Brainstorming/Planning for a custom build
Confuzed
| Posted in Project Management on
Wife and I just closed on our lot and now the fun begins. We both have very muddy visions for what we want, and plan to enlist the help of an architect to bring some clarity. However we want to put together a “notebook” of our needs/wants/likes/dislikes that we can share with our architect.
I am envisioning something like our own personal Pinterest board, but with more than just photos… websites, videos, lists, etc.
I think we could use Evernote or Miro for a more generic solution… but I thought I would ask if anyone has found something a bit more tailored to this purpose?
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Keep in mind that you will want sell it someday - even if it's to be
your "forever home" the day will come when you need to sell. Having
been through the cycle many times my wife and I have become
aware that the majority of the general public neither understands
nor appreciates much about "Passive Houses", "net zero ready",
"energy efficiency", etc. There are exceptions but in general these
things do not contribute much to sales price or speed of sale
(same thing seems to be true about aesthetic masterpieces
designed by architects)!
That said, you will find great satisfaction and comfort in one of
these homes - they are worth the time and trouble and if you live
in them a long time they may have a substantial pay-off in lower
utility/energy costs.
Thanks. And while I do intend to build a air tight home that well exceeds building code, I am not going to go overboard to maximize efficiency. I have an excellent lot for solar and geothermal; any inefficiency in my structure (like the wall of windows to maximize my lake views) will be offset by solar collection and a more efficient HVAC system.
We will use an architect more as a marriage councilor than anything else. My wife is worried that in my excitement to build, I will not give enough weight to the things she wants. Likely because I have put my foot down already on a few things, like no fireplace or gas appliances. Having an architect who will listen to her as much as me will bring her piece of mind and help her visualize the final product before we break ground. I think its a worthwhile expense, even if I do need to reign the architect in a bit to ensure market acceptance.
I'm not planning on having gas at my "forever home" build, but still plan to run the lines during construction and then cap off. If some Black Swan event occurs in the future and electricity is not available/expensive/etc., I want to be able to switch to gas quickly and inexpensively.
FWIW, I have been saving images and principles to a Google Drive, with each room having its own folder.
You may want to start with a copy of chief architect home designer and play with some floor plans. I attach design notes to my plans. The software also allows you to view the result in 3D.
I have started down that road and quickly realized that while I might think I know what I want... I would much rather pay someone to spend some time getting to know my wife and I, then design something around us.
I have seen so many owner designed homes that had zero soul. Sure, the owner checked all of the boxes and ended up with a perfectly functional home... but there was no "design". I would like to believe that I am better than that, but in truth, real design takes an artist and I'm no artist.
I am 100% certain that I could design a functional home. And I love the building details (air sealing, HVAC, and so on) for building comfort. But even if I designed the most comfortable and functional home ever, if it has no soul, it will just be another box I fill with stuff.
You need to provide your architect a program. The program document will outline, in as short a format as possible, how many rooms of each type you want, the approximate size of particular rooms and the size of the house, and any preferred adjacencies/locations, such as master on the main, or family room facing the back yard, etc.
Then select about 10-15 images showing the style you prefer. Hopefully you are hiring an architect that specializes in your preferred style.
Then you want an outline spec that will specify any specific materials, finishes or performance criteria, such as tight blower door, etc.
This is a good idea, and in line with what I asked. I want a "program" that also includes a lot of "get into our heads" stuff so that the architect can feel like she knows us as and knows what we want as she designs for us.
What I am looking for is a tool for gathering and organizing all of this.
I spent 6 years managing IT for architects, 5 of that also running the labs at U of D School of Architecture. I have seen the kind of work that even student architects can put out when given some freedom to actually design. Though we want a relatively traditional structure, I still want it designed around us, not just designed to meet some basic specifications.
I'm not aware of any tool for organizing this. Largely because it is both simple and short.
Perhaps you should go to a few open houses of homes that are similar in size and style to what you are seeking and make some notes - things such as you want a single main bedroom closet or you want two main bedroom closets. You want a separate toilet room or you prefer to not have that and have space for someone who may be using a wheelchair to side transfer to the toilet - that type of thing. When you go to the open houses what you see and like/don't like will jump out at you.
The finished set of data you give the architect needs to be short. They need to be able to absorb and retain all of it when they start designing.
I use Notion for organizing all information. Our architect was not willing to use a digital whiteboard but using something like Miro would be amazing! Having everything visually on a whiteboard together makes it obvious when anything is being forgotten - like this one design element you really wanted, it will be right in front of you so they can’t forget about it.
Set you budget before you start, write it down and then write down the I will walk away from this project number. Note every meeting is a budget meeting and starts with are we on budget? It is all to easy to design something you have falling in love with that is way over the budget.
The hardest part of building a new home is saying NO to stupid ideas no matter how appealing they may seem.
My personal list of stupid ideas
1 Passive solar design
2 Geothermal heat pumps
3 HVAC in the attic
4 Conditioned attics
5 large amounts of spray foam insulation
6 Sloped, vaulted and cathedral ceiling.
7 Skylights
8 Recessed lighting
9 Cape cod / half story homes
10 Metal or pole barns converted to homes
Understand passive solar is much like the flying car it seems like the single greatest idea ever until it meets the real world and total fails and not for the lack of effort and money wasted. If you have a great view then sure put in some big windows and capture the view and if they happen to face south that is fine but not extra glass for solar heat. In fact, I did a computer model of my home that has lots of windows on one side for the view. When I turned it in the model 360° it made almost zero difference.
Limit your self to no more than 20% of you wall area to windows. Note the window and door line is almost always the single largest line item in every build. If you can control this line the budget stands some chance of being affordable.
I have yet to see the math that shows a ground source HP can save enough electricity to recover its installation costs in 20 years or less.
I could go on forever on each line.
Walta
Good stuff Walta... thanks. I agree with much of what your saying, though I will likely use some of those stupid ideas anyway (knowing full well that they are stupid)
Conditioned attics and HVAC in the attic I disagree with in principal, however there have been some really bad executions of an insulated roof/conditioned attic, so I understand your point. I would put sloped/vaulted/cathedral ceilings in this group too... done well, they are ok, but they are so easy to get wrong. And I guess recessed lighting goes here too... since its only stupid if your celling is your air barrier.
I am considering spending the extra money to put a conditioned crawlspace under my house so I can do a more traditional attic and have the more comfortable floors... but that's a pretty big expense over a slab on grade.
The Geothermal argument is one that I am having with myself. I have a perfect lot for it, and could probably do it cheaper than most geothermal installations, so I would likely recoup the added cost... but at the same time, I could probably spend that money on more solar for the same effect.
I would argue that there are major advantages to post-frame (pole barn) construction. Done right its no cheaper, but it does allow for better insulation and air sealing strategies, as well as a faster dry-in. But I would never convert an existing pole barn into a home.
Buy a copy of Tracy Kidder's "House"
Invest in the “Pretty Good House” book and read it cover to cover, then start planning
I agree I knowingly did a few things on my stupid list.
If you read this forum for a week or 2 almost every item on my silly list will come up and how do I fix it.
The conditioned craw space seems like a bargain luxury upgrade. The imperceptible bounce in the floor cushions every step. Unless it is very rocky the full basement almost the same cost.
I tend to think you are kidding yourself that a pole building will be tighter, better insulated and faster to build.
Walta
If you know it's stupid when you're doing it is easier to mitigate some of the stupidity of it.
I know my position on pole buildings is controversial, but check this entire series out:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvo-lhQgsIOjilPTppx_Nt_2MkelIKrjH
He built this entire place with one other guy in about a year, blew a 0.34 ach50 with it open to the garage (.4 without the added volume), and they weren't really trying.
And on his second one they actually tried and blew a .41 ach50 before drywall went up: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvo-lhQgsIOipFCi37DkPkjHtimuZf5Sn
And I didn't say its faster to build, just that it's faster to dry in. You can have the walls and roof on before you have the plumber come out to lay your waste lines. That said, they go up pretty quickly, even with just a couple of guys.
There are a lot of things to love about post frame construction. I suspect that if more people were doing it, some of its disadvantages would be quickly addressed by new products and techniques.
Choose your architect very carefully. Architects are not marriage counsellors, as you’ve suggested (I think jokingly). I wish we had shopped around for an architect, I wish we took them to lunch to see if we liked them as people. It is hard to know if someone is a good person just from looking at a portfolio or a quick chat or flashy website, and being a good person is as important as being a good architect. Sometimes you can find both, but often you will find neither. If you’re in the GTA I’ll tell ya who not to hire 😉
We avoided nearly all of Walta’s list of stupid ideas with the exception of recessed lights!
With the advent of LED's you can get disks that protrude maybe 3/8" from the ceiling and give the recessed look.
The ultra shallow LED's are nice... but you have to be careful, quite often the light pattern is horrible. I would rather give myself a cavity below my trusses by running a smart vapor barrier then some 2x material then the drywall so I have a 1.5" space for electrical boxes, wiring, and some of those spring fit recessed lights if I can't live without them.
I generally prefer lamps and task lighting over a bunch of recessed lights anyway.
Or just use a vapor tight junction box in the drywall and seal it well before installing the light.
You could cover 1600sqft of ceiling in SIGA Majrex 200 for about $1200 in materials (including tape), then about $250 for 2x4's to fur it down. Add $1000 or so in labor to install it all. So about $2500-$3000?
Once done this way, the only thing puncturing your ceiling air control layer would be the access door and any drain vents. And now your electricians don't need to seal their boxes.
I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with sealing the boxes to the drywall... just that it's an opportunity for failure, and with the hundred or two recessed lights that people install in homes these days, it's almost guaranteed that a few will have air leaks and the cost of the above will probably be offset in saved time in sealing the boxes anyway (assuming your ceilings look like swiss cheese).
There are 1/2” slim LED pots but the quality of lighting is low, IMO. If you want something nicer with directional lighting on a gimbal, it is taller. We specified 2” high pots but they screwed up and several had to be moved after drywall was done. We wanted directional lighting in the kitchen and hallway for art, but many were placed on joists that can’t be notched and all had to be shifted over after drywall and paint was done.
Pot lights are often lazy design, it’s easier than finding the perfect light fixtures which can be extremely time consuming and much more expensive. They make sense in certain spots. Our architect was not very smart with lighting. I said I like clean non-cluttered ceilings and she put SO many pot lights absolutely everywhere. I had to redo the lighting plan myself, I am pleased with it so far but it took time and it’s been a mission finding the right fixtures so many are getting made to order. The biggest improvement was adding a lot of wall sconces instead of pot lights. I modelled everything and rendered lighting scenes to get the right layered lighting and ambiance for each space. I think I counted over 50 pot lights just on the main floor alone between the kitchen, living and dining. Yes, we paid for that design work. I cut it down to like 15 or something on main floor, just in the kitchen and hallway.
That will cost ALOT more.
Consider an airtight box and the Nicor Slim Fit Jbox lights.
You could cover 1600sqft of ceiling in SIGA Majrex 200 for about $1200 in materials (including tape), then about $250 for 2x4's to fur it down. Add $1000 or so in labor to install it all. So about $2500-$3000?
I was joking... sorta. My wife is a very visual person... so while I may have a great idea, she won't come on board until she can see it. For example, she wants a white house with black trim... like every 3rd house built in the last decade. I want something a bit more interesting, and I think she would come around, if I could actually show her. An architect can help make that happen.
Also, a good architect will help drive consensus, perhaps because they agree with one of us over the other, or because they have listened to our priorities and think one approach better aligns with those goals. For example, if our priority is comfort, the architect may pick a side in a disagreement by pointing out how an idea supports or conflicts with that priority.
Sadly, we are a bit south of Toronto (I assume that was GTA?), in East, TN. I grew up in Detroit and miss having real seasons. But I think we will be able to find an architect, if I have trouble, I have connections who could probably recommend someone good.
Yes I’m the same way, and I was shocked how lame the architect’s visuals were though! You should check with those you are considering what the quality and quantity of 3D visuals including colour renderings will be. Get that in writing in your contract. That’s why I ended up doing it myself. I think you can definitely find something other than white exterior with black trim 😊
Miro or Trullo are likely good options if you find an architect willing to collaborate with you on a live board of some sort.
Otherwise, simpler might be better. We found it was easiest to gather our visuals and ideas through Instagram, Pinterest, Houzz, and YouTube and then just paste screenshots and/or links into a PowerPoint file (though any slide show software would work). This way we could describe our desired program (exterior massing, the number and types of rooms we wanted on each floor) along with some inspiration photos of the type of look/feel we were going for (e.g., exterior, kitchen, living room, etc.) As was mentioned earlier, shorter is better for this purpose.
For floor plan ideas, we found Sketchup to be a super valuable tool. The free version is actually pretty good if all you want to do is test out some basic floor plan and layout ideas. Otherwise paying for a license for a year is not a terrible investment if you have the desire to do some more extensive modelling (very good for explaining visual concepts to one another in 3D).
Nice, I like your style! You should check out Homestyler 3D if you’re still working on selections and interior stuff. It is from Autodesk, you can use it for free and there is even a web version. Way easier and better than SketchUp for a non-professional user IMO.
You can easily do high res up to 4K renderings and video renderings if you are inclined. I loved being able to simulate sunlight at different times of day so the renderings could be photorealistic along with photos from our land as more realistic views out the window. Also for designing the lighting layout, being able to totally customize the lighting and adjust brightness and colour temps etc can give you a good idea of how the space will actually feel in night renderings to make sure you have nice cozy layered light.
I imported all kinds of custom stuff like real countertop slabs, paint colours, tiles, 3D downloads like plumbing fixtures, etc. I found SketchUp to be a bit archaic and hard to use, Homestyler is more like a game and really intuitive but it is surprisingly advanced once you get into it. It uses AI which helps but the custom interior modelling feature is how you can do face modelling.