With a cash build, many unconventional things are possible that are not allowed in a bank financed situation. But, possible doesn't mean that its a wise course of action. For instance, wasting money on creating a habitable space only to turn it into a garage later is just silly. People turn properly planned garages into habitable space later, not the other way around.

Building phase one now and building phase two later generally costs more than building phases one and two at one time. The extra expense is one factor, the having to live in a construction project is another.

I don't think it's a bad plan ... though I agree with several above criticisms:

- The bank may not be your friend in this enterprise. In most areas, they only want to lend for a typical 3 bed/2 bath house that'll suit most people's needs.

- You don't turn finished space into a garage. Ever.

- It will cost more than building everything all at once, and you will end up living in a construction zone.

However, that doesn't mean it's a bad choice. I grew up in a house (and it's still in the family) that was added onto multiple time. It's now twice the size of the original house; it's grown from 3 beds/1 bath to 4 beds/3 baths plus a 1-bedroom apartment and a second living area. This was a good idea for several reasons:

- My grandparents, who built the original house, could not have afforded to build the larger house.

- They also couldn't have foreseen the desire for a 1-bedroom apartment, but it's been a really handy thing.

The first part would definitely be a "bank build"; the home would be a regular home with all the proper accoutrements, albeit with only 2 BRs - and this will probably go through the USDA rural development program, so I don't think that having only 2 BR would be an issue; if it really were, I could add another minimally sized BR or do some type of hack to get it to officially be a "3 BR" home. Also, a lot of senior couples build 2 BR places, so it happens.

I realize that it would cost more, but I can't see it being that much more, even counting the fact that a large chunk of wall would be removed. In any case, I would be saving close to the full value of the later portion just in interest & insurance that I would have to pay just to have the whole project done at the beginning. As for living in a "construction project", until the wall section got removed, the original section would not be affected at all; the new section would have its own door in the back, so it could just about be fully constructed on its own prior to removing the wall section.

As for the gameroom/garage, I would not change it over, but I could have it framed up so that if anyone buying it wanted to add big doors and use it as a garage, it could be done. Of course, I wouldn't really have to do it as I expect to leave this home "in a box"

The thing that really drives my thinking is that folks do add-ons all the time, and yes, the net costs more than if it had been done all at once, but it must make a good deal of financial sense for folks to do it, or else it wouldn't be getting done all the time! And those add-ons are definitely done in ways that are hokey and more expensive than it would be if it were planned from the beginning to be added-on as easily as possible.

How about build a two-story house, and leave the upstairs unfinished? Rough in plumbing for a bathroom (or two), and finish it as a master suite plus bedroom (or two) down the road. Your incremental cost would be a bit more, but if you don't have to do anything to the outside later, it should make for a much easier project (potentially something you could do yourself).

Another thing I've just thought of is whether it would be better to do this as a slab or raised-floor. I would think that if done as a slab, it would need a little bit of a "tounge" to be sticking out to make the interface work. OTOH, I could see a raised floor being a lot easier to level out properly. (The location will be on the Gulf Coast, so there would not be a basement.)

Regarding the 2-story, I had been considering that as well; in such a situation, I would have the master suite instead of that BR in the original section. The problem is that I think that would need to have the den be built in the first section for this to work out well, at least in the way overall way I see the floor plan being. Now, all that said, I could rough in the entire second section, but AIUI, the costs of just having the floor, outer walls & roof would be pretty high - the cost-benefits determination would be how much would that rough-in be relative to the cost of financing & insuring that rough in while it's dead space. Also, it would seem that a bank would be even less willing to consider loaning out money for that rough-in. The good thing about my idea here is that the original construction is a completely self-contained project that could exist on its own.

Another thing I've just thought about - that interface wall could be a solid stone/brick wall like what a lot of old townhomes have, with a portico that would just be filled in with something cheap. (In Louisiana, it's called a "French Quarter wall", as a lot of the buildings there have it, and even a lot of new homes that are single detached in the area incorporate such a wall as an architectural feature,) This type of wall does not have the regular eaves, so the interface should be even easier to do, and I suppose that some type of anchor bolting could be incorporated in this wall to tie into the addition framing.

(edit) Here is a picture of the type of wall - the red home on the left and the white one in the middle have this type of wall. In my design, the interface wall would be like this, with the rest of the framing being a standard hip roof.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/85/40/1b/85401b457d21477c46d0281965bbdfd1.jpg

I think lazy_gardens understands what I am trying to get at here - and indeed, the idea is along the lines of such a farmhouse where the home gets extended as needs dictate and finances allow. In my case, there will only be 1 true BR in the original section (i.e., "true" here means how I will use, regardless of what the home officially is determined to be), but the original section will have all the functional guts. The final configuration could be a little more "rambling" that the typical home, but I actually see that as being a good thing.

Also, a lot of senior couples build 2 BR places, so it happens.

Change "a lot" to "some", and I'll agree.

I realize that it would cost more, but I can't see it being that much more,

Yes, it will be fairly significantly more in the long run. When you build a house you're paying the builder to come out to do all the work: foundation, framing, plumbing, electrical ... and while it's expensive, the crews do the whole thing at once. When you add on a room or two, you still need all those crews, but they only do a bit of work. You're paying them to come out even though they don't do nearly as much work. Likewise, your builder is sourcing /buying materials for your build ... and finding /ordering costs almost as much for one room as it does for a whole house.

Of course, if you build "everything" up front and finance it, you're paying interest on the project, so I don't know where the break-even point is.

How about build a two-story house, and leave the upstairs unfinished?

That was very common 100 year ago when people built their own houses and the bank wasn't involved. I know of two houses that were built this way, but the couple ended up with no children ... so they never built the upstairs.

Here's where a "dog trot" house can work.

A dog trot is also practical in that you can "shut off" a portion of the house when you're not using it. Not useful for a family, but a good idea for empty nesters.

having a good "ultimate" design is going to be your friend here. And something in the shape of an "L" or the dog leg might be the right answer too.

Work with an architect to figure out how to design this house in stages, but then to insure it will be cohesive in the long run. Also - make sure that you "overinvest" in things like: electrical service, size of the trunk lines for HVAC, etc.

Make sure you orient your house for both the "temporary" floor plan AND the final floor plan. I wouldn't try to make a garage out of finished space since a garage is relatively inexpensive to build during the initial build anyway.

I think this could be a fun project that would allow you to self fund and expand as the need arises - but you should invest more in the planning to allow you to do this as efficiently as possible in the stages and not end up with a hot mess in form or function.

To be sure there are some economies of scale lost by building a home in phases, but if you're able to minimize debt by doing so, I get the trade off.

There are design challenges to a phased approach and the team of a good architect and builder can help come up with a sensible plan.

Architect Robert Knight features a case study on his website:

www.knightarchitect.com

Best wishes.

We are doing something similar. We are almost ready to move in to a modular cape cod style home with a little over 1K of sq feet of upstairs unfinished space w/2 roughed in baths. Downstairs is 2088 sq ft 3br/2 bath. We do plan to build a detached garage w/possible apartment early next year, however our first priority is finishing the upstairs and we hope to have that done by Thanksgiving.

I need to recheck, however I am pretty sure that our 12x20 screened back porch could be enclosed and considered in the sq footage, the stem wall foundation for this was engineered the same as the house w/footers etc.

I would get as much of the foundation done as possible as part of your initial build.

We are in the process of adding on to our small rectangle ranch house by adding on 625 sq feet and Renoing about half of the existing house. The contractor is wonderful and allowing us to live in the new addition after they build, while finishing up the main part of the house. If I were starting from scratch here, I would fully consider doing the two story unfinished for a few reasons: all your mechanicals will be in place and could be roughed in, meaning little disruption in walls.. as well as shingles and exterior finishing untouched. and because we are adding on only a small sq footage but still need foundation, roofing, etc, our cost per square footage is significantly higher.. I think it would also depend on WHEN you were planning the addition. If it's 10-15 yrs down the road, you may find you are wanting to redo some of the main part of the house again, like flooring and painting, etc. But definitely do able, I just think you may be surprised by the cost down the road, as I was, and if interest rates are a few points higher by then that's something to consider as well! Best of luck!

"Good ideas" always have to be tested out on tracing paper to see what the various implications may be. For example, comparing a 1-story expandable concept versus a 2-story shell with only the downstairs finished.

Probably the great majority of custom homes, however, start out with more "good ideas" than are practical and the budget can afford.

The "good idea" of a bedroom and game room which would/could be convertible later into a garage is so far-fetched, for so many reasons, as to not be worth spending time on, unless it's a make-or-break personal idea.

You really need to sit down with a creative and experienced architect for a few hours and explore design ideas to see which ones may be practical and which ones may not.

Good luck on your journey!

Virgil, I am not sure why a gameroom could not be easily convertible to a garage. The framing could have 2 8' wide berths with that just filled in in the same way that a garage would be converted to regular living space. Now that said, it may not make much financial sense for someone to do it (I certainly won't be doing so), but whoever buys the home may decide that it could be worth it, making him more interested in purchasing it. This was only an idea, and not make-or-break; in any case, I am thinking about putting in a nice hickory floor in the game room (with the really rich grain tones like a little souvenir box that is sold in the Smoky Mountains, so it may be totally ridiculous to consider this idea. The bedroom would not be part of the conversion, and the game room would only count as a BR for appraisal purposes, even though it would be 600 ft^2, LOL. (Of course, it could be easily subdivided into at least 2 BRs.)

shayr, I would put in a totally separate HVAC unit for the addition that would not be tied into the one in the first phase (I see the connecting room on the later phase being a cathedral ceiling with no attic). Yes, I understand that the net cost of a 3-ton & 2-ton unit would be more than a single 5-ton unit, but the net financed cost of that extra 2-ton unit over that length of time would be much higher than the purchase of a new one later; this is simply an extension of this whole idea in the first place. There is also the effect of having a spare so that if one unit goes down, the other could take on emergency duty in cooling down the entire home (with the help of fans), perhaps to not as low of a temperature, but certainly better than nothing.

I should also say that although the design would be custom, it wouldn't be fancy at all; I understand how some folks get into all sorts of fancy, expensive floor plans. My plan could easily be some standard architect plan (although with the game room as a big 2-car garage) with a simple footprint.

I should say that when I get around to actually doing this, I will have a design that has the shell of the entire home done (i.e., with only the finishing of what I would need at the beginning), so I could get an idea of the pricing & finacibility and be able to make a logical choice. I have a feeling that I will barely be able to swing the split-phase concept so I would be stuck with not being able to get anything done until being able to get everything done, which is unacceptable.

Whatever happened to the run down shack that the government bought for you? Why aren't you fixing it up in order to create some equity for this dream project?

"...Virgil, I am not sure why a gameroom could not be easily convertible to a garage..."

If you aren't going to convert a "game room and a bathroom" to a garage, what makes you think anyone would want to do so? Why would it even be a good idea?

Consider:

1. Someone goes to the expense to build and finish a game room and bath with various interior finishes, electrical outlets and lighting, HVAC, plumbing, audio and video. The game room and bath add to the value of the house and to the future resale of the house.

2. Someone else is going to buy the house at the price which includes a game room and bath, and then demolish all of the interiors there and abandon all of the systems, and turn the space into a non-habitable space for pick-up trucks! After all that effort and expense, the appraised value and resale value plummets!

Clearly you have this concept firmly fixed in your mind. It's just not a concept that makes any logical sense.

But who knows...almost anything is possible these days, so design and build your house with a future garage disguised as a game room and bath. Who know who may show up at your door in the future wanting a place to park her/his pick-up truck!

> Whatever happened to the run down shack that the government bought for
you? Why aren't you fixing it up in order to create some equity for this dream project?

It would be ridiculous for me to dump any money into my shack, for a number of reasons, including that the floor plan is in no way set up to be malleable into what I want, and any cash-on-hand that I have would be FAR preferable to cash locked in equity. And in any case, I plan to hold on to my current shack until the new home is finished, so even if an equity play were there, I would not be able to take advantage of it.

Virgil, you are mistaken about the game room. That room would just be a room, with no BA as part of it. There would be a closet so that it would count as a bedroom for appraisal purposes. There would be a separate BR & BA. The room would be pretty basic, perhaps with carpet (easy to be ripped out), although there would be lots of electrical outlets, something that a lot of folks who do stuff in their garage likes. And in any case, it would only be an option for someone to make into a garage. I guess the question is how much more expensive would it be for a big room like that to be framed with a pair of 8' bay openings that are closed up in the way that someone who would convert a garage to living space would do. If the extra cost is very low, then it would be a cheap call option to make the home more attractive to a potential buyer; that said, at some point, that call option would not be worth it. I'm sure that when I get around to discussing this with a builder, I'll give him both options and ask how much more would the option with the bay openings filled out would be; at that point, I'll make the decision. But either way, the game room would be along a corner, so the option would be there. (Of course, if the game room ends up being in the back, then this option would no longer exist.)

Swampwiz, it's clear you have a strong vision of building a "game room", which someone later may wish to make into a garage.

If you are going to build in your new custom home in areas where residential zoning is in effect, you may want to do some preliminary checking. Many residential zoning ordinances require that single family homes include a covered and enclosed 2-car garage (as a minimum) in order to obtain a building permit.

If that's applicable in your case, you will get to build a game room and a garage.

Yes, I understand that a lot of neighborhoods require a garage, although typically they only require a carport, which if done correctly could be more of a covered patio. A thought that did cross my mind was to have the "game room" have doors that could open 8' wide, and just do a very strong job of sealing it from the inside (obviously it would not be a standard top-down garage door that has gaps at the top sides). Of course, such a room would not qualify as a BR.

wouldn't it be easier to just go ahead and build the garage, then insulate it etc and use it as a game room

Building a phase 1 house to become phase 2 is extremely tricky. No matter what you decide, you need to get a structural engineer involve in the initial build. An SE will help you foresee code issues, within your thoughts.

We did it, although a bit differently. An upstairs area that is office/second living area, and totally open right now. FINE for us, but we also made sure that the area was reinforced with everything needed, incase somebody wants to convert to a 4th bedroom. Would be good sized, and the extra living upstairs would be preserved. Thought about it again, and there is a very nice sized jack-and-jill with proper separation doors etc between this space and the third bedroom.

We also had the opportunity to build a third story rooftop deck. The view from there is stupid- panoramic, almost 360. Eh? We didn't know that we'd use it that much, but? We still put in steel supports and all sorts of other stuff so that one day, if we (or somebody else) decides? It's not just doable, but easy. And we have complete plans, as well, that was actually permitted through the city. Eh? A bit of a waste, but at least we know.

Get with your architect, and discuss Phase 1 and Phase 2. If you're likely to be the one building out Phase 2, you need the plans and extra materials now.

Sunnysmom I think what he was saying is he wants to build it as a game room with a closet because otherwise build phase 1 would only be a 1 bedroom house and usually you need 2 bedrooms to get financing. So the game room would on paper look like a really really big bedroom because of the closet.

I personally think you should build a garage or car port AND the game room/"second bedroom" if you do that. Maybe the game room would be the den you thought you'd add later, maybe later it could be a master suite, maybe it could be a actual bedroom or 2 later if it's big enough. You might end up wanting it to stay a game room. I like the built over time look of really old houses, but it must be done really well. It also should look like things were added on to suit the land rather than just plopped on there with no thought. Like, if you add a master suite at some point, make it orient to a really nice view. If you're going to spend the money you might as well get your money's worth on what you end up with.

Have you considered a garage with a full apartment overhead? There are some nice plans -- some small, some quite large -- and this would appraise and be adaptable to your future plans. We seriously considered one with the idea of building it as a barndominium, but realized we'd age out of the stairs far too soon.

Our small one bedroom house (which our credit union had no problem financing) could be expanded by future owners by turning the patio doorway in the "great" room into a hallway or dogtrot leading to additional rooms. We positioned the house for this possibility, locating it far enough away from the forestry deferral acreage and the horse shelter to allow for additional living space. (Knowing people in our area, they'll probably tear down our cute little cabin and put up a monstrosity.)

Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I would seek an architect to plan your home's evolution in advance or find an existing plan that allows for this. With proper design, your concept could work, but without a well thought-out plan, it could be a very expensive nightmare.

I want the "garage" to have bit of a cathedral ceiling, so that would not work; besides the garage will be away from everything else, and I want the staircase to be in the den, so that the big TV there would be against it (i.e., the staircase will be a solid wall, and provide depth, something that is important with flat-screen TVs.

Interestingly, one of my ideas was to do something that you are saying - and just make the "garage" with a very efficient apartment upstairs (under a gable roof) the entire house, and then consider putting up a brand new home next to it when space concerns warranted it.

Carolyn87 understands it!

Sunnysmom, the idea is to have everything under insulation. In fact, the way that foam insulation is done, it is applied everywhere including unused space like an attic or garage.

I have a lot of experience designing additions for houses in New England where building a second level for later finishing would not be an issue for a bank because roofs are typically steep and an attic space is virtually always used for storage and therefore roof trusses are rare and usable attics are common. That may be different in your region but you should not assume a bank would balk at financing a house just because it has an attic specially if there is no basement. There is no need to show the attic as "rough-in" or "future habitable space" on your drawings or application.

You should also not assume the cost of an attic would be high or that it would increase your taxes or insurance premiums. Making assumptions appears to be complicating your planning; you need get real answers to these questions.

Your current phasing proposal will incur great expense later for additional foundations, walls and roofs and for moving windows and extending mechanicals. You should avoid the need to make extensive changes to an existing house in order to expand it because, if you don't, it is likely you will either never be able to afford to expand it or you will find it more advantageous to move. And a chopped up house might have a lower value later. You don't want to be the guy whose house looks like a permanent ad for TYVEK.

I would design a steep roofed 1 1/2 (or 1 3/4) story house with a large attic and design the framing for future dormers and end gable walls for future windows. I always put rafters on the deck of the attic floor to raise the headroom under the rafters. I would not use a hipped roof and would avoid valleys. A big bonus is that the house would look and function better which could increase your equity and the amount you could borrow for improvements later.

If you find it attractive to add on to a house, you should consider buying an existing one and adding on to it later because that's pretty much what you are contemplating now at a higher initial cost.