Industrial Style - Metal Mesh for the Home

In this video I discuss how to put metal mesh to work in your home. I'm always searching for new materials to use in my residential work. I’m particularly drawn to adapting simple, utilitarian, industrial materials for use in the home. Industrial metal mesh is an excellent example of this and one that deserves consideration for both interior and exterior use. In the video I review the different types of mesh available from bar grating and metal fabrics to screening and wire meshes. I discuss the substrates and specific applications. Each is illustrated with images depicting their use.

Phased Construction for Residential Construction

In this video I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of phasing your home construction project. Phasing intentionally and selectively plans for and delays certain aspects of a home's construction. While it saves money up front, it usually costs more in the long-term. The advantages of phased construction are:

  1. Lower Initial Investment - it takes less overall to get started and can spread the costs of a larger project out over time.
  2. Shorter Construction Time - the smaller scope of work nets a reduced (initial) construction timeline.
  3. Experience - living in a partially completed home while its under construction not only offsets living costs but allows you to truly experience the size and scale of the home before undertaking future phases.
  4. Design Changes - phasing opens the door to pivoting design ideas over time. You may decide you don't want the detached guest house planned in phase two, rather you want it incorporated into the home as an addition.

The disadvantages are:

  1. Complexity - overall phased construction is more complex.
  2. Longer Total Construction Time - even though the initial construction sequence is shorter it will take longer to realize the entire project.
  3. Higher Total Cost - because of the longer time frames involved, financing costs, higher design fees and the extra mobilization costs, phased projects are inherently more costly to undertake.

I discuss the details of financing concerns, planning issues, sequencing, phasing plans, staging, scheduling, and living with the mess of construction.

Phasing is an overall more complex process, but it makes sense in certain cases, the video explains those cases supported with lots of visuals.

Garage Style Doors for the Home

In this video I review new ways to put the common garage door to use around your home. I review the types of garage doors: pivoting, sectional, and coiling as well as the materials, hardware options and special considerations you'll want to review before committing to using this design element in your home. The images offer proof that the overhead door doesn't have to be relegated to only the garage anymore.

Choosing Pocket Door Hardware - Pro Tips

In this video I discuss the secret to pocket doors' success - selecting the proper hardware. I discuss quality architectural hardware specifics from manufacturers like: Hafele, FSB, MWE, Halliday & Ballie, Sugatsune, Accurate and others. I review the optimal track configurations, flush pull handle sizing and shape considerations, and the all important lockable pocket door function.

Book Launch and Guest Post on Entrepreneur Architect

I'm quite honored to have written a guest post featured this week on Entrepreneur Architect, a website run by my friend, architect, and talented businessman, Mark R. LePage. Not only do we share an alma mater, Roger Williams University, but we also share in our mission to help small firm architects looking to change the world one project at a time. Mark has been delivering on his goal to be "a force for change in the world of architecture" since he doubled down on his commitment on 12/12/2012 with good advice and positive mentoring. In the post, I discuss four basic things every pro needs to attend to when using Houzz and a back door trick for entering their image-based ecosystem.

The post is my small contribution to Mark's broader mission and it supports the release of my book this past week on Amazon, The Unofficial Guide to Houzz.com . I wrote the book to help architects and designers find relevancy and rank in more searches on Houzz.  I have quite a bit of experience writing there and successfully securing work for 30X40. My writing has been a force for change in my own life, helping me to sort through ideas and help others and I think it shines through clearly in the book.

See the article entitled, "4 Things You're Not Doing on Houzz (But Should Be)" on the Entrepreneur Architect site.

Thanks to Mark for featuring my work and for the excellent resource he continues to build

If you like the book, I'd so appreciate and welcome an honest review on Amazon.com and I'd love to hear what's working for your business on Houzz.

Natural Wood Siding Minus the Maintenance

Architects, designers and homeowners go to great lengths to keep the weather out of buildings, a worthy and necessary goal. But the task of creating home exteriors that resist weather’s effects — including washing, sanding, stripping and refinishing — is significant, time consuming and expensive. Rejecting this unending cycle of maintenance and accepting weathering as part of a home’s design aesthetic makes good environmental, economic and design sense. The homes in this video embrace weathering as part of their aesthetic — and even celebrate it.

A heavy dose of Dogtrot

Dogtrot [ dog·trot ] - a roofed passage similar to a breezeway; especially :  one connecting two parts of a cabin. I'm a bit of a Dogtrot nerd - if that's even possible. I've long admired its simple form and the power of a single, well-proportioned void in an otherwise long, rectangular building. I've studied the building type in depth and offer you here an abridged 'design workshop', if you will. I particularly love knowing the origin story of this humble structure - see if you agree.

Dogtrot Breezeway

Dogtrot Breezeway

The dogtrot is a wonderfully versatile building typology that has endured differing building climates and cultures not only because of its utility, but also because of its simplicity and beauty.

Origins

While it’s hard to pin down the exact origin or antecedent of this building typology in the United States, there’s much evidence that earliest forms of dogtrots came into existence here in the lower Delaware Valley colony of New Sweden in what we now know as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. It is believed that Swedish and Finnish settlers of North America in the mid-1600s brought a building typology know as the ‘pair-cottage’, from Northern Europe. These pair-cottages consisted of a pair of log cabins stationed side-by-side and joined with a common grass-covered roof. The Fenno-Swedish settlers were accustomed to working with large timbers and hewing logs for construction and as early settlers of the lower Delaware Valley it made sense that their woodworking skills were put to use in constructing their early homes.

The origin of the early dogtrot’s construction methods as linked log cabins is telling as well. There were two major limiting factors in the construction of log cabins - the first was the length of log that a team of men and livestock could handle. The second was the availability of such raw materials. Selecting logs of a length able to easily be moved into place, especially above one’s head, limited the size logs one could use to build the log structure with and thus the length of the walls. Equally, a log’s taper was a critical factor as the taller log sections yielded more taper. Accounting for these factors during construction ensured the log cabins remained small and one-story.

Once a log structure was completed, adding to it presented difficulty. In stick frame construction of the present day, additions are accomplished simply without much thought and in virtually any location. Lacking any way to modify the supporting walls of the log structures meant the only means of adding to the structure was to build yet a neighboring structure - again subject to all of the previously noted limitations. Building the second cabin only a few feet away would’ve resulted in a useless and dark intervening space. But by separating it a rooms’ width (12 – 16 feet) away it doubled as an additional outdoor, multipurpose room. All of this was accomplished with a simple, singular gesture.

Layout

The dogtrot plan layout is characterized by two equal rectangular shaped, single-story rooms termed ‘pens’; separated by between sixteen and twenty feet connected by a common, usually gabled, roof and a floored breezeway or dogtrot which spans the full depth of the plan. Each of the pens was accessed via a door opening onto the dogtrot separating the structures. The dogtrot behaved as an additional room. The functions of each of the flanking pens were usually different. One was used as private living space and the other as a kitchen and dining or any number of secondary uses: workshop, office, apartment, storage, tavern, or inn.

The intervening space, the dogtrot, served many purposes. Access between either pen and the dogtrot was simple and direct. Some historical examples omitted the floor in the dogtrot breezeway leaving bare earth. This created a covered place to service wagons - a sort of modern day carport. The more common configuration placed the floor coplanar with the interior space. In this way it functioned more like an additional outdoor room - a porch, a place to store farm implements and a place to sit out of the sun. This ensured a social status to the dogtrot as the central gathering point in these early homes.

The dogtrot design is known well in southern building cultures of the United States. It permeated southern pioneer architecture in part because it had offered an ingenious solution to the region’s hot climate. The dogtrot’s breezeway, positioned centrally in the plan, naturally created a cooler pool of air between the warmer interior spaces. This cool pocket of air could easily be drawn into the flanking pens by opening the doors at either end of the gables. In a time before air conditioning, one can see the draw of this passive cooling effect.

Chimneys

Providing heat to the enclosed ‘pens’, one chimney could be found on the gable ends of each structure. Early incarnations were constructed of wood, but proved extremely dangerous. Later versions were more fire-resistant and permanent built of brick and stone.

Porches

Many dogtrots included a porch along an entire eave wall. The porch usually had a shed roof with a lower pitch than the main roof and over time the exterior spaces of these porches were enclosed and apportioned to interior use.

Windows

Symmetrical window configurations were most common, with one or two windows per pen on each eave wall and two windows flanking the chimneys on the gable ends.

Attics

In keeping with the efficient use of space, full adoption of the attic space for both storage and even extra living space was common. This expanded the use of an often extremely compact building footprint.

Additions

The historical record indicates that dogtrots were of two origins. Those that began with one structure added a second and connected the two with the roofed dogtrot. And, those that began by constructing and connecting both pens at once.

Other additions took to enclosing porches, making each pen two rooms deep leaving essentially a foursquare plan, and even separated structures. The separate structure was popular in the south, where the kitchen would be housed in this separate building connected by a covered breezeway. This removed the largest source of heat from the living space and limited losses in the frequently devastating fires.

Construction

In the south, where ventilation and cooling are bigger concerns than insulating, dogtrots were commonly constructed on piers. In the north, fieldstone comprised many a farmer’s foundation because the glacial till was plentiful, required removal from fields used for crops and frost depth had to be taken into account. Stone provided a durable means of stabilizing the building’s support to ground not subject to freezing.

Materials

Log construction formed the basis for early dogtrots; the joint imperfections were filled with clay and twig chinking to keep out the elements. The interiors of these log structures used clapboards and board and batten wood finishes to conceal the roughly hewn logs. The limitations of log length and taper, as discussed earlier, had a substantial impact on the scale of early dogtrots. Equally, the raw materials available locally meant most of the structures utilized the wood from the surrounding forest - notably pine and spruce.

With advent of large scale lumber mills and the mass-produced wire nail in the late 1800’s the raw materials and methods of home construction transitioned away from log construction toward light frame construction which persists today as the most popular form of construction. Stick-frame construction being modular and infinitely flexible changed the construction requirements of additions and renovations. Sticks could easily create additions and loads could be transferred to the foundation by simply joining them together to create headers. Holes could be cut in walls and extensions weren’t limited to the size of logs.

Modern Dogtrot

With the necessity for additions no longer hindered by the dimensions and heft of the log, and social pressure to promote one's status via their home, the dogtrot succumbed to other more stately building types. Today those in the south who grew up knowing the typology often recall the dogtrot fondly, but at the time it was considered to be a very humble shelter. Which is to say, built for the poor. As such these homes didn’t correlate well with wealthy plantation owners and with time it gave way to grander and more sprawling architectural styles found in the south to this day.

As an architect interested in humble structures, I find the dogtrot to be particularly compelling – in its climactic response, its simplicity, its affordability and fort its flexible, integrated indoor/outdoor space. I think it’s why the dogtrot remains a viable and sought after plan for many.

Longhouse Dogtrot Floorplan

Longhouse Dogtrot Floorplan

While the climate of the Northeast, where I live and practice, isn't subject to the same stifling heat as the deep south, our winters and shoulder seasons beg for flexible transition zones between indoors and out. The dogtrot layout is the perfect corollary and it addresses this need elegantly. I think of it as an expanded mudroom, a place to store kayaks paddles and kick off your snowshoes under cover of weather. Pair it with a set of sliding screens and it's a screened porch. Add a fireplace and it's a sheltered outdoor dining area. Add benches and it's a living room or sleeping porch, or play space. The very lack of any strict functionality makes it inordinately useful and adaptable. Isn't that what our modern lives demand?

Interested in your own? I've developed a few dogtrots as predesigned plan packages, and more are on the ways - as always you can find them in the shop.

Twists on window trim

Architects often think about projects in terms of systems. It’s one of our strategies for organizing the complexities of construction into a coherent whole. Each system has an order and interfaces with the other building components in a clear way. Windows have a special place in our systems. They help to define site connections, permit or screen views, and modulate natural light entering our spaces. When thinking about how window systems integrate into the larger structure, I like to develop a clear logic that describes how they’re placed in walls, which always requires adopting an attitude toward trim. Trim is a standard vehicle for hiding joints where materials come together — the edges of Sheetrock are a good example. Trim can also set a building in a particular time period.

But to me, the more integrated even a small detail such as trim is with an idea about a place or structure, the more it can support the overall logic of a building. The following projects eschew traditional ideas about trim in service of a bigger, modern idea.

Putting Narrow Windows to Work

Without windows, our architecture would be lifeless, heavy and dark. We use window openings to control light, admit fresh air and connect our interiors to the outside world. Because they control these key components of our built environment, windows are integral to setting the mood of a space. Sliver, or ribbon, windows have a particularly unique way of controlling the way we feel in a space. Used high in a wall, they wash the ceiling with an even light, making a space feel secure yet luminous and introspective. Used low in a wall, they create a dramatic shift in focus, highlighting and reflecting the adjacent ground color, material and weather outside. Used at or just below eye level, sliver windows create a carefully controlled horizontal framed view to the building’s surroundings.

My video discusses how you can put these narrow openings to work in your home.

Design Workshop : The Beauty of Humble Materials

Humble materials aren’t costly or luxurious, but using them in residential design doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice interest or refinement. Many architects find inspiration in the humble beauty of simple structures dressed in plain materials that are used honestly. These materials don’t draw attention to themselves or pretend to be something they’re not. They’re chosen to modestly serve their purpose.

Warmboard Radiant Panel - An Architect's Review

In this video I review a new flooring product we've been using - Warmboard. Reasons to Consider Using Warmboard:

  • Low mass radiant flooring option - fewer BTUs to get to operating temperature, faster response times
  • Highly conductive aluminum face on subfloor - lower boiler temps, lower energy bills, geothermal/solar compatibility
  • Fast install times - structural subfloor + heat tubing layout all-in-one
  • Aluminum sheet diffuses heat along top surface of subfloor for even heating
  • Compatible with multiple flooring types can be overlaid - hardwood, tile + carpet
  • Zoning + panel layout design included in the price - assembly arrives with a numbered diagram for installation
  • Tubing is visible on top face of subfloor - minimizes tubing penetrations via errant fasteners during floor finish application.
  • 20% recycled content in alum. facing, OSB + Plywood panels are efficient use of natural resources
  • Warmboard R (retrofit) can be used in renovation projects where floor build-up and thickness is a concern

House Size - Balancing Wants, Needs and Budget

This post is the second in a series intended to walk you through the process of designing your own home where I guide you from the initial stages of your building project through construction.  Please check out my about page and my portfolio for more about what qualifies me to do this. So, here we are at step two (if you missed step one, be sure to read and watch that section first).  You've determined your building site and diagrammed the assets and liabilities, now it's time to figure out exactly what you'll be trying to fit within your home.  Architect’s call this second phase the ‘programming’ phase.  The ‘program’ is a detailed list of all of the spaces you’ll include in your home along with their sizes.  Think of it as a sort of ingredient list in a recipe you’re following.

A couple of things to keep in mind while developing your wish-list.  First, every square foot will cost you between $250-350+, choose carefully.   Secondly, and more importantly each added square foot is another one you'll have to heat, cool, light, maintain, and clean (!) for many years to come.  Homes use an incredible amount of energy and here in the USA our homes are substantially larger than our European counterparts.  Be ruthless about what you really need and what you can live without.  By consuming fewer resources your self-less act gives to generations that follow us.

Average House Size Comparison
Average House Size Comparison

Program Ingredients

A good place to start is by compiling a wish list of rooms.  Basically anything that will take up space in the home should be on the list.  While you’ve probably already considered many of the spaces listed below, there are undoubtedly some you haven’t accounted for.  Most often people overlook essential spaces like stairs, hallways, mechanical rooms and electrical closets.  These are critical to every successful floor plan, however mundane they may be, and they also account for a large percentage of the actual floor area, and by extension, your budget too.  Be sure not leave these out.

Some common spaces you’ll want to consider:

  • Entry/Mudroom
  • Living
  • Dining
  • Kitchen/Pantry
  • Study
  • Powder-1/2 Bath
  • Bathroom(s)
  • Laundry
  • Bedrooms
  • Porches
  • Decks
  • Mechanical/Electrical
  • Circulation (stairs/hallways)
  • Garage
  • Carport
  • Outdoor Terraces
  • Media Room
  • Game Room
  • Screened Room

Size Matters

Or should I say, matters of size?  Once you've compiled the list, you'll need to assign each room a rough size. A good place to begin thinking about the sizing of these spaces is to measure your current living spaces.  You'll have a sense for the scale of your furniture in those spaces and what works and what doesn't.  If your current bedroom is too small, roughly estimate the extra room it would take to make it more functional and account for that in your spreadsheet.

My worksheet lists basic room areas and sizes, but really it’s a guideline to help you get started.  Try not to take this too seriously to begin with.  It usually makes sense to stay in the general range of the room sizes I list but if your design vision calls for a living room in the shape of a bowling alley by all means, bend the rules.  Make the rules and then break the rules.  Develop a set of operating principles and consciously break them for effect.  Architect’s do this all of the time, when you do this with intent you’re one of us.

It’s important that along with the development of room sizes that you keep in mind ceiling heights.  Not exact ceiling heights, but a more generalized idea of which spaces might be taller than a standard 8’ ceiling.  You’ll note in the worksheet there’s a column labeled ‘factor’.  Ceiling heights are one thing that affects the factor; it’s essentially a multiplier that accounts for the extra materials (sheetrock, framing, paint, etc.) you’ll require when building a non-standard room volume (1.5 for cathedral/vaulted ceilings).  Some of the other factors listed account for unfinished basement spaces (0.1 because it’s significantly less costly than heated living space), as well as covered porches (0.75) and decks (0.5).  Landscape elements aren’t covered here but be sure to include terraces and other hard-scape elements in your program so you can allow for them in your budget.

What's Important?

When thinking about the size of spaces in relation to each other and the overall square footage try to think about them hierarchically.  Each should be relative in size to their importance in the floor plan.

Nothing says hierarchy like, “Check out our roof…we put a giant hole in it to show you how important it is for controlling light, for letting in the things we want and keeping out the things we don’t.”

A mudroom larger than a living room has certain connotations and functional implications.  The Romans were masters at spatial hierarchy.  Have a look at the Pantheon.

The Pantheon's Oculus
The Pantheon's Oculus

The large central space, flanked by smaller alcoves, with its’ oculus (the penultimate hierarchical move).  Nothing says hierarchy like, “Check out our roof…we put a giant hole in it to show you how important it is for controlling light, for letting in the things we want and keeping out the things we don’t.”

This is powerful and it’s really a marvelous space to stand in.  Look at the entry portico, and note the size of it.  It’s not wart-sized; it’s proportioned to the volume it’s attached to.  Now, have a look at your local convenience store entry (a gabled portico of sorts I’m guessing) and you’ll see the difference.  The convenience store is poorly proportioned, it’s too small and it’s too tall and it looks like the rest of the walls it’s adjacent to, except for the two doors.  While this example is intentionally simple I think it illustrates my point, which is once you’ve seen the difference, you’ll better appreciate the difference.

Pantheon Exterior View
Pantheon Exterior View

The Pantheon, with just a few simple elements and architectural moves allows one to understand immediately upon arrival how one enters and what’s important.  This is the approach you must take when thinking about sizing your spaces.  You’ll have a chance to revise this as you begin your design when you realize that the dining room should be a little larger and the pantry a little smaller, etc.  Many architects rely too heavily on the exact sizing of the spaces in the Program.  I try not to get too hung up on the size of the living room before I get into the design a little deeper.  I prefer to use it as an outline.

Sticker Shock

Develop the list of spaces, assign them rough sizes, total it up and, most importantly, assign a square foot (SF) price range to the total.  This is where the exercise becomes particularly meaningful and dare I say, painful.  At the beginning stages of the design process your program serves as an essential budgeting tool.

I recommend assigning a price range for two reasons:

1)    Early on before you even have a design; this is by far the most accurate means of portraying the variability of the costs involved.  Having a range will hold you accountable as you work toward getting the upper number of the range to be your target number.  I’ll explain more below.

2)    No two contractors will look at your design, drawings and specifications the same way, even when given the exact same information.  Equally, building techniques vary from contractor to contractor as do subcontracts and labor rates.

Having said all of this, I want you to look at the upper end of the range and know that that number is real.  Don’t make the mistake of assuming you can make material or finish decisions (bamboo flooring, plywood walls, cheap toilet fixtures…) and have any real effect on the overall scope and scale of this number.

Way too expensive?

Building costs are always rising.  The addition you worked on 5 years ago, from a pricing perspective, is irrelevant.  To be serious about controlling costs at this stage is to eliminate square footage.  This will be the easiest and best opportunity you have to do so.  Work backwards if need be, determine the maximum you’re willing to spend and fit the program sizes to meet the budget.  This part of the process can be bruising.  Expect it and work through it.  Every client, of every means, that I've ever worked with at this stage agrees to move forward based on the false hope that the actual numbers from the contractor will come back at the lower end of the range.  Believe me, Scout’s honor, it’s never happened.  Not one time.  If you take this part of the process seriously then the bidding and/or negotiation phase will be much, much easier.

"What Square Foot Price Do I Use?"

If you’re not sure what range to use, make a few phone calls to local builders or architects in your area.  They’re usually more than accommodating when it comes to giving out such basic information, and they have the benefit of recent projects to back up their knowledge base.  In my local area, the range I tell people wanting to do custom work is $300-400/SF.  It’s possible to be around $200/SF, however, it requires special concessions not many people are willing to make.

Once you've worked through this process: revising your wish list, revising your budget and you’re comfortable with what you have, you’re ready for the next step.  Get out your markers, pencils and tracing paper, Schematic Design is up next.  Possibly my favorite…

Questions...Comments?

Drop me a line, I'm here to help.  I’d love to hear your thoughts or design conundrums.

If you subscribe you’ll be sure to receive my next post in your inbox, there’s also my YouTube channel with helpful videos.  I’ll also post some links to a few books that will help you through the programming phase and provide some inspiration as to what’s possible when you economize and double up on the functions of your spaces.

3 Keys to Working With Your Contractor

Renovating, constructing or remodeling your home is always a stressful time.  You’re hemorrhaging money, there’s a seemingly endless volley of questions, and you may be living in amongst dust and debris, doing dishes in the bathroom sink. Early on, you absorb these inconveniences as part of the process but as deadlines come and go, It’s easy to let yourself project your frustrations on to the one entity who is responsible for you things not being complete.  Unfortunately, as an Architect, I’ve seen much good will sour between Owner and Contractor during the final weeks of a project when stress levels are greatest. If you take the time up front to follow a few basic rules you can trade stress and anxiety for confidence knowing that things are organized and running smoothly. Honestly, you owe it to yourself considering the staggering amount of money you’ll be investing in your home.  You really should enjoy it as much as you possibly can.

So many outcomes in life are the result of good communication, let’s start there…

1) Open Communication

From the outset of your project clearly define and discuss your expectations for communication.  Set up a pre-construction meeting, preferably at the building site.  Use this time to hand off the final drawing set and specifications, you do have drawings and specifications right?  Setup a meeting schedule and discuss your preferred immediate contact method: email, twitter, cell?  Try to stress that this be reserved for only the most immediate of questions, ones that would hold up progress if they weren’t answered immediately.  You don’t want to be a stumbling block, but equally you can’t be expected to answer the hundreds of potential questions that could arise in day’s work.  On projects where I’m observing the construction process I schedule a weekly meeting which I usually request to be on Wednesdays.  This allows the Contractor time to mobilize on Monday; work through issues on Tuesday and by Wednesday there’s typically a backlog of questions to be answered.  I expect to get sporadic questions throughout the week that are simple to answer and may allow work to progress with minimal time disruption on my part or the Contractor’s, but calls every half hour I strongly discourage.  Establishing this workflow early on enables everyone to be more efficient in accomplishing his or her tasks.

Insist that all communication to and from subcontractors go through the General Contractor, and remember, you must abide by this rule as well.  It’s easy to have a casual conversation with a subcontractor, but never allow this to be confused with supervision or direction.  That is the sole responsibility of the Contractor; it’s not a role you should assume as this often results in costly additions to the project.  This reinforces accountability on the Contractor’s part and ensures nothing gets lost in translation between you and someone on a subcontractor’s crew who has no authority to make decisions or may not understand the financial underpinnings of your project.

2) Well defined, clear expectations

The easiest way to be sure your Contractor is delivering what YOU want and equally what HE thought YOU wanted (and ultimately priced), is to have a set of drawings, schedules and specs.  This doesn’t have to mean spending tens of thousands on an architect, although I think that’s a good investment too and, by the way, one that you can finance inside of your mortgage.  It does mean that you spend more time up front thinking about all aspects of your projects.  Because I know what a daunting part of the process this can be I’ve developed a checklist to help you.  There’s more than you might initially think.  It’s often the reason people feel so overwhelmed during construction, they haven’t ever considered the quantity of materials that go into making a house.  Grout color, cabinet hardware, door knobs, hinges, glass type, paint, flooring, fasteners, insulation, roofing, siding, these are just a few of things to think about.  Remember that your vision of your home has evolved over time, in your headspace, and it’s nearly impossible for your Contractor to completely understand what you were thinking unless it’s translated somehow onto paper.  That’s the easiest way of letting them know exactly what you want.

bunkhouse plans
bunkhouse plans

Plans.  This is where most people start and finish when thinking about building a new home.  “What does the plan look like?”  We’ve all looked at plans before, but have you ever looked at plan and then walked through a house built from that plan?  It’s quite a different experience right?  Plans, diagrams really, monochromatic lines on paper abstractly representing walls, cabinetry, doors, windows, and plumbing fixtures.   While the floor plan remains the most accessible of all drawings there’s so much more to constructing a house than merely drawing and fine-tuning a floor plan. Think of a floor plan as your rhythm section, it sets the beat and establishes order.  But without a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, a bass…what do you have?  The supporting instruments are all of the other documents that describe how the house will look.  You’re probably familiar with elevations too, which are the flattened views of the exterior walls.  There are undoubtedly parts of your living environment that you don’t even notice…take like lights for example you need lights, right, but there’s a huge difference between your vision of the hand-blown Italian glass pendant you’ve always wanted and the recessed can lights your Contractor was thinking you’d want. Look around you and know that your Contractor will do this with every item in your home.  He’ll choose one thing to price and install and if it’s not expressly called out you won’t any recourse but to say, “Thanks…I think?”

Bunkhouse Overview
Bunkhouse Overview

This applies to plumbing fixtures, flooring, and hardware for your doors, every surface, counters, and appliances, even fasteners.  What’s great is that all of these things fit neatly into their own categories in the specifications.  Contractors are trained to look for them and read specifications.  If you hand your Contractor a set of drawings, schedules and specifications, you’ll set yourself apart immediately as an informed consumer.  This nets better pricing, fewer conflicts and a better final product, because it’s directly translates your ideas into something your Contractor can easily understand, price and construct. You’ll sleep better too.

Your specifications or schedules don’t have to be extremely detailed; they can even be as simple as a one-page list.  But, if you don’t have any you risk a huge gulf between your vision (nice finishes, fine detailing, good windows) and your Contractor’s vision (which will be based solely on economy).

3) Minimize changes

Pondhouse Construction
Pondhouse Construction

It’s human nature to tweak, revise, rethink, re-imagine and change your mind.  I totally support this, (within reason), I actually encourage it especially during the early design phases.  It’s liberating to let go of preconceptions, old ideas, and embrace fresh thoughts this is the dreaming phase.   When your ideas still only exist on paper the cost to move walls, add baths, make a room 2’ wider is far lower than during construction. Here again, this supports the case for having a set of drawings and schedules and specifications.  You can clearly see how the furniture in your new living room might fit (and here's the key) before the foundation is cast and walls are constructed.  Undoubtedly you'll arrive after the framing is in place and say to yourself, "Wow, this space is different (insert larger/smaller) than I thought it would be..."  This experience inevitably leads to thoughts of redesigning, enlarging, and retooling.  Try to resist this urge.  The scale of buildings changes throughout construction and it's all based on points of reference.  When the foundation has been poured you'll be left thinking you've made a tiny house, no matter the size.  This is because you're comparing it to larger context of the surrounding site, whether it's other structures, forest, or a sweeping mountain view.  After the house is framed, often times rooms look larger than you imagined.  After the house has been sheet-rocked you'll again face this shift in scale...too small.  If you react at each one of these points your new home will now look renovated, your pockets will be empty and your Contractor will probably have another boat.  Changes along the way always cost more.

One more important thing to recognize about changes during construction is that the true cost can often be elusive when the pressure of budgets and construction schedules are in play.  The siding change you made to 'save' money may actually cost you more in the end after the restocking fee (because it was already ordered) and the added labor to install the less expensive siding is factored in.  There are so many variables that go into the building of a house that it's often hard for a Contractor to quantify how cost shifting is to be accounted for in the budget.  The net result?  Nine times out of ten, it's easier for the Contractor to recalculate and levy an up-charge for the simple reason that its costing them more time and effort to re-calibrate the process already set in motion.

Be confident in your design decisions as you follow construction, rely on the planning decisions you made early in the process and most of all...enjoy the process, most of us only build a home once.