This will a fantastic home. I am amazed at how tidy you keep your site.

Thanks... and yes, it's a tidy site, but rapidly amassing lots of detritis. The roll-off container comes in next week! Needless to say, there's also a porta-potty. It's funny that most people don't think of these kinds of things when they figure out a building budget...

I've been intrigued by geothermal heat pump systems for a while. Are there actual manufacturers for these systems or are they always custom jobs? Do they gear themselves towards residential homes at all?

It's not a total custom device- the heat exchange unit itself is standardized (although the name of the manufacturer eludes me... will post the name when I get the final contract in the mail). I have read mostly about closed loop systems, where a closed loop of water or antifreeze solution is run through hundreds of feet of PEX tubing buried about three-six feet underground. The system I am using is a totally open system that pumps in and out groundwater from supply/return wells. In my area, I understand they will need to go down only 50 feet. I have no idea what this setup looks like... but I understand it's not something you can hang on a wall (like a hydronic radiant mechanical assembly). I read about a house recently where they said it kind of resembled something you would find at NASA. I certainly have the room for it in the basement, so I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

Sounds like you have done a lot of research and customization, wondering if this has become a ridiculously expensive project up front so that your long term happiness and cost effectiveness is ensured

thanks

I started out with a budget, but as the project has evolved, there have been so many additional, unanticipated costs- structural steel, hauling sand to/from the site, etc. And everything, with few exceptions, is more expensive than originally anticipated. To be honest, at this point I am working without a strict budget. All I know is how much wiggle room I have before I can declare that the well done gone dry. Ron the builder is the optimist who thinks we will actually go UNDER budget. I am the pessimist who thinks I will over shoot the initial budget by $100K. In any event, I am going to try my darnedest to keep the overall cost of the project under $150 per sq. ft. of living space (not including the garage in the denominator). This figure includes everything, including the geothermal HVAC system, solar PV system, concrete floors, Starck bathroom fixtures, European cabinetry, and maybe even the swimming pool. I know this sounds insanely ambitious. But I am already considering all of the tasks that I will be tackling myself.

Great blog! I've just sold my Eichler Likeler in North Los Angeles County and have bought a "fixer upper (tear down)" in Venice Beach, CA.

Where are you located? The reason I ask is your $150 per. square foot price is where I would like to be, however, I'm sure it's different in other parts of the country. Actually, I'm staying simple with a one story post and beam and a section of the house going up (cinder block) to accommodate loft space.

Your project looks fantastic. How many square feet? Any renderings of the finished product you can post?

SID

Thanks, Sid. I will have another photo update online shortly. By this weekend (when I go out to do final window measurements), I hope to have all of the framing and sheathing completed. Then it will look like a real house!

The house is being built in Sag Harbor, NY, which is on the East End of Long Island, aka "The Hamptons." As far as the price of labor is concerned, so far I think I've done pretty well. I have determined that contractors who have ever come within ten feet of a commercial project, i.e., union project, will be very costly. That's why, we've been dealing mostly with small businesses/contractors. I'm not going to say that things have progressed without any errors or hardship, but it's been good to deal with trades that are flexible and will not nickel and dime you for every last-minute change. Even though I entered this project with doing things as economically as possible, I have in reality ended up building a house with premium methods and materials- concrete walls, concrete flooring, custom windows, geothermal, solar, 2 x 6 interior framing, cedar siding, etc. If I did this all with 2x4 construction and standard windows, conventional HVAC, T-111, etc., I think this could have easily been done for well under $100/sf.

As far as finished renderings are concerned, we haven't really done any. There are renderings of the standard Greenbelt 2 house at Nate Wieler's site (http://rapsongreenbelt.com/images/3D_renderings/), but we haven't done a proper rendering with the concrete walls, etc. Also, because this is a site-built house rather than the modular house depicted in Rapson's original plans, the structure will be somewhat different, no matter what. We've been relying on our collective imaginations and intuition to figure out the structure as we go along (all the while mindful of the building permit considerations such as hurricane clips, overhangs, etc.). This is definitely not ideal, and I would never, ever do this again; it's been painful. But it is good in the sense that it forces us to make on-the-spot decisions that can either enhance the structure and/or savey money. And chances are, no set of plans, no matter how well thought out, will be totally perfect and without contradiction. So it's almost like cooking a stew and we are seasoning it to taste rather than following the cookbook.

I close escrow on the 5th of October and am already in the preliminary planning stage. My cousins Andrew Lindley and his wife are local Venice architects and will be designing the project with me.

I'm aiming for a simple one story modern home. The emphasis is going to be on the garden space which the house will open to and the nature will pour back in, an ebb and flow of interior/exterior. Being that it's such a small property you need to create your own sanctuary within the urban setting.

Are you familiar with Venice, CA? The architecture there is great!

I'll begin a blog shortly after I close escrow. I look forward to more discussion with you and others. Thanks!

By the way, I would imagine that construction costs in the Hamptons would not be much different than here??? Your thoughts…

Sounds like a wonderful project, better still that you have architects in your family. Not only will they do the design and renderings, they will help you to score discounted goodies. Never been to Venice, but I would imagine that it's not unlike much of the rest of LA, which seems to have a mid-20th-century vibe about it.

I can't say that I am familiar with the labor situation in LA. Indeed, everything out here is more expensive due to the remote location and the supply/demand equation. There's always a mega-mansion going up somewhere that you have to compete against. However, there are probably insurance/liability issues that are more draconian there than here. And there are probably seismic issues that we don't have here in the east. We only have to worry about hurricanes! But I think the most crucial element is to work with a building consultant/general contractor who is intimately involved with the local trades that would normally fly under the radar- good work for relatively inexpensive rates. It's always a gamble, especially when you are dealing with a structure that is very unconventional, so if you are persistent and are willing to invest the time and energy into working closely with the trades to realize your vision. I'm finding that communication is essential; take no detail for granted.

venice beach is probably priced very similar to hawaii... i am on the island of kauai and custom homes run about $250/ft on up... the median home is now around $650k and i think that is very similar to southern cali..

you would think that a "modern" home would be somewhat cheaper to construct, but builders see that as very custom and thus an opportunity to stick it to you...