, 2023
“I am so pleased with all of Vital Habitats’ work on my Farm. It was truly a seamless experience. Kimberly and her team have been the kindest and most helpful in making every step of the process work well. They are very efficient, caring and hard working.”
January 28, 2014
“When it comes down to the budgets, sometimes you’re not getting the detailed budget upfront. With Vital Habitats, they really do all of the homework upfront. When we got the budget, everything was itemized to such a specific detail … It was thoroughly looked into and was something they could conceivably stick to within a reasonable percentage.”
October 2014
“Ed and I just wanted to let you know how pleased we were with Vital Habitats, especially Stephen, who is an absolute gem. He has a great attitude, an enormous amount of patience and was always there to help. Everything went smoothly with barely a hiccup and the house looks better than we could have imagined. Thanks so much.”
December 3, 2014
“Kimberly at Vital Habitats, Inc. embraces the formulated balance required for home construction today. Methodical, targeted expertise. A pleasure to work with!”
April 23,2014
“Vital Habitats was extremely communicative with us. We received photos every single day of everything that had gone on that day with the construction. We felt like we were really part of the process.”
October 2014
“I recommend Kim without reservation. She is a true pro. She completed our project on time and under budget. The quality of her work was excellent. After-project support has also been exceptional. I would definitely do my next project with her as well.”
March 2, 2012
“We hired Kim as the general contractor for a house we built in Sag Harbor. It was one of the best decisions we made. The project came in on time, on budget, and beautifully done. She is a true professional in every sense of the word and a pleasure to work with from beginning to end. I highly recommend Kim for any construction project.”
January 26, 2012
“Vital Habitats recently completed a thorough renovation of our home that included new siding, new windows and the addition of a master bathroom. I would say that the biggest thing that separated the experience from others we have worked with was their professionalism and attention to detail. Everything was laid out in easy to understand terms and every statement was thorough, without being labyrinthian. It felt like we were dealing with business professionals who happened to be our GC’s, rather than GC’s trying to sound professional. Any time we asked for more color about a particular choice, we were given a full answer that did not simply represent a push to the most expensive options. Everything went swimmingly and according to initial plans and estimates. At no point did we experience the famed Hamptons lament of ‘where’s our contractor?’ Especially towards the end of the job, when we needed help with documentation and C of O issues, they were responsive. We love our new house and enthusiastically endorse Vital Habitats.”
April 10, 2012
