Happy new year! I would normally have replied much sooner, but everything has been so busy with Christmas, then new year and all the rest. Anyway, I have to agree that conservation is by far the best thing we can do right now, and I believe that it will allways be useful as almost all energy comes with a penalty. Both environmental and financial. I've been thinking about conservation quite a bit recently as I'm trying to get a rough idea how much it would cost to build an affordable house (you might have seen my posts about it?) and I want it to be economical to live in. This is partly an environmental concern, but also because it would be misguided to build an affordable house that isn't also affordable to live in. The majority of most anyone's wages go towards their house, so if I can build a house that uses minimal energy I can spend the money in other more enjoyable ways. I can also design it in such a way it comes in to the lowest possible tax category, but that's beyond the scope of this forum. One of the things that surprises me is when I say I want to build a low energy house that uses renewable energy, people tend to picture something very expensive and custom built. When I researched it I found that commonly they're high end houses built for wealthy customers who were willing to spend a lot of money to have luxury items, like solar PV panels and houses built half underground. I don't however see why houses that use very little energy have to be reserved for wealthy people building custom houses, after all one of the main attractions of a low energy house is the very small monthly bills. A low energy house design/concept that comes within (preferably below) average house prices is long overdue, and also has a massive market potential. Admittedly domestic energy use is a fraction of that used by industrial processes, and also accounts for a similarly small percentage of pollution, but I know nothing about industrial processes and (thankfully) don't pay the bills for them either. At least not directly. I do however know something about houses and how I believe they could work better. My main aim is to build it smaller, but use the space in such a way it's relatively spacious with plenty of storage. I also want to exchange traditional and generally energy wasting and expensive materials for newer materials that cost less. Insulation, and lots of it, is important. I also want high quality finishing materials, but avoiding ornate details and using a more minimalist style should keep the costs reasonable. The other main issue is using the most energy efficient appliances possible, and also installing some renewable stuff like solar hot water heating. At least in concept it seems to work, and hopefully one day I will be able to try it out.

I assumed you (AdelladeBella) were being facetious. You know there are so many other issues going on in that family. To allow one's paid babysitter to send one's children into daycare/childcare/church situations that one hasn't screened and where one has NO IDEA of who is taking care of one's children should be criminal. Perhaps, or maybe obviously, those parents and that babysitter are not aware that pedophiles target church situations for the exact reason that everyone assumes "Oh, we are all nice Christians. We all love children. We don't do background checks of our workers." There was a report about a church within the last month on one of the three major networks (I think it was a major national story) about the pastor and all of the elders sexually molesting the children, even the infants. They only caught them because the pastor went to the police and confessed. I have worked in VBS as planner, director, games leader, etc. and my children are going to be safe and well-cared for as the first issue. Boy, I now need to cool down. I feel sorry for those children, who don't seem to be very wanted by anyone, even the church. You know, I'm sure that it was a hard situation for the VBS staff, but truthfully, I think dying on a cross for all of the workers, and those unwanted kids, trumps that bad situation.

Honestly before you look to save money with this plan, I think you need to look to fix the plan so it will work better because now it will feel dark and closed in. I agree; this first floor just doesn't work. You have to wander through the sunroom AND the dining room to enter the house, and then the master bedroom eats up the whole back wall. You can find LOADS of plans similar to this one with better flow. Here are two examples -- the first one's not quite 1900 sf, the second is just under 1600:Both of these houses' exteriors are very similar to the one you're presenting -- -- but imagine yourself walking in from the garage (as you'll do every single day). Isn't the path better? Imagine your boys coming in from the back yard. Isn't it better? Note the front door entrance too; you want a bit of a transition from outside to inside. Mainly this is about good flow. Okay, neither of those have the two-story great room (that's what you're asking for -- a two story great room; an open floor plan would mean the living-kitchen-dining run together without walls between), so here's another similar plan with good flow AND the two-story great room -- it's about 1850 sf: Note that in these plans the rooms are more proportional to one another, and the traffic patterns are better -- and the master bedrooms aren't hogging the prime backyard access. Bbq'ing will be something we do, but the walkway to the back deck doesn't bother me as much as taking away or rearranging the back of the house would. Wait, wait, you'd rather walk all the way around the house (or through your bedroom) every time you want to use the back yard or barbeque for years and years and years ... instead of altering a drawing now? I mean this in the nicest possible way: Are you perhaps burned out on this process? If you need to take a break, do so! Doing it right is better than doing it fast, and complete lack of public room backyard access is very much not doing it right. You could save money by having only one sink in the bathrooms. A good idea; the master vanity especially just doesn't have enough space to support two sinks, and by using the space for sinks, you give up drawers for storage. I'd also remove the door that divides the boys' bathroom; doors like that are always in the way and aren't really helpful -- two kids can easily share a bathroom without being able to close off part of it. How do you plan to use the den upstairs? Will it overlook the downstairs? Do you live in an area where basements work? If so, would that provide the space you want for your boys' area? In the right areas, basements are super cheap, and you could plan to finish it off later -- like when your boys are in middle school and want some space away from you. If you're really counting pennies, lop off the kids' space -- it falls into the area of "nice but not necessary". Get rid of the fireplace. They are expensive. I personally wouldn't lose the fireplace, but I would consider a woodstove, which can be less expensive. Keep in mind too that fireplaces don't all cost the same amount. High-end fireplaces take the brick or stone to the ceiling inside and have masonry chimneys outside. Lower-priced fireplaces utilize inserts and have little inside brick/stone ... and vent with only a small flue /no chimney or a wooden stack that houses the flue. Use carpeting instead of hardwood or laminate. I'd go with laminate instead of carpet. Laminate has a longer lifespan and is more forgiving with kids. Eliminate the sink in the laundry. Good call. We had a sink in our laundry room when I was growing up; it was a place for junk to collect. As an adult, I've never had one and have never once said, "I wish..." We could build larger, but the most important thing to us is that I am able to stay at home with the boys if I wanted/needed to and also that we can support them when they begin to drive and go off to college. Building below your means is always wise. Also, if we made the sunroom have a long hallway rather than an outdoor walkway would this help cut down cost? I wouldn't mind a long hallway to hang pictures etc on the way out the back door. Like a breezeway? Perhaps with a sliding glass door on each end? That's a practical choice. Cpartist, where else would we put it? We want an open floor plan with Windows across the front and a loft at the top for our boys. Anywhere except where it is -- the bedroom is really what's throwing off your whole plan. At 1/3 of your first floor, it's as large as your living room, and it's oversized for this plan -- worst, it's preventing you from having backyard access. You can have an open floorplan with windows across the front and a space for your boys without this problem. Google "3 bedroom cape cod" or "3 bedroom Southern House with Porch". You'll find loads and loads of plans with just what you're wanting. Note too that if you bring the stairs to a more conventional center-of-the-house location (essentially flipping the stairs and the kitchen), you will have those windows in the kitchen. About the stairs: Switchback stairs are sf hogs. You could trim your square footage by going with a straight set of stairs. Or you could make the stairs do double-duty by placing a half-height closet underneath. On the subject of the bedroom, if you steal 2" from the bedroom (which you can easily afford to give up), you can enlarge your master closet enough to add 1/3 more storage space. I'm no clotheshorse, but I can't image not wanting this. I agree no access to the deck from the kitchen is a LITTLE inconvenient, but to be honest we had a deck right off of the kitchen in our last home and we never used it...ever. I think everyone else here disagrees with the qualifier "little", and the person who pointed out it'd make your house impossible to resell is right. Bpathome, we would like to cut off about $10-15,000. We are almost at our target budget so I am curious as to how much removing the third door to the garage would cut back (without downsizing.) Building always comes with surprises. If you want to stick to your target budget, you need to begin fairly well under it (at least 10%). Removing the garage door without downsizing will save a few hundred for the door ... but you're talking pennies in the grand scheme of things, and then you'd have a garage with reduced function. I agree with you: No point in this cut. We've a two story foyer in our past 2 houses and our next house will have no 2 story anything because the sound transmission is really annoying, imo. I used to think lofts were great -- until we rented a lake house with a loft. A person watching TV in the living room disturbed a person reading or napping in the loft -- and vice-versa. This was made worse in the house we rented because everything in the house was "hard" -- wooden floors, shutters on the windows, no drapes, the only soft thing was the sofa /chairs. This is not something you want in your everyday house. This isn't about your family being close or not -- as your kids grow older, you'll want some separate space. You're not going to want to listen to their music or them play video games with their friends. Our family's very close too, but that doesn't mean we don't need a space where a couple people can watch TV while someone else is doing homework. You're going to want to make a phone call without hearing the boys playing upstairs; they're going to want to call girls without you in earshot. However, this is only a 1900 sq ft home. We aren't trying to make the powder room it's own wing. If you have suggestions on moving it somewhere that is cost efficient be my guest at letting me know where. If you go with the breezeway idea, the powder room would work great in that area. It'd also be convenient to the backyard. I absolutely loved this plan before posting it on this forum. You guys have picked it apart and not had any positive feedback...except a few of you. I still love it, but I am concerned guest will come over and instead of seeing its charm and open-ness will see the same things you guys have see Honestly, I don't mean to be harsh, but I see no redeeming features on the first floor -- I like the exterior very much, and the upstairs is nice. Other things I can see that'd save money: Look at this circled spot on your plan:Exterior walls are quite expensive compared to interior walls; thus, this walkway is extremely expensive. It'd be cheaper to "bring the house over to meet the garage". Porches aren't as expensive as interior space, but they also aren't cheap. Consider downsizing the porch from full-width ... to partial width ... or even just a stoop over the door -- this could probably be a difference of 6-8K just on the front of the house -- and you could go with a deck out back instead of a porch:

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