Agreed on all counts CurlyGirl! For me, the thing that appeals most about the GH is the uber-efficiency of growing our own food right here at home. Everything we do is geared toward maximizing food without a major energy outlay. To me, personally, heating a GH all winter defeats the purpose of being efficient so I've never been interested in that pathway. I can see why folks do it, so I'm not passing judgement, but it's not for us. Yes, we do have our GH already, a Riga in Zone 4 Montana. We get by with a nicely insulated foundation, stacks of 5 gallon water buckets for thermal mass, and a predominance of sunshine in the winter. I also make a hoophouse within the greenhouse using metal hoops and many layers of fleecy frost blankets. This has allowed us to keep lettuce alive even in this cold winter. (Although I brought most of the lettuce inside during our recent dip to -27, but amazingly, even the lettuce left in the GH survived just fine.) The next thing I'd like to do efficiency-wise is vent excess GH heat into the house in the winter. So often the roof vents are open and perfectly good 85-degree air is venting to the atmosphere. I would love to have that warmth coming into the house instead. So I'd like to figure out a way to do that before next winter. What kind of fruit trees are you getting? How exciting!

My husband works for Sam's Club, and they do not take those check/coupons. My DS is on Isomil Similac and we have found the best deals at Walmart. For some reason, the Walmart by our house offers the huge can (1lb,14oz) for 2 dollars cheaper than the walmart by my work. My DH says it is b/c the income level is lower where we live. Anyway, the formula is always $15.54 and w/ a $2 coupon, it's only $13.54. At Kmart or Fry's, the SAME can is $22.50. The difference is amazing! Andrea

I just entered our information into the program below and it was amazingly accurate, about 1.5% or approximately 25,000 higher than actual cost. However we built July, 2016-October 2017 year and it may have been adjusted since then for increases in costs.. Cost to build I remember doing this from plans before we built and hoped that it would be wrong (overestimated by a greater percentage. Unfortunately, That wasn't the case. Other results mat be different, but it is an interesting exercise.

I had the same thought as Dan - have them basically rough in the fireplace for future install without actually putting it in. Then have one put in on your own after you take possession. Costs are so dependent on where you are, it's hard for us to tell you what the cost "should" be. For reference, our cost to to put in a corner (glass on two sides) gas fireplace with stone surround up to the ceiling is just over $7,000 (that includes the fireplace, the install and necessary gas/venting, the stone, and the labor to install the tile). So if you're talking $6,900 total, it sounds pretty reasonable; if it's that on top of the cost of their basic fireplace, I might ask more questions (but it still could be reasonable).