Great site. We have been following the discussions here for a while and I've made my first post (more to follow). Mancong in Seattle

Jeff's Forum Posts: 18
Journal Entries: 7
Interview Answers: 74
Average Forum Rating: 3.56


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Another design

Posted to YaNYca by Jeff in Boston, MA on 5/16/2010 9:34:38 PM

(C) Jeff Wagner

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Newsfrom a home designer

Posted to YaNYca by Jeff in Boston, MA on 4/5/2010 12:45:01 PM

Heard that code may require new home construction in 2012 to have a fire sprinkler system installed.  While this sounds like a safe idea, I wonder what the additional expense may amount to in the overall cost of construction.  I don't think we'll be able to afford permits/building costs before we could get a design and finances ready before this comes into effect.

Land visit

Posted to YaNYca by Jeff in Boston, MA on 4/5/2010 12:42:07 PM

Dropped by the property for a visit.  Can't do that as often as we'd like, it costs a bundle in time, gas and tolls to make the trip from Beantown to the Hudson Valley Area.  Everything looked OK, except someone had removed all of the "No Trespassing" signs we'd posted last year.

Odd.

Ouch

Posted to YaNYca by Jeff in Boston, MA on 2/17/2010

Spent a little time sending out feelers for an architect in the area we wish to build.  We simply posted an ad on Craigslist, and within two days got a half-dozen responses from home designers and architects.  Quite a surprise; I never figured professionals would be cruising CL for work, but I guess in this economy the fishing net gets thrown pretty wide.  A few of the folks who responded seemed like good candidates, so when it looks closer to building time, we'll be sitting down with them to choose an architect or designer.

That said, some folks are of the opinion that an architect is a waste of money when you are an owner-builder.  In our case, I think a good set of detailed plans will allow us to do more of the work, better, by ourselves without a costly mistake.

One of the respondents did say that the house would cost in the vicinity of $500,000 and upwards to build.

Ouch.

I guess that assumes full contract labor, ashlar stone facade, nice materials throughout and who-knows-what else was thrown in to the cost. I hope that once we've sat down with one of these folks, we can find out the best way to do this to get the project within a realistic price range for us, otherwise it's a couple years of designing and reaming on our part down the tubes.

Jeff's Forum Posts: 18 Journal Entries: 7 Interview Answers: 74 Average Forum Rating: 3.56 My Construction Website Image from Jeff's blog 2/18/2010

Tim, Thanks for the thoughts.  I was getting pretty discouraged after hearing the price from the architect, but I spent some time browsing the forums and projects here and took some heart from seeing the other O-Bs making their builds work. And yes, you're right about the architect; I'm sure that he made some expensive assumptions when it came to materials and labor, but we haven't sat down with one and actually had a serious discussion about what we want. I'm sure once he heard where we were going to build, a place known for Manhattanites having large "weekend homes", he could have easily assumed we had a comparable disposable income.  Likely a better result would happen with a face-to-face rather than just a few emails.

Tim's Forum Posts: 8 Journal Entries: 7 Interview Answers: 66 Average Forum Rating: 4.14 Image from Tim's blog 2/18/2010

I think if you find an open-minded architect, but one who doesn't over-engineer everything, the money paid to him/her will be returned many times when you try to incorporate cost saving measures into the design.  I've found that to be true with the engineer I'm working with.  Tim

One of scores of designs

Posted to YaNYca by Jeff in Boston, MA on 11/28/2009

If you stop by the blog, you'll see that this is one of many designs.  There are probably close to a hundred total that I've made over the last few years, three quarters of which wind up in the trash, three quarters of the remaining never make it beyond basics, and the rest make it to some level of advanced detail.  This one is in the final stages of keep or trash, likely a keeper.  My journey from absurd to buildable has taken the full span of time between "Gee, I wanna build a castle", and the actual purchase of land. 

This structure is just over 1,800 sq.ft. Looks larger than that, but the reduced area happens thanks to the large porte cochere (the big double doors) that cuts a large hole in the building.  Out of sight are a detached garage and living room.  The design is not complete yet, you'll note right off the bat some things are missing - like a front door! 

Rachal's Forum Posts: 79 Journal Entries: 30 Interview Answers: 62 Average Forum Rating: 3.82 Rachal's Selected Image 11/29/2009

Castles are cool.  Keep the creative juices flowing.

Land

Posted to YaNYca by Jeff in Boston, MA on 10/24/2009 9:21:51 AM

So much for NH/TX - we have acquired a parcel in the NY Hudson Valley area. 10 acres.  Time to start thinking about exactly what is going to be put on it.

The Beginning

Posted to YaNYca by Jeff in Boston, MA on 12/8/2007

Well, this'll probably be the oddest house on OBB. Well, we hope to build it anyway. I've been toying with ideas for over a year now and have had a blog going over at Google (dreamsofcastles.blogspot.com) for quite a while as a repository for information and just a place to tack ideas and things found on the Web. In a way, I find it a little strange that the number of houses constructed on OBB are all "conventional", not too much about them makes them different than any other house out there (other than the amazing cost savings some people are achieving), but to each his own...

So at any rate, the idea is to build a "castle".  Yep. Go ahead and have your chuckle. 

I say "castle" with quotes because I'm not crazy or dedicated enough to lay 10-foot-thick stone walls with rubble fill, so it won't be a "real" castle. The idea is to build a structure that is castle-like in look and somewhat in design, but to build rapidly by the owners, of conventional materials and with high energy efficiency in mind. The idea is also to plan the structure in such a manner that it could be added to in the future should we choose to retire in it and convert/add to it to make it suitable for a bed and breakfast. 

There really isn't all that much in the way of fixed decisions that have been made. We'd like to build in the Texas or possibly New Hampshire area depending on where we'd like to settle for our jobs (we have somewhat flexible choices in our field as to where we could live). The structure will be CMU with a stone facade. We'll likely only look for enough of a loan to get the structure dried-in, and do most of the interior work other than the main electrical and plumbing ourselves. Also, we hope to incorporate geothermal and solar products in the construction as well to keep costs down over the structure's lifetime.

That's it, so far... this'll be a very slow journal until things actually get done. First thing on the list is to pin down a good general design of the structure. The second thing is to take that design to an architect and have a set of very detailed plans assembled. Next step: get bids, find the land, and try to pin down a loan.

Comments and suggestions are always appreciated, and I expect a little grief here for choosing such an unusual project.  :)

Rich's Forum Posts: 34 Journal Entries: 9 Interview Answers: 68 Average Forum Rating: 4.00 Image from Rich's blog 12/22/2007

I've toured the home-made castle of a couple up in Irasburg, VT (where we hope to build soon).  Here's a few links: http://dupontcastle.com/castles/gregorie.htm http://www.forsalebyownercenter.com/listing-45532-Irasburg-VT-05845-RealEstate.aspx He also wrote a book that was really, really interesting.  He had many ingenious methods of getting the various stone pieces into place.  Good luck!

Jeff's Forum Posts: 18 Journal Entries: 7 Interview Answers: 74 Average Forum Rating: 3.56 My Construction Website Image from Jeff's blog 12/23/2007

Hi Rich, Thanks for the info.  I've been to the dupontcastle.com site several times, and been in contact with the builder as well.  That site helped me believe that we could actually build a castle, or a home that looks like one, too.  Coincidentally, I just happened across that VT castle for sale site not 2 days ago, but I had no idea he'd written a book.  I'll have to look for it. Good luck on your project too, and thanks for saying hello! Jeff