Sheet metal runs in Max Philip Dobler’s blood. His grandfather, who immigrated here from Germany in 1925, was a sheet metal worker, and among his father’s projects was a copper roof for the Montauk Lighthouse.

Visitors heading east for the unofficial start to summer this Memorial Day weekend will be surprised to see two giant billboards under construction on both sides of Sunrise Highway, just west of the Shinnecock Canal.

Even though New York State says new houses have to measure at least 800 square feet and existing ones being renovated must be at least 600 square feet, Matias Whitmore and his companion, Nikki Seelbach, have one that comes in at only 575 square feet.

‘I have about 7,500 books in this library, and approximately an equal number downstairs,” said Michael Braverman, while seated in the biggest room of his East Hampton house, where wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling shelves are filled. “I don’t buy a lot of books anymore.”