Many of your specs sound very similar to ours. I wondered to cut costs, do you need to do a concrete driveway? Can you get away with asphalt in your area?

A few other thoughts:

We ended up having insulation between floors, but not for sound but to ensure our infloor heating worked as it was supposed to. Insulation between floors may not be standard otherwise, but would be nice to block sound. Definitely would want the insulation on bathroom walls. The rest of the insulation may be to code, depending on your area.

I would think you might easily spend more for cabinets than what he has quoted.

Either you pay the window company to make jam extensions or you pay your trim carpenter to do it. You will pay for them either way. Not sure which way would be cheaper. We got our jam extension through the window company, but we also need a few made on sight due to deep walls in our basement ICF walls.

Some cabinet manufacturers have told us MDF is what they recommend using for painted cabinets. Others have disagreed and spec'd wood.

Have you gotten more than one quote?

Good luck!

Carol

No, it's mostly barely code compliant stuff. Especially the insulation levels. They are barely adequate in a very warm climate. There really isn't anything to cut there, and you probably want to upgrade the AC to something higher than a 14 SEER. That's not that high. Even the cabinets are darn low if you meant inset and painted. That's at least a 30% upcharge right there over stained full overlay doors. Cabinets on most of the 400-500K new builds I do range around 40-60K.

I would actually expect the home to cost more than what you've been quoted. It's a true custom design, spec'd with several higher end finishes. That's $175 square foot plus territory. If you want to make the interior match the bones, take those finishes down to builder grade. But, what I'd really recommend is taking the interior finishes down to builder grade and putting that money in better insulation, HVAC, and making the attic a partially conditioned space so your ductwork isn't fighting hot attic temperatures to deliver cold air to you. Insulated flex duct is crap for the most part.

From the sound of it, the quality of the specifications and bid are quite good, ie, standard of the industry. Reducing good standards only leads to future problems.

What you really need to do to cut that much money out of your project (you don't say what the total construction cost estimate is or the area of construction), is to reduce the size of your house.

Trying to save close to $100K by cutting finish materials and reducing normal standards of construction is probably not going to achieve your goal (and if it does it will probably lead to problems in the not too distant future, particularly if you are building in an area with adverse weather conditions).

Your best bet to get to your budget is to get the size of your house aligned with your budget. From the sound of it, you aren't too close.

Good luck with your project.

In my market, $159.62 per sf for a custom build would be quite a deal. In fact, that would be $10-$20 sf less than my costs alone, not counting overhead.

Unless you're in Deep Dixie, your insulation is barely adequate, Code minimum.

OntarioMum is right on. Drop the concrete driveway; and the insulation between floors provides a barely detectable difference.

The framing, sheathing and concrete is all basic high middle and I wouldn't cheap out. Sure there are less expensive furnaces you can use--from a host of second-tier manufacturers. But that's a pennywise decision.

Instead of synthetic underlayment, I stick with tried and true 30 lb felt. But that's more of a preference than anything else.

The biggest cuts almost inevitably come in the finishes. Since you mentioned quartzite counters I suspect there are similar high-end items elsewhere that you can sacrifice.

This post was edited by worthy on Wed, Aug 14, 13 at 18:23

I wanted to add that we used ice and water in the valley areas of the roof and felt everywhere else and we had plywood, not OSB for the roof deck.

What do others think about using OSB for the roof deck. Should the OP upgrade to plywood here?

Can you guys do any jobs DIY to save a bit (e.g. painting, trim, etc?)

Carol

ok. thanks everyone. i just wanted to verify it with people who had no dog in this fight or whatever that saying is. my brain is jumbled right now.

I really appreciate your wisdom! We can't get something for nothing. We don't HAVE to cut it back 80K. It is what it is, I just wanted to make sure on those finishes that I know nothing about.

thanks!

What do others think about using OSB for the roof deck.

Seems to be mostly a mass market thing, where cost reigns supreme. Not surprisingly, OSB has also been the subject of that other American growth business--class action lawsuits.

The only OSB I've used has been in walls; never on roofs, never on floors.

See University of Massachusetts' Paul Fisette's review below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Choosing Between OSB and Plywood

This post was edited by worthy on Wed, Aug 14, 13 at 18:38

Good info, worthy. Thanks. Glad I used plywood for our roof deck and floors.

Carol

oh no, the price is over, but we still need upgrades? will the osb be ok with the synthetic felt underlayment? we are in South Louisiana, so if OSB doesn't perform well in humid climates, then it CERTAINLY shouldn't perform well here!

I personally have no issues with OSB for sidewalls. Never on a roof, only CDX Plywood. I have mixed feeling for subfloor and would ONLY use an advanced OSB like Advantech for the subfloor never standard grade OSB.

We used OSB for sheathing for both the walls and roof on our conditioned space workshop/garage that we did 15 years ago. It has a slight deflection between the trusses now. If we had it to do over again here in 2013, we'd do ply for the roof sheathing only, and do a sealed unvented attic with a different truss design that allowed for storage.

ahh..so you are in my part of the world!!

techshield roof decking is a radiant barrier decking to
reflect heat out of the attic.

your insulation levels are nothing special..the only
over code is high density batts R-15 over R-13.
I'd put 1" foam sheathing over plywood/osb walls..
another added cost but one that is very worthwhile
for thermal break of studs and added R-value to walls.

air sealing of the house is where you'll invest to save
with simple products like sill seal under sole plates of walls
and caulking prior to drwyall install.

14 seer isn't much better than code. what type
fuel will you have for heating? gas...electric?
if electric, you should get heat pump bids.
it will be a huge winter savings over electric strip
heating. I like 15-17 SEER for heat pumps.
variable speed air handler units to remove
humidity...and correctly sized...aka load calcs
not rule of thumb sizing for hvac system.

ductwork in vented attic with tech shield should
be R-8...not R-6 small upgrade cost...but they may
have to special order as La. still allows R-6
(stupid home builder association driven delay of
better codes)

putting ducts & equipment in vented attic...will add
another 15-30% per month of operating cost to the
utility bill. foam insulating the attic to create a unvented
semi conditioned attic is a much better option.
but again...an added cost.upside is smaller hvac
system, lower utility costs and comfort.

windows should have solar heat gain coefficients & ufactors of less than .35
all recessed lights should be ICAT, not IC.
Insulation Contact Air Tight. these openings into the
hot attic have a direct effect on comfort of the house.
IC allows attic air to be drawn into living space, ICAT
minimizes openings into attic.

things that will allow you to cut costs & upgrade later
are not insulation, windows, air sealing of house,
hvac equipment & ducts and mastic seal of ducts.
these things you get right now..or pay the added cost
for life of the item.

things that can be upgraded or added later...
ceiling moldings. have sheetrock installers tape & float
wall to ceiling & add moldings later.
cabinets & counter tops can be upgraded later.
do a stained concrete...and add wood floors later.
would a gravel or limestone driveway be an option for
you?

I see few problems with osb...usually when house isn't
blacked in but left open to elements for extended times.
and I too, favor 30 lb felt for roofing.

you have a huge amount to cut off the total cost.
maybe less sq ft would bring you closer without
compromising the efficiency & comfort of the house.

with our utility costs at .13 cents per kwh for
large utility providers..saving energy is a smart
move as costs increase and don't decrease.
I've seen people build homes where they couldn't
afford the utility bills..had zero comfort...but had
a pretty place to show.

where in the south La. are you building?
here is a design one pdf from my utility co-op
slemco (.08 cents per kwh!) good info for new construction.

http://www.slemco.com/uploads/SLEMCO_Design_One_checklist2010.pdf

even if not on slemco service the info can be applied
where ever you build.

best of luck.

thanks energy rater. we are in Baton Rouge. The property in the middle of town (not off Old Jefferson, Nicholson, or near Prairieville) is so expensive that it doesn't leave much wiggle room for the house budget.

Bmh ,

do you need to use Spray foam insulation ? you should be able to get the same R values from traditional and its way cheaper

for example - my arctecitech speficied sprayfoam for the attic to get to r49 - but my builder said we can just double up the regular stuff for the same r value - this actually cut 12K!!!!!

dgruzew:
please define "double up the regular stuff". It sounds like your contractor is completely clueless on insulation and air sealing and how it works if you are meaning what I think you are.