Do you have any pictures of your plans or renderings, I am very interested to see what can be accomplished for the doller per square foot you are talking about. It is about time someone was able to do something affordable in this world. I am excited for you.

I would also love to see pictures. The modifications would seem to change a lot of the character of the house.

There is a new blog entry with images.

it seems your patience has paid off. even while costs on so many materials have increased over the past year (copper wire prices, steel prices, concrete...)

we have a different approach regarding our move in date. we are overly optimistic and constantly reminding the contractors of the projected completion date. we do have a lot riding on this ideal window of completion.

as you mentioned in your last line.... the mrtg. that construction loan APR is usually not the best. so every month added to construction is another payment and as the borrowed amount grows so will that montly payment. I recall from your previous entries that you surely have all this math figured out.

mark is our architect and we are also using enerloc. that portion of the build is set to begin a week from monday (sept 11th)

I'm sure you'll be watching our blog since you are likely not far down on their list from us

http://austinmodhouse.com/blog

paul schuster

As for the budget, as opposed to the other builders who actually went out and got bids for everything, the guy we are using just used his recent experience to come up with a number. He expects that his guesstimates will be a bit high here and low there but it should all work out. Two of his references told me that they actually came in under budget, money that reduced the cost to the homeowner. Changes in materials costs might affect us and we might end up paying a bit more

plus, I have already thought of a few "might as wells."

Paul, I still haven't checked out your blog, but I will now.

Yes, I am eager to get it all done, but I am much more willing to accept things I cannot change. I definitely will be on top of things, but I am just not going to get too anxious about it.

As for the mortgage company, First Horizon has mostly been great, but when you go into the closing, you basincally have to waive all of your rights. Not only that, after weeks of negotiating a contract with the builder, the bank made both the builder and us agree to throw that contract out and accept their terms for how the whole thing will go. Most frustrating, you do not see the documents until the closing so unless you are willing to spend 10 hours at the title company, you have no idea what you are agreeing too. It is so damn dehumanizing and the line "all the mortgage companies do the same thing" doesn't really help.

my wife is an attorney and does not like to sign anything until she's fully read it. so closing was long and as you said, it seems there was all this new verbiage and numbers that seemed to come out of nowhere.

she was not to happy about it. the kids and I found a toy box in the conference room and made a puppet show while my wife read and made sighs of frustration.

at one point, we really felt like we were backed into a corner by both the builder and the bank.

paul

My wife is an attorney too. She trusted the title company attorney for most of it (as to what it said), took the time to read few things first (sometimes the look on her face as she signed frightened me a bit) and she refused to let us sign two documents. She threw in a few sarcstic comments too, notably when we were asked to sign a document that said we received all the documents the day before, when we didn't really get to see them until that day. She was especially p---ed off when we found out that all the work she did to get the contract the way we wanted ti was for nothing.

First I want to say congrats - just for getting this far. We too are building a green, mod house with some non-traditional construction techniques and details. Our situation parallels yours so closely, it's scary. We went through several rounds of bids and fired several consultants. We cut out the SIPS, simplified the design, took out cathedral ceilings, clerestory windows, bamboo flooring, and so on. We kept the ICF foundation and suspended concrete first floor, and also the aluminum wood clad windows. We were going for a solar PV system right off the bat, but now we'll have to wait on that. We'll still have solar hot water and passie solar heat. And we kept the rainwater catchment system for the basement. . . So far the biggest cut was in exterior materials - block veneer was replaced with Hardie Panel, and the SIPS. We're using stick framing with closed cell spray foam insulation instead.

I'm exactly like you in that at this point - I don't care anymore when it's finished. My friends will ask when it will be finished and like you, I just smile. So many people around here are from the "McMansion" guild. You tell them that you are building a house and they ask from which production builder?!! I'm so tired of having to correct everyone and tell them that WE are doing the building. I have to show them pictures of my husband and I onsite with the framing crew swinging hammers! We have just finished framing and are waiting for the exterior metal siding and roofing. While we wait for those, our sewer line will be installed and HVAC, pluming, and elec rough in continues in side. BTW we also downgraded from an 18 SEER to a 14 SEER - so disappointed! Anyway, I'll keep an eye on your blog. I started mine on blogspot before I thought of posting one here, so you can find our house at www.nutterresidence.blogspot.com Stay strong, stay patient, and KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR! Also - do a lot of research on the exposed concrete slab thing. I found out (after the fact) that we shouldn't have put down any plastic (our contractor's recommendation) or sheets of OSB to protect the floor during framing - since those materials permanently stain the floor. You're also supposed to keep it swept every day, so that nails and such don't rust and stain. I think someone in our crew spilled Mountain Dew on the floor, so there's an anti-freeze-colored stain in the middle of my great room - augh!!! I don't have a clue what I'm going to do about the spray foam insulation contractor in there! Post pics when you can!

Wow, after reading your comment, there are even more similarities than you know. I wish we could keep the commercial aluminum windows, but they would be an extra $15k. The original brick cladding would be an extra $15k as well. Those are the changes that do the most to change the character of the house.

I certainly will pay attention to the slab. Hmm? I had heard that osb was a perfect protector since you could then use it to sheath the roof. RIght now, I am leaning toward masonite sheets. I just got a bid from a floor guy to seal the slab for $1.50/sqft, but I am liking Splatgirl's idea of linseed oil and mineral spirits. The Mountain Dew story will keep me up an night. On the other hand, I am setting up much of the detailing so that we could later add a flooring that is between 3/8" and 5/8" thick. Anything from linoleum (with underlayment) to cork, bamboo or hardwoods could cover up any terrible mistakes.

In your research did you ever consider using an AAC block for your house? Just curious since we are planning to use this material.

Is this the aerated (sp?) concrete block? I looked into CMU but the bricklayer said although the materials were cheaper than brick, the labor was going to be so much more (more like setting stone than laying brick) that it would be more expensive. I think $12-$15 per sqft was the range. Now, lots of that is the two story issue. With a one story house, you don't need extensive scaffolding. Also, having brick or stone set above openings is much more expensive as you need lots of steel to bridge the openings. Finally, the CMU is typically around 8" wide. That would have made our house 16" wider than with the stucco. With a relatively narrow lot, every inch of width matters. Using CMU would have meant altering the plan. Is AAC much lighter than CMU? In that case, the labor cost might not be so bad. I guess some use CMU as the wall structure and inside finish wall (not just a veneer), but that poses insulation issues as well as dealing with electrical and plumbing.

http://www.texascontec.com/faq.html

Here is a link for those interested. One of the plants producing the block is in Texas, thus I was curious if you considered using it. True the block is 8" think and might not be the best thing for conserving square footage. We have found it to be a very interesting material for our house although we are not under construction yet and still working out the numbers. AAC is a bit different than CMU structurally, insulation factor, etc...