Anyone Else Building Abberley Lane or other John Tee House Plan?
mydreamhome
14 years ago
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mydreamhome
14 years agosunshine1124
10 years agoRelated Discussions
looking for cost efficient to build house plan
Comments (14)will work for roses - The gables in the front will cost more than not having any gables in the front, but any house over 2000 sq.ft. and on two levels will "need" a few gables and "juts/cuts" in the roof line or it will look very awkward in my personal opinion. I will tell you that of some of the more complex plans, the O'Neal is a fairly medium to medium-high complexity for the roof and foundation layout compared to other homes with similar curb appeal in my opinion. Many builders would tell you that it will be too expensive to build, but that's a relative term. There are 18 corners in the foundation which isn't all that many for a house this size when you compare it to say the "Harmony Mountain Cottage" plan by Garrell & Associates which has over 30 foundation cuts in a 2300 sq.ft. design (see it here: http://houseplans.designsdirect.com/disp_pic.asp?sf=GAR%2Frenderings%2F06110FrntRndrng1.jpg&planid=5995&planName=Harmony+Mountain+Cottage&viewName=First+Floor+Plan&filename=GAR/floorplans/06110FrstFlrPln1_f.gif). You can easily have more than 20 in a 1500 sq.ft. house if you start picking out plans that have tremendous curb appeal. Another higher cost in this plan will likely be the hipped roof design versus a traditional gabled end design, but that debate is one that should be saved for another day b/c a gabled roof and a hipped roof have two very distinctly different looks and it all depends on what "look" you want overall for the house. I personally would like the O'Neal and Luxembourg much much less if it were a traditional gabled end roof design. Anyways, I'll move on from that. I would say look into roof trusses and see if the truss company your builder uses (if they even use them at all) can truss the roof you want as it will save you money and time versus traditional framing and you can use attic room trusses in a lot of instances and what can't be trussed can then be stick framed on site by your framing crew. As for the potential savings, I look at it this way: your garage gables are going to be the same on almost all plans (some may only have one large gable, but adding the 2' bumpout doesn't add that much to the cost of building, at least not enough to not do it on a house like this as the added appeal is well worth it in my opinon.) So far so good! You'll also likely have another small gable like the one over the bathroom window on the O'Neal somewhere on the plan, so still no real additional costs. The gable over the front second level bedroom is going to be there on almost all two story plans that have a bedroom over the dining room or else they look very funny. Even if no bedroom on the front of the house in the second level you'll likely still have a couple of dormers or one large oversized gable highlighting the two story foyer. Still not going above and beyond in my opinion. The large columns and the additional gable/pitch over the entry is the "knock-out-punch" on the O'Neal and Luxembourg plans and if you lose those you change the entire appeal of the house. Yes, it will cost you more than not doing it, but to tell you how much it costs would be nearly impossible. Your builder will be the one to ask based on your finishing materials. It would really still be a "it depends" answer. B/c it depends on if you do the columns in stone and the exact way the plan calls for like in the Luxembourg_southmountain.." photo in the link I posted above, or if you buy pre-assembled columns made from pvc or other similar material like the ones in the picture of my friends house that is labeled "December_17...". The front entry my friend built will likely cost a good deal less than the other, but he spent a good bit on the real stone for the front, which is awesome and so he hasn't really sacrificed the look by doing the pre-made columns. I just think it's important to keep overall scale in mind when choosing the columns b/c you can make a big house look very awkward very fast by changing the scale of important features like these bold front entry columns. You could always lose the arched window over the front door that illuminates the grand foyer and reduce the height of the arched gable over the front door to save money, but without drawing that out I wouldn't be able to tell you that would look okay, although I'm sure it would still look nice. If I were building this house, I'd keep the big archway above the door just like it is, not just for exterior looks, but for the massive impact it has from the inside as well. The back of the O'Neal house will always need to have the gable where the bedroom is on the second level because there is no other way to get the bedroom in without adding the additional roof clearance in the gable. The additional bump-out for the great room could be squared off to match the rear wall in the master bedroom and breakfast nook, etc. if you wanted to take out that gable to save some money. You would also take out some of the grand windows in the rear of the great room, which also makes this plan so great, but if you don't have people gazing at the rear of your house all day, every day then you may not care. As I mentioned, he lives on the tee box of a nice golf course and so more people see the rear of his house than the front so that wasn't really an option. One way you could essentially reduce some of the cost to build this and up/meet your sq.ft. requirements would be to square off the back of the house by adding another couple of feet to the master bedroom and breakfast nook, additional main level bath and back bedroom/garage if you needed more width in garage, etc. and that would remove 2 corners in your foundation (save a little $$$) and also remove the additional gable and siding that goes on it, painting the siding or the cost of stone if you were to stone it like my friend did, etc. which would also save $$$. It wouldn't be enough to justify building this plan if you were $25k off, but each little bit you can make a little easier will help you get your costs in line. One more thing I noticed in his plan is that he has additional unfinished and un-floored attic space over his master bedroom and master closet area because he did a tray ceiling like the plan calls for in the master bedroom. If you were to nix the tray ceiling or start with the 9' ceiling in the center and build the tray down to 8' on the sides versus the traditional way its done of starting with 9' on the outsides and building up to 10' in the middle you could have additional sq.ft. above the master that otherwise would be wasted. You already have the roof, foundation, primary wiring ran, ductwork to master, etc that you could easily tie into and add cheaper sq.ft. to get you to your goal. You would have more carpeting and sheetrock and lighting, painting, wiring, and may need a little more "uumph" in you HVAC unit for the added space which would add, but those are the cheaper things in the total cost of adding square footage. Just something to keep in mind. It wouldn't be an enormous room because of the hipped roof line, but it would add more that is otherwise unused or some might say wasted. I'm also linking to another great Gardner plan called the Newcastle that has an awesome "overall look & appeal" in my opinion and I would consider it a milder roof and foundation design with only 12 corners in the foundation (I didn't count the window boxes either since you can cantilever the bumpout/window-boxes if you chose to instead of building the foundation around them). The Newcastle looks great inside as well and has pictures on the site you can look at. It takes advantage of the additional attic space under the gabled roof versus the hipped roof on the O'Neal upstairs and has bedrooms on opposite sides of the upper landing versus all on one side like the O'Neal which is also why you don't need the additional gables on the front & rear of the house like in the O'Neal, but like I said earlier, you still have the two dormers on the front, but not as much as that larger gable dormer & entrance archway. Again, saving $$$!! I hope this isn't info overload, but hey, you asked!!! Here is a link that might be useful: View Newcastle Plan...See MoreHiring a stock plan Architect (i.e. WIllaim Poole, John Tee, etc.
Comments (15)I'm interested in how things turned out for you and your house. Are you done building? Back in 2002, I started looking for plans for our present home. Thousands of views later, nothing met our wants list. I mean nothing. So, I, too, liked the looks of Tee's and Poole's designs the best. Where they fail, imho, is their room sizes and not enough closets; which seem to be typical mistakes from most designers. It took a year and a half for my dh and I to settle on a plan; two months to draw it up; 14 mos. to build. The finishing techniques can always be added to a home after a home is constructed, if it must happen that way. What's important is that you get good bones: great framing, radiant barrier & foam insulation, good windows, ample room sizes, wider halls and doorways, smooth ceilings, and great flow in a kitchen with a terrific size island... and lots of lower drawers in kitchens instead of cabinets. What can't fit in a drawer, use a pantry or upper cabinet. I bought a few home designer CAD 3D programs and went at it. I built exactly what I imagined our home to be and more. I am self taught and very good using the programs. My bro suggested a local draftsman who could never get the roof like we wanted. He wasn't as good as I was! Truly. My design is smarter than what we have seen anywhere. Features in my home are usually found in $1M+ dollar properties. I know: I am a REALTOR®. I'm going to find out how much smarter this design is real soon because I am going to sell this home. So, we shall see what happens. We recently bought a waterfront lot in a small gated community here in NE Florida; and are going to build another 'retirement' home ... not quite as big as this one. I am going to draw up plans myself. We love the layout in this home, but it's two story. Going to *try* to keep it on one level... I really like the idea of having a couple of rooms 'upstairs'. DH said we'll have to put in an elevator if I did a second storey. We need to think of re-sell, too. ;) Last time, I found a local drafts-woman in Virginia, where we were living before we built in Florida. The draftswoman was terrific. She found out local Florida specs and incorporated to met building guidelines. Once in Florida, we hired an engineer to do 'the engineering' calcs, electrical, etc. There was very little tweaking or changes in our plans... and this is a complicated home with a cut-up roof. DH and I acted as GC because we had the money to build this home ourselves. There's over 6,000sf under roof and we built 4 blocks high, so it took a bit to build. We also did a lot of the grunt work while building. I don't know if we saved a whole lot of money, but we go it done. This time.... I *want* to hire someone to build... in theory. Yet, since I'm a control freak... we might end up doing it ourselves again. We'll just have to 'see' if we'll have the money to build -Vs- getting a CP loan. My brother's a builder and lives next door. He built a Donald Gardner plan about the same time we were building. Our homes compliment each others. A few years ago, someone built across the street from us because they like our homes; and built a similar style. We don't live in a neighborhood per se... but we've started something. Later on, three other similar styled homes have gone in on our road and all complimenting what we built: a quality home on about 1 1/2 acres. It looks terrific. Theirs look terrific. I just hate to sell this house... but we think we want waterfront property and lifestyle. (We got tired of hauling our boat to a ramp.) Another person built a 'Florida' style home and it just doesn't have the character that ours have... or the other new similar homes. I think people around here are wanting traditional, yet updated styles. I hate stucco and it's just everywhere in 'NE Florida' neighborhoods. Ours is a standout. Looking for a good draftsman in NE Florida if you know of someone. I will be extremely specific in my specs. Again, would love to see your house....See MoreAnyone else noticing the negativity on this site?
Comments (72)Honestly, this is the most pleasant forum that I've seen on the Gardenweb site and maybe the whole internet. Others have mentioned the antique forum, garden harvest and the pets forum, but the absolute worst was the Japanese Garden forum about 5+ years ago. There were a handful of know-it-all's who treated all newcomers like imbeciles and things got very very ugly. That forum is all but abandoned now. From my observations, it is always the "closed private party" mentality that gets the fighting started. The internet is largely a public resource and people have to expect anyone and everyone to show up and express their views or ask for opinions. If people want to have private conversations with only like-minded associates, then they should use email, text messaging or set up a private forum. The regulars here are pretty welcoming of the occasional posters that come and go which is what makes it work. I imagine the reason this post is so popular is because as a society we still haven't come to terms with the limitations of written online communication, but at the same time it has exploded in common daily use. Who would have thought 10 or 15 years ago that we would be able to communicate with complete strangers from around the world in writing about every subject known to mankind? There is a huge learning curve as to how to deal with different personalities and different ways of communicating. This seems to be why, on any forum, questions of forum etiquette always receive a lot of responses. It doesn't matter who you are or what type of person you are or what you are discussing, you probably will have run into problems trying to communicate with someone online. It is just a imperfect system (not to sound negative). One thing for sure, everyone here should pat themselves on the back for keeping things so civil as we discuss all things kitchen related....See MoreNew Meadowlark by John Tee
Comments (23)Clarification: When I said jigs and jogs /complicated footprint, I did mean the perimeter of the house; however, complicated wall layouts inside WILL increase your price as well. To keep your price reasonable, you want to "stack" your lower and upper walls so they're supported more economically. You say you're "learning the language of architecture" -- good! Because I've been reading this board and LOADS of books, I know ever so much more than I did two years ago! You'll get there too. All of us were wearing the short pants at one point. I MUCH prefer the dining room as a library, and I think BPathHome's inclusion of doors and bookcases is spot on. I also heartily approve BPath's sketch-up of the laundry room. It is EXACTLY what was in my mind. Except that I wouldn't care about the exterior door -- I despise hanging laundry, and I'd see the "hidden away" door in the laundry as something it'd be easy to leave unlocked. Yes, I'm planning to extend the porch on my house (because we're removing the little "indent" and replacing it with a kitchen booth. Pictures -- first the original: Then the updated -- note the simplified roofline (also known as a money-saver) and the longer porch: Giving credit where credit is due, I didn't draw this. MamaGoose did, but her concept and computer skills were perfect. As for the kitchen, if you're going to use the keeping room as your dining area (which I love), I don't think you need the French doors between the kitchen and the great room. I think they'd only be needed if you were having two sitting areas within earshot of one another. If you feel they're necessary, I'd suggest going with a set of double pocket doors (and you can pocket French doors) so that they can completely disappear when you don't want them. The only negative would be that you couldn't put nails in the "back walls" of the pantry, so you'd have to hang your family room artwork from up high (or, if it's small stuff, use command hooks). I'm not great at kitchen layouts, but I am strong on following a path. Think about how you'll move in the kitchen: You'll come in through the garage with groceries ... the pantries are right there where you enter the kitchen -- good; you don't have to walk across the kitchen, interrupting the cook, to put away groceries ... you set the groceries on the end of the island to separate them ... this makes the original island look better because it's closer to the pantries ... you want your refrigerator nearby too: ideally it'd be on the edge of your work space and near the pantry. When it's time to cook, you'll bring your food out of the pantry/fridge storage zone ... where do you set everything to prep it? Is the stove nearby? Where's your garbage? Where do you set your dirty pots and pans? Do you serve plates from the stove or set food on the table? Are your dishes stored in such a place that they're convenient to set on the table? And does all this happen without "backtracking"? Stare at your plan a while, and imagine yourself "going through the motions" of making a typical meal. This'll help you identify problem spots. I think I'd be tempted to shave off the bay window from the master bedroom. It does impede bed placement, and I personally am not into big, fancy master bedrooms....See MoreGary2013
10 years agoHU-335627385
last yearMullumm Hzze
last year
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