Hello everyone! We’re getting ready to build our first house on an organic farm community in West Virginia. We’re obviously quite excited! We’re thrilled to tell you that our developers are trying to preserve the rural nature of the farm and keep the new construction as sustainable as possible. We want our new house to be in keeping with the spirit of this farm community and as “green” as is reasonable.
We have decided on a timber-frame type house, about 2300 sqft, and we have a very tight budget to work with. I’m looking for suggestions about how to get the most “bang” for our bucks–creative ideas that may not cost a lot, but will help infuse our new place with personality and make it feel like “home.”
We are still in the design phase, so anything is possible! We’d love to hear ideas about creative uses for building materials, sustainable building systems, and just general suggestions about good design.
Thanks to everyone in advance!
Replies
You might check out http://www.countryplans.com
That's all that gets talked about over there.
ShelleyinNM
If your budget is tight, that's a difficult start, because costs only go up as a project unfolds. The best way to meet budget is to build small. 2300 square feet is a pretty fair size for a first home. Making it smaller will save money.
There are lots of ways to save money. One is to skip the really expensive items, like granite counter tops -- laminate is much less expensive. Another is ordinary appliances, not the expensive Bosch or Sub-Zero. Doing some work yourself can save, too.
Thanks for the link--I will check it out now.
As for the square footage...I do know that smaller is less expensive. But our 1500sqft house is currently too small for 4 people--and we do hope to add to our famiy again in the near future. 2300 was the smallest we could imagine with two small kids and a dog in the mix. We are planning to add a garage and additional bedrooms in the future, when money is less of an issue and we know the final composition of our family, and are trying to design the house so an addition will be easily added.
Our budget isn't -too- tight; we can afford the $150 a square foot our builder recommended for our area, but not much more than that.
I'm looking for suggestions about budget-savers that I may not have considered, for example, using building dimensions that make it easy to use standard materials (building in multiples of 4', etc). We want to use quality materials in the most cost-effective manner we can.
Are you building a true timberframe or just using timbers for accents?
If it's a true timberframe, design definitely makes the largest impact on cost. Keeping it as close to a rectangle as possible without extremely complicated joinery will keep the cost down. 12/12 pitch on the roof will give you more usable space underneath for an attic (play loft?) without adding to the footprint. Using a standard plan from a timberframe company will also help. Timberframes are a building system very much unlike standard ones, and understanding them will help you plan one that wil best meet all your requirements.
That said, we designed our own---a pretty basic rectangle 32x52', 5-bent timberframe with a shed addition for the kitchen and a large entry porch/dormer. We'll add a timberframed pull-through carport and stick-framed garage later. We're working with a small, local timberframer, which is helping to keep our costs down for the frame itself, and have a builder with a mind open to different building systems, which also helps.
Our timberframe (being erected next week, as a matter of fact) will be enclosed with SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels), which save time in construction and money over the life of the house in energy costs.
There are a number of books on timberframing that will offer good advice--check out any of the ones by Ted Benson, for example.
There's also a newish Taunton book out that covers just the type of money-saving building techniques you're asking about. The houses in it are anything but ordinary, and the ideas you can get from it can be applied to many styles of house. It's called "The House You Build" by Duo Dickinson, and I found it to be helpful. Unlike many books, it lists the actual costs to build the homes in it,. http://www.taunton.com/store/pages/070681.asp
Basic, general advice on saving money building a home--make as many decisions as possible before you ever break ground, and stick to them. Changes cost money. Not only that, but by planning it out as much as possible in advance, you can foresee potential issues and correct them on paper, instead of in wood.
Good luck and enjoy the process! It's frustrating, rewarding, scary and wonderful. Have fun!
Leigh
go to breaktime and ask the same question, go ahead, I dare you.( I,m sorry wrong person)
Edited 5/5/2005 11:19 pm ET by BROWNBAGG