Need cost cutting ideas for building a house
whitemagick
20 years ago
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silvergryffin
20 years agobabanna
20 years agoRelated Discussions
Opinions on a plan please and ideas on cost to build...
Comments (1)Much of the second floor is going to be difficult to keep warm in the the winter even if it is well-insulated, since it is over the garage, work shop, or air space. You'd have to have an excellent, really reliable insulation sub (can be hard to find) who sealed everything really well with 1" of spray foam plus additional good quality insulation--all of which would add to your cost. If it were me, I'd nix this plan. But . . . since you'd really like to have a 4th bedroom, why not add one over the great room instead of having the vaulted ceiling? Ask your DH if he really wants to pay extra to heat that large great room space now and in the future with energy costs being a big unknown. Since you have a tight budget, it seems to me there are lots of better, more energy efficient plans available. Anne...See MoreLow Maintenance home ideas/building ideas?
Comments (4)Modern Dogtrot Around the house we are going to put a bad thats about 2 foot high and I want it instead of dropping straight off to have a planning bed hump with composted soil. Not having gutters will water the plants, "or reduce the need for watering" during ranfall times around the front of the house. I will be putting gutters around the garadge and back patio/pool area. Saving on not having whole house gutters might allow us to have nicer copper guetters or something classier. We are planning on putting in 6 sola tubes for natural light and trying to get LEED certified. I am not into "modern homes" but we are going for old world New Orleans, lots of brick/stone flour de lis, with just a gist "stained concrete" of a modernism. I also love old distressed wood, figure that will save some. So recap Sola Tubes Raised pad with 2 levels for base plantings "makes house look bigger" & allows for water usage on property Natural wood, less having to repaint NO Wood exterior "I agree with you totally on rot" The house will be south facing, will have a very large front door, and back will have folding doors making it have a cross breeze dogtrot through the living, kitchen, breakfastnook, and library "cpu room". When the weather is nice this will save on electricity....See MoreNeed to estimate the cost to build house
Comments (1)You need a trusted advisor that can help you work with the local builders and contractors if you are going to get into the development game - as you have to leave yourself some room for profit, etc. There's a LOT of info that goes into a cost estimate - and the accuracy of that estimate you would get based on the info supplied would be useless. What are houses like you are trying to build selling for? foundation? finishes? wells? city water or sewer, etc....See MoreNew house build, need low maintenance landscape ideas
Comments (28)Hi all, for some reason I cannot access my old username threedogsmom so I am back to update you on what I have done so far. After moving in an living there for a bit, there is more sun than originally thought in the front yard, so I have planted a variety of evergreens, small trees, and shrubs with a few of the hostas I brought along sprinkled in. Once I have the mulch down (in next 2 weeks) I will post a few pics. I went with the first mock-up drawing in the post above, using an undulating edge for the front yard bed to break up the linear front of the house. We sourced rocks on our property to make the edge with, so it appears like a natural extension of the rock retaining wall. The color scheme overall focuses on burgundy, blue and yellow foliage/needles, with some greens mixed in there as well. Flowering shrubs are in the reddish-magenta color. For small trees, I added a Wolf Eyes dogwood, a Saratoga gingko, a Black Dragon Cryptomeria, and a dwarf columnar blue spruce, as well as a Rising Sun Redbud across the driveway on the other side. In the front entry nook to the left, I filled in with a dwarf Baby Lace japanese maple, 3 blue star junipers, and 5 golden sedges to set the color scheme. Across the walkway, there are 2 June hostas, 3 dwarf barberries, 3 Liberty hostas, Mr Bowling Ball and Fire Chief arborvitae, Amber moon astilbe, a magenta pink hydrangea, Lemon Beauty lonicera, 3 lemon thread mops, a dwarf golden hinoki cypress, purple leaf sand cherry, 2 red drift roses, 2 blue rug junipers to hang over the rock wall, daylilies, 3 dwarf Buzz buddleias interspersed with variegated liriope, golden barberry, 2 Beyond Blue fescue clumps and a Standing Ovation grass. So your eye will see repetition of the red/burgundy, then yellows, then blues as you move around the garden bed. I think it will mature very nicely as time goes on and should offer nice color and structure all year long while still being low maintenance. Pics to follow in a few weeks - working on the mulching this weekend!!...See MoreBen_gardening
20 years agopnbrown
20 years agomolly_clover
20 years agoMiss EFF
20 years agohunter_tx
20 years agofranc
20 years agofarmfreedom
15 years agodan_fritschen
14 years agocatepelose
14 years ago
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