Terra-Dome Earth Shelter Build

[sajurcaju]

We got worried about proceeding with Formworks. They basically sell a house 'kit', the house design and custom steel (pretty expensive steel). They consistently missed their own schedule in the planning, which worried us for timely support finishing it. Two wrong quotes, a variety of things that gave us cold feet.

Winter construction in Maine was slow and a hard job for the crew. They started work in December and were done in March. Little things like 2' snowfalls kept slowing them down.

Steve

 

[SCDolphin]

So what is a general cost per square foot? I love the idea.

 

[sajurcaju]

What's posted on TD's plan pricing page is accurate, but hard to figure if you aren't familiar with what you want. Also, their page only covers the shells, no concrete floors, no insulation/waterproofing/earth cover. If I remember correctly, the basic shells run about $38/sq ft. By the time you insulate and cover you're up in the low to mid 40's. Then you have to put in plumbing and electric, pour floors and finish the interior. A lot of the cost is in this last step, but that is pretty similar to conventional finishing. The actual cost depends a lot on what choices you make in finishing.

Costs are surprisingly close to conventional, IF you have a contractor doing the work. Materials cost is higher, labor a little less.

Steve

 

[woodlandfarms]

Costs are surprisingly close to conventional, IF you have a contractor doing the work. Materials cost is higher, labor a little less.

Steve

We quoted out doing a custom 2500 sq ft house at the peak of the market. It was $200 a square foot.

Anything under a hundred seems like a miracle to me...

 

[SamWalton]

We're making headway on our earth sheltered house. Attached is a pic from this June. We've had an amazing amount of rain which has put in a lot of schedule delays. The roof and buried walls have been sprayed with waterproofing; if the rain really stops this weekend the bentonite sheeting will go in Monday and the rest can move forward.

Our house structure was also done by Terra Dome. The rest is being done by a local contractor.

Sam, I was interested to read that you're building yours on grade. We're doing the same thing. Our site is relatively flat, and we have pretty wet ground. Building on top sounded lots better than digging in for our case. Water in the basement is one thing, water in the living room is a whole different issue.

The house is about 1800 sq. ft. (three 24' square modules) plus a good sized shop (28x40) and barn (28x28, 11' sidewalls to allow for hayloft).

Better pics can be found here:
new house - a set on Flickr

To avoid confusion in the Flickr pics: note that we started with Formworks, some of those original plans are in the Flickr set. What we ended up with is Terra Dome, the second set of plans.

Steve

Hello Steve,
It is nice that you have found our build. I found your home on Flicker by a Google search and had email your wife about you experience. I am pleased you are making progress. I am sure we both make a great choice using Terra-Dome. Your structure is huge. We have stumbled on a great deal for free earth or soil as most would say. We had our excavator haul this free soil to our home site for $75 per hour. We received about 31 loads for $862.50 and will get more on Monday. You can't beat the price. Steve Please keep us up to date on your progress in this thread and welcome.
Sam

 

[sajurcaju]

Hello Steve,
It is nice that you have found our build. I found your home on Flicker by a Google search and had email your wife about you experience. I am pleased you are making progress. I am sure we both make a great choice using Terra-Dome. Your structure is huge. We have stumbled on a great deal for free earth or soil as most would say. We had our excavator haul this free soil to our home site for $75 per hour. We received about 31 loads for $862.50 and will get more on Monday. You can't beat the price. Steve Please keep us up to date on your progress in this thread and welcome.
Sam

I had not actually looked back at the emails, didn't realize you were the same folks. Your deal on dirt is great--ours not so good, but it will work out. We are really looking forward to moving, hopefully before November.

Next week we discuss final details with the electrician, shortly after that we pour floors.

Steve

 

[sajurcaju]

We quoted out doing a custom 2500 sq ft house at the peak of the market. It was $200 a square foot.

Anything under a hundred seems like a miracle to me...

You misunderstood me. $45/sq ft gets you empty concrete shells, insulated and buried. Then you have to finish the interior, windows, doors, etc. Our finished cost will be ~$150/sq ft, and that includes shop and barn, which are less finished spaces.

Steve

 

[SamWalton]

Today we moved a pile of dirt, cleaned the construction site and changed the oil and filter on the B26. I got a count on the load of free soil. It was 33 and it costed $862.50

 

[mjncad]

Fascinating project Sam. With all you have going on managing your project I appreciate you taking the time to post pictures on your progress.

Did I understand your earlier posts that you didn't need a building permit?

For those of you considering semi-off-the-grid power systems, Minneapolis based Xcel Energy has asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for permission to charge people who generate most of their own electricity; but are connected to their grid a "backup power" fee to cover costs associated with this connection.

I think this is an attempt to recoup some of the money they pay to people who supply excess power to Xcel. So much for our illustrious governor's "New Energy Economy."

 

[SamWalton]

Fascinating project Sam. With all you have going on managing your project I appreciate you taking the time to post pictures on your progress.

Did I understand your earlier posts that you didn't need a building permit?

For those of you considering semi-off-the-grid power systems, Minneapolis based Xcel Energy has asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for permission to charge people who generate most of their own electricity; but are connected to their grid a "backup power" fee to cover costs associated with this connection.

I think this is an attempt to recoup some of the money they pay to people who supply excess power to Xcel. So much for our illustrious governor's "New Energy Economy."

That is correct, no building permit required. We do need a DEQ perk test for our septic system.
Our connection to the grid provides the first $4300 of installation cost, but they require two out of three. Meaning the footings or well or water connection or the septic must be complete/ they have lost on installs that were never completed.