My husband and I would like to build a small home?

Question

We need to do it as cost effectively as possible without sacrificing quality. What advice can you give me to help us get the most for our money.

Answer 1

small home. i live in one that is only about 850 square feet. you dont have to sacrifice anything. this is what i suggest when you make plans for a small house keep it open living makes you feel like your not in a little box. one other big thing is the roof structure, and style. Pick one that will allow you to utilize the attic,even if it just for storage. or another room for what ever it is just a space you can go to do a craft dont care if it is just sewing. the point is you can leave things out without having to put things away all the time, it is not in your living space. our house is a one bedroom house i recomend you have 2 bedrooms. even if one of them is in the attic,
cost wise if you can do some of the work youself that will help. painting is a easy one. as far as the paint goes you can save yourself money if you go paint stores, that deal with contractors ex. cloverdale paints our store always has paint that contractors have not used for what ever reason they are alot cheaper just keep on looking untill you find something that will suit you. building supplies we have a place that gets everything and anything to do with building from houses that are bieng demolished it is also a place where people can drop off things from renovations its basically a recylcling place. its called habitat for humanity. mid size to large cabinet shops and counter top places usually have cabinets and counter tops that never got onto the job site for some reason chek them out,might be able to make a deal.
oh important thing about small houses dont skimp on windows have lots of them. plumbing- if you can keep your batheroom kitchen and hotwater tank and laundry close to one another the less pipeing you will have to buy its not much but every little bit counts. another thing you can do is all the trimming around windows doors ect. all takes time labour labour dont be shocked when you go and price out trim its expensive.
in my eyes insulating is another easy job to do. something else you can do to cut some cost of labour.
If you have any knowledge in how to build a house be your own contractor. yep can be alot of headaches and a nightmare, but at least your not paying someone to get building permits and finding the proper trades at the right time.If yu have the time and are not in a rush i would consider this lots of work. the more work you can do yourself the cheaper it will be. materials are very expensive today and so is the labour. if you cant take the time to learn or do it your self with the quality your looking for hire someone. it will cost more finicially but it will be done. good luck on your venture

Answer 2

Rammed earth or adobe? The mud brick is adobe and quite common in arid climates around the world and in the US Southwest. However, unless you make the adobe bricks yourself, they are not cheaper than traditional building materials. Not just any soil will work either. Rammed earth is buidling a frame and packing the earth into the frame......There's one next door and it's holding up well. The outer coat is traditional stucco. Another option is the foam core construction where foam forms are filled with concrete. Great insulation and rather termite resistant. Post and beam construction allows for wide open interiors. Straw bale construction is popular here right now. Bales are stacked and secured with rebar then stuccoed over. I'm sure you can Google for more info on all of these.

Answer 3

As far as I know the best quality for your dollar per square foot is a modular (not a trailer, big difference) the pre fabs are assembled indoors, so weather does not damage materials or delay building. and they have to follow the same building codes as a "stick" built house. The total construction time is a lot less and on average are less per square foot to build.

Answer 4

Research what real estate in your area for the size house you are interested in buying is selling for right now. Then determine whether the area you want to live in is realistic for your budget. If it is not, then start looking in other areas until you find somewhere that you can buy land that will fit your budget and meet your neighborhood requirements. You may find that you can't do this right now, but it will give you a good base to plan.

Answer 5

Start with a good building plan that is approved by all agencies and meet all building codes. Have a good competent contractor work with you on the project.

Answer 6

we had ours done threw a real estate dealer, because his son was a contractor, you can hire everyone your self, plumber, etc,,, but it is worth having someone stress over the hiring others plus you can find some contractors who will hire your friends or do sweat equity, where you do some thing yourself, painting etc,,, my hubby knows how to heating, so he could do ours if we were building a home.

Answer 7

Check out a web site 3-d-panel systems. Its good stuff and the best stuff to work with.