Home design tips and advice

[nickel plate]

I do have to say, you're going about this the right way. It will easily take 3 years to plan it all out, especially if you haven't yet found a design you like. My wife and I spent hours and hours looking at house plans online and in books, and we always found things that just didn't work for us. So, I bought an inexpensive CAD program and designed my own house. We put a lot of thought into it and came up with a final design that we both love and that functions properly for us. In terms of the design, don't settle for anything less than something that fits you perfectly. You'll regret it if you do. If nothing else, you could buy a cheap CAD program and design your own floorplan and then take it to an architect for the final drawings. That would probably cost about as much as buying stock plans online. And it is a lot of fun to "doodle" with these programs and just explore possibilities.

Another technique we used was to define pretty closely what size we wanted each room, draw the rooms out to scale on graph paper, cut out each room, and then arrange them in a sort of rough draft of the floor plan. Once you have the "flow" of the house down, you can work on the tedious particulars of making it all fit together.

Once you've got the floor plan mostly settled (and that will take at least a year!), you can take your drawings to a building supply store and they can estimate what the materials will cost you. Once you know the material cost, you can just multiply it by 2 or so to figure out what the total cost will be...because labor generally costs the same as materials. But this does largely depend on where you live and the demand for housing.

Once you get a rough idea of what it will cost to build the house you've drawn, you can endeavor to either cut down or add to the square footage depending on your budget. In my case, I had to cut it down a couple of times to get to my target budget...which was AS CHEAP AS POSSIBLE. I started with a 1-story house w/ full basement at about 2300 sqft per floor and ended up cutting it down to a final size of 1781 sqft. That was a challenge! That forced us to really prioritize our space and make the most efficient use of it.

Another little trick...ALWAYS over-estimate the cost of things, even if just a little. For instance, my building budget calls for $400 per window. I ended up actually paying like $250 per window. Its nice to have that little bit of wiggle room with the $$. And trust me, you'll have cost over-runs. On our house, I estimated that we'd need about 35 yards of concrete to pour the basement floor...we ended up using 64 yards! The concrete calculators you can find online are wonderful...just make sure that your hole in the ground is PERFECT. Our wasn't perfect and our slab that is supposed to be 6" thick is over 10" thick in some places. And it doesn't take long to go through some concrete!

Anyway, I hope this rant helps. Like I said before, I'm right in the middle of my project, so I'm in a good position to lend out advice. If you need to pick my brain, feel free to PM me any time.

Can you please disclose which CAD program you purchased?
Thanks, Jerry

 

[MW66]

One of the points that kebo mentioned is accessibility. My wife is an architect and happens to be one of the leading authorities in what is called Universal Design. I am doing it an injustice, but things like wider doorways, no step entries, etc. We JUST finished our new home construction and are in the midst of moving in. A few of my requirements were to have a 3 car garage, master bedroom on first floor, and I have an attached wood shop immediately to the rear of the garage. We went as energy efficient and we could with a tankless water heater, spray in foam insulation, CFL bulbs, etc. I even caulked the entire perimeter of the inside of the house floor to prevent air infiltration. So much so that we needed to put in an HRV system. You have to watch EVERYTHING. My idea of workmanship was not universally shared among all subcontractors. If something is not done correctly, speak up. It is a long and somewhat trying process, but you'll endure. I had my property (20 acres) for about 10 years. Then, I met my wife, she happened to be an architect, we got married, and here we are today. Good luck.

 

[miramadar]

Can you please disclose which CAD program you purchased?
Thanks, Jerry

I used Punch Home Design AS18. It's a neat program, but a little difficult to get started with. There is a learning curve. But once you've got the basics down, it's really not hard at all.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I bought at least one set of house plans for a general idea, that helped some. I ended up designing several different variations before we settled on a floorplan. If it's multiple stories, get the stairs in early, then work from there. In addition to drawing floor plans, I drew construction plans that showed every joist layed out, ever stud, etc.. When I went to frame I had a complete picture of each wall, with dimensions, etc. I made sure things fit on paper before I built. I still ended up changing some things during construction. I also made a spreadsheet, where I calculated pretty much every piece of lumber I needed, how much drywall, insulation, roofing, etc.... I knew after design how much material was going to cost, the unknown was labor for the things I subbed out, but on those items I had gotten quotes, so I knew going into construction the final cost, and the amount I needed for a construction loan.

 

[CurlyDave]

Since you have one child well on the way, and may have more, put the master bedroom at the opposite end of the house from the kids bedrooms.

Building for accessibility is a great idea. We did all the wider doors, etc. Also, the master bath is designed so that the toilet can be accessed by both a resident and an attendant if necessary.

We put a ramp inside the garage. Out of sight and out of the weather.

 

[sodamo]

We did this, or more accurately, are still building. Still got some cabinet and trim work to do. We are owner-builders and not getting any younger

Before any drawing, we made a written list of what we wanted in terms of space or function, for instance: single story, ADA, exercise room, area for caregiver in my dotage, no hallways, openness, ventilation, etc. As I drew different plans, this list became our sanity check. Went through a number of styles and material before settling on what we built. Not only did I do scale drawings, I also made a scale model using that foam board stuff. This was really great. I made the roof removable. Also using same scale, did mockups of kitchen, laundry, garage w/vehicles. This provided a very good perspective of windows and doors. Although we did make changes, the final product is very close to model.

Have fun.

David

 

[dave1949]

You can maximize your building budget by incorporating the ideas from sources like: The Not So Big House

The author has a few books that have been out for awhile now. Any time you can use a couple sq ft more efficiently, you save money on the construction costs by reducing the overall footprint. You also save money forever on property taxes which are usually based on sq. ft. and you save money forever on heating/cooling costs. There is less space to clean and maintain also.

In terms of area enclosed for the least spent on foundation and exterior perimeter wall costs, a fairly square (width to length) 1 1/2 story home over a basement is hard to beat. Exterior walls are expensive to build and the more you have, the heating bills rise. Currently at least, a house of this type with a first floor master suite is very popular. It was a popular house design in the 1800's also, so it has some staying power. Granted, the master suites are a bit more opulent these days.

There are lots of custom built-in things you can do; sort of a throwback to the 1950's Craftsman style, that can add a lot of usefulness and character to a home without increasing the construction costs. An example would be at the end of a hallway, if you leave 16" free wall space on each side, it becomes a perfect place for a floor to ceiling bookcase/gun cabinet/hobby display/kid's toy & game storage area or whatever. The basic concept is to make better use of the space than what is typical.

Dave.

 

[miramadar]

I made the roof removable. Also using same scale, did mockups of kitchen, laundry, garage w/vehicles. This provided a very good perspective of windows and doors.

This reminds me...another great thing about using the CAD program like I have (Punch AS18) is that you can see the plan with furniture in it. You can move the furniture around, change the size, orientation, etc. This really helps visualize how things are going to look and function once built.

One rule of thumb that I used was to keep at a minimum 3 feet of walking space around everything.

 

[Pirwin21]

Thanks for all the great advice so far. Definitely a lot of useful info. I plan on doing almost all of the work myself (not a big fan of heights, so roofing is out of the question) and this will hopefully be my "last" home. I really like the idea of the built in bookshelves in the halls. I built something similar in the apartment in my garage that utilized the space over the stairs, but probably would not have thought about it for the hallways. I'm starting to think that CAD software of some sort is a must, so that will probably be one of my next purchases.

 

[miramadar]

I'm starting to think that CAD software of some sort is a must, so that will probably be one of my next purchases.

Again, I highly recommend the Punch software. My software came with a fairly comprehensive owner's manual. Within a week I was very comfortable with the program. It is a very functional program, but with functionality comes a steeper learning curve. But yes, this is money very well spent!