Builder vs. Homeowner

In our final installment we bring you the Builder vs. the Homeowner.  Oh sure, we could bring in building officials, subcontractors, neighbors, bankers, etc.  But this series of three neatly sums up what we work with the most.  Hopefully the point has not been taken that everyone's an imbecile.  Rather you should understand that communication is the key to a successful home build where everyone is happy.

That or everyone learning to design and build their own homes (cf . http://www.homehumor.com/introduction.shtml).

Homeowner: "We'd like to have you build a house for us.  You come highly recommended and we've seen some of your other stuff.  We have a pretty specific list of things we would like for trim, cabinets, etc.  Other than that we'll leave it to you."

Builder: "I generally build to three different packages of trim.  If you'd like something else we can discuss that.  Do you have plans?"

H: "Well we had a designer draw up these..."

B: (perusing plans) "Hmmm...  You could save a lot of money if you installed slider windows instead of double-hungs.  And the roof will be cheaper if you drop it to a 5:12 pitch.  And what's this note?  24" o.c. studs?  Can't do that, the house will fall down.  Besides, it costs more."

H: "Wait, it costs more to install less wood?"

B: "Oh sure, there's all sorts of other things you have to do instead.  And I can't insulate the attic 'cuz your shingles will fail.  It's alright if the furnace is in a cold attic."

H: "Well, you're the professional..."

What then happens is that the homeowner moves into a house that they're never truly happy with.  They notice the little things.  And they live there for 5 years and then do a complete remodel.

Alternate ending!

H: "Well thanks for your opinions, we'll call you."  (we know what that line means)

Future homeowner interviews several other builders and finds one who is happy to build a home for the owners, the way they want.  Double hung windows, knotty pine trim, and walls with studs 24" o.c.  Builder also recommends a heat pump and the homeowners never look back.

Hey homeowner!  If you approach a builder about building a house, please remember one thing.  It's your house!  Don't let anybody change your mind about what you want.  The remodel 5 years down the road costs more than implementing all the things you want the first time around.  Istockhouseplans hopes your dream home gets built the way you like the first time around.

Designer vs. Homeowner

One day, sitting in the office playing solitaire, we were rudely interrupted by the phone ringing.  On the other end is a potential client who absolutely loves one of our plans and would like us to make a few minor modifications.  Since they live 15 minutes away, we are willing to take a look.  Generally we don't offer this service for out of towners because of the distance gap.  Strangely, communication gaps grow exponentially to distance gaps.  But being close by means we can meet in person and see the hand gestures that generally accommodate limited similar vocabularies.

We offer to meet the potential client at a local coffee shop, buy them a drink, and go over their ideas.

When we arrive we are hesitantly surprised to meet the client (a couple) and a mother of one of them.  Also in attendance is a friend or college roommate, or maybe it was a friend's college roommate.  In any event, they are the interior designer.

Things look stickier than raw honey already.

Also in attendance is a 3" notebook that appears to be full of photos, design ideas, and several copies of our plan with different colors of ink all across them.  After introductions are made, the first plan comes out.

"We thought about taking this one, removing the windows from the obvious locations, and putting in weirdly sized windows where they don't make sense.  Over here, we'd like to remove this entire bearing wall and not have any posts in the way.  The idea on this one was to expand the second floor by 800sf without touching the first floor.  How much can we cantilever?"

The mother-in-law chimes in about her room.  We end up arguing with the interior designer who knows nothing about shear and load-bearing.  Finally we say we'll make some adjustments and see how it goes.  Everybody leaves pretty sure that the job is not going to happen.  We're out about $12.

An open letter to potential homeowners:

Dear potential homeowner;

Thank you for choosing an Istockhouseplans design.  We are pleased that we could design a plan that meets your exacting eye for beauty and function.  However, if you would like some changes to the plan, we suggest a quiet meeting with just you and us so that we can figure out your basic needs.  If we end up spending more time modifying the plan than we did designing and drawing it, you're probably better off having a custom home designed from the start.  Please consider a design from scratch that uses one of our plans as inspiration.  We tend to be very strict about the homes we design and sell.  If your plan ends up being a 3 story neo-modern with a 4 car attached garage, we can recommend a couple of other designers that could help you out.  Having us design that style of house is akin to getting a taco at McDonald's.  It won't be what you expect and we will struggle to make it happen.

Thank you

Istockhouseplans

Historic Fail

If you've seen Istockhouseplans' portfolio lately, you may have noticed a pattern.  We're pretty crazy about historic styles.  Large wood, texture, built-ins, house bling, etc. all play a part in the way we design.  But our design only covers part of the scenario.  We can design all we want, but the final product is left to the builder.  We can spec out materials and such but the fact is that the permitting jurisdiction only cares about structural and code issues.  As well they should.  Historic review boards will care about such matters.  In fact, we were recently privileged to sit in on and testify in front of a historic review board for a private commission we are working on.

While the historic review board was amenable to both historic-ish styles and the builder's pocketbook, we were a little disappointed that they didn't even discuss certain issues.  Some of these we think are crucial to distinguish between a true classic and a blatant reproduction.  While we mentioned some key issues a few years ago, we think that there are three that should always occur on a reproduction or historic remodel:

Windows.  Look at an old house.  Where are the windows located?  They are generally inside the wall.  Now look at most new homes and answer the same question?  The windows on the outside of the wall.  A little 2-3" nudge makes a huge difference.  So how do you install a new flange window inside the wall?  One way is to frame your openings 3" larger each direction and then install a 2x4 subframe inside the 2x6 frame.  The window then gets mounted to the subframe and floats inside the wall a few inches.  Cut down on all the extra wood by integrating the 2x4 subframe as part of the structural load path.  Another option is to purchase tip-in style retrofit windows.  Cost may be a factor in this case.

Siding.  Have you ever wondered why a substandard recladding of an old home looks so disappointing?  Think texture and relief.  First, old homes did not have one type of siding.  Two are minimum.  Even if both styles are lap and the difference is 4" vs. 8" reveal, it can make a house pop.  The biggest problem in our opinion is the relief of fiber cement lap siding.  How thick is the bottom edge of yesteryear's lap siding?  Darn near 1/2".  Now look at the specs of Hardi-plank.  How thick?  5/16", barely more than 1/4".  the stuff might as well be flat.  That tiny little edge looks puny, like trying to do 5/4x6" bargeboards.  Hey Mr. Hardie!  Have you ever considered putting a lip on the edge of that stuff to give it a stronger look?  If we ever get to build, we will not use that stuff.  Who cares if it lasts 100 years.  That's 100 years of puny looking disappointment.  "What will you use then, tough guy?"  What indeed.  Glad you asked.  Wood.  Wood lap siding with a 1/2"+ edge to it that makes the house look like it has been around forever.  Prime 6 sides and paint the visible sides.  Lots of work, yes, but the result is amazing and the durability just as good as Hardi.

Roofing.  It used to be (back when I was a boy!) that the roof color was complementary to the color scheme of the house.  Light grays, browns, even red, blue and green asphalt shingles gave interest to the color scheme below.  Now it seems that most new homes are similar to the Model T.  "Your roof can be any color you want, so long as it's black.  Because I bought 3000 squares and I have to get rid of it..."  Why are new roofs black anyway?  Is it because there's some aesthetic about a sharp contrast to one of the 3 shades of camel that new homes are colored?  We think it looks like a thick heavy black cap that smashes the house down and makes it look foreboding.  It also invites heat to be absorbed into the attic.  If you're building new historic or renovating, please don't use black.

If anybody out there can answer our concerns, we would love to hear.  Add a comment to this blog and set us straight.

Small Homes in the News

Istockhouseplans is proud to announce the release of two new plans, the Carver and the Carver A. Both plans cover 18' wide by 22' deep including the porch. Both plans are just under 300sf with a sleeping loft of almost 100sf. These are some intentional entries into the small house plan market and we are proud to showcase them.

We at istockhouseplans aren't the only ones who think small is the new big. We've found some great articles that tout small and some just lambast bombast. Click the links for further reads. Unfortunately, some publishers require a login to access the full article and we just aren't allowed to copy and paste it. Maybe you're already signed up with them and we brought this to your attention.

Fine Homebuilding.

Wall Street Journal. Be sure to check out the interactive graphics.

Los Angeles Times photo story.

San Francisco Chronicle. Some interesting comments.


You can see the rest of our tiny homes as well.

Small, Efficient and Beautiful

As if we needed to justify our reason for designing smaller homes, read Energy Source Builder #52 August 1997. Some of the tips included are:

• Sharing spaces (do you really need an office AND media room AND guest bedroom?)
• Remove formal spaces (that vestigial living room is not much more than a furniture museum)
• Build furniture into rooms (probably should only be reserved for the Master Craftsman)
• Provide ample storage (you don't need more square footage to live in, just more to store your consumerism)
• Enhance trim and detail (turn that dinger into a zinger)
• Bring the outdoors in (covered decks and porches cost a fraction of the house)

The article continues on to give calculations for figuring the perceptual space of a house. In theory, a home with more interior walls, lower ceilings and less outdoor spaces would feel smaller. While this concept can be agreed upon, we're not so sure about this idea. Given this theory, a single story geodesic dome with a 500sf footprint could easily double in perceived square footage based on vertical volume and design of the dome. Our preferred method for calculating perceived space is as follows:

• Calculate square footage of the home;
• Calculate square footage of anything sitting on your floor;
• Double the second number;
• Subtract it from the first number.

You may notice that the more crowded your home is, the smaller it feels. Want to increase your perceived square footage? Give away half of your stuff.

Some builders might argue that smaller houses use more materials per square foot, and therefore cost more per square foot to build. Sure, they're right. But will those builders be paying the utility bills that are based on volume after the home is occupied? You can bet not! Quite appropriately the builders are only concerned with making as much money as possible and small homes do not allow as big a profit.

Some plan collection websites have a page dedicated to small houses. Istockhouseplans entire webpage is dedicated to smaller homes.