Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[woodlandfarms]

Did I read to fast and miss my next question? Can you discuss cost? Just for the build...

 

[mojoinco]

My 27 cents. And these are not my decisions, so they are worth even less. Stairs can always be added. They leave something for the next guy to do. They are buying the dream, you would just be selling a house.

A home elevator could be just the ticket at that time. More and more popular as we keep living longer. To the future!

Anyhow, wife and I put an addition onto our 40 year old tri-level two years ago. Not the kind of home to get old in, for all the reasons others have mentioned. One feature of our too narrow stairwells (mjncad -- you got the 4' width right): if stairs are walled in you can place rails and have a FULL wall surface to grab/fall against. It has proven useful when I slip (and no, I am far from old).

One decision we made about toilets: ADA compliant toilets work great if you have long calves (what ever you call your lower leg section), but they are not good for that 'optimal evacuation position'. That's why as crude as it looks, using a hole in the floor and a full squat is better for you. What we plan to do as we rehab the existing bathroom and powder room: The main bath will get an ADA toilet. The other two are going to be low height, short bowl models (space is a powder room issue). Even good toilets are only ~$250 at Lowes-Depot. Easy to change if a swap is made later. Let Mom use them both and you as the likely prime visitor (your daughters will likely like the smaller one best anyhow).

Lever door latches/locks. We put outdoor grade levers on our house. I bought self rekeyable units. Found an on line place that with the order I had was enough to get free shipping. Most major brands have them. I had them send me two sets of keys: one set I used for the outside doors, one set for the interior doors (I keyed all doors to a room). I also made all room doors (save the closets) solid core and mounted them with screws through the jambs. Too easy to do for security sake. Place the core cordless phone (the base unit) in a room that is most likely secure. Put the satellite units in each room that can be safed. Just a thought for Mom.

Wire rooms with light switches near where Mom might be entering a room (or, where her bed might be). Not much money, and seemingly too convenient, but this is for making sure she has light when she needs (versus wants) it. I am a big fan of overhead room lighting. Wife didn't like it, as she still puts lamps up, but I have can lights and decent (sometimes even good) lighting in each room. Vision is a big contributor to falls, as much as snagging carpets or tripping over the dog/cat. And one of the biggest issues is that folks get cheap as they age -- 'I dont need more light'. Macular degeneration and cataracts also affect your vision. FYI, follow the manufacturers recommendations for can light spacing. I found this out the hard way. Cheap and 'it doesn't look right' don't count.

We put in a floating cork floor on our concrete. Works elsewhere too. Very easy to install (snaps together, 1' x 3'). Just an alternative flooring. Quiet, neutral temperature, easy to clean, attractive. Not cheap for the flooring, but no finishing and cheap install (overall it's mid-priced).

Always good to see another build with alternative processes. This looks a lot easier than the styrofoam block builds. I wonder what the price differential would be. Something to put under my hat for any possible build on our part. Would work well with SIP I think. And metal roofing (must be getting old, I keep thinking about what is easy to build & cheap to maintain). Oh, probably because I want to work in my shop more! Or get seat time....

I almost forgot: the best part of your Mom's house is it's all on one floor. That is a dream for your Mom, and will work in your favor at resale time. My wife and I think that people will get far more practical in there home sizes.

 

[pclausen]

Just the build (excluding basement, garage, rear deck, driveway, landscaping), but including standard allowances for appliances, electrical, plumbing, windows, doors, cabinets, etc, is $90/sq. ft. So for this 1550 sq. ft. house, that worked out to $139,500.

 

[sixdogs]

I'll get in trouble with this but unless some glaring omission, I would just build the house as agreed in the plans. Most of my changes in homes I built increased the angst of all involved and made little difference except in the price, Just my two cents here.

 

[pacerron]

Wow, what an awesome idea!

So like this right?

That wouldn't even mess with the floor they are putting in tomorrow.

Yes, basically.
You will have to do some measuring, but you probably won't need the turn steps.
As I recall, you mentioned you had 9 foot basement wall panels. You only need 6'-8" for the door opening, plus perhaps an extra lintel above the cutout bridging between your panel columns. If you have 32" between columns after removing one between them when cutting out the door hole, you could fit a 30" door. Maybe a metal door would be good. Headroom going down the steps is no problem since there is no ceiling above them. The little house I had back in 1964 was a long ranch with the garage on the end so I had a straight shot. The stair pit wall was about 3' high above the garage floor as a safety wall. You could even build storage above that.
If you want a straight shot you could look into moving the door into your mudroom/washroom over and go down along the garage sidewall straight into the basement, if you have enough side width for a couple of "today's world cars." I think recent model cars all look like little ugly computer mice, but I grew up and enjoyed living in a different time.
A house is just a box that can be modified many ways as long as you don't jeopardize the structural integrity. Talk with SW and your builder for proper modification of the wall panel.
The main thing is you want to get your decisions made prior to them really getting to that point. If you don't, that's when they might really gig you on price for the changes.
Ron

 

[Deere Dude]

I'll get in trouble with this but unless some glaring omission, I would just build the house as agreed in the plans. Most of my changes in homes I built increased the angst of all involved and made little difference except in the price, Just my two cents here.

That's right. I have seen some and also heard of others changing concepts after things after things got rolling along, and that is just a windfall for the contractor. They may charge at will just to make up where they may be lacking.

A quick example. Some years ago, the church I belonged to hired a contractor to build a new building and frame classrooms downstairs. The preacher got an estimate for dry-walling all of the basement classrooms. The estimate was $700 which was for sheet-rock, hanging and mudding and everything except painting it.

The preacher had a better idea. We could save money by hanging the drywall ourselves, because it was a small building. I helped 3 other guys hang drywall in the basement in the basement to get ready for the finishers. The finishers came and complained about this and that and when they finally got done, the contractor they sent a bill for $700, and gave his silly reasons why it was so.

I drywalled before so it wasn't a bad job, but it gave them room to crank the price up. Maybe other can learn something from this. I sure did. If it is contracted, don't change it and leave it up to the contractors good nature to give you a good deal.

 

[jinman]

Pete, if this all turns out to be $139k or even under $150k, you will have a bargain.:thumbsup:

 

[TnWV]

Pete, if this all turns out to be $139k or even under $150k, you will have a bargain.:thumbsup:

I have to agree. Around here it's 100-125/sq. ft. For turn key. Of course that usually includes a crawl space foundation (basement is additional), and the garage is extra as well. Luckily I'll be doing a lot of the work on mine myself to cut that down a bit. Is your garage included in the 139,500? At 90/sq. ft., that appears to only cover the 1550 living space, and looking at the drawings, it doesnt appear that the garage is part if that 1550.

 

[murphy1244]

I have to agree. Around here it's 100-125/sq. ft. For turn key. Of course that usually includes a crawl space foundation (basement is additional), and the garage is extra as well. Luckily I'll be doing a lot of the work on mine myself to cut that down a bit. Is your garage included in the 139,500? At 90/sq. ft., that appears to only cover the 1550 living space, and looking at the drawings, it doesnt appear that the garage is part if that 1550.

(excluding basement, garage, rear deck, driveway, landscaping),

 

[TnWV]

(excluding basement, garage, rear deck, driveway, landscaping),

Thanks for pointing that out. I somehow missed it when reading the initial post.