Building a new home?

Are you trying to build an affortable house? As an architect, there are many things I often suggest. However, after building our own home more three years ago, we learned firsthand several ways to build affordably. If budget is critical, stick to your guns, make the right choices; ones you won't regret later. These are a few suggestions that worked for us. It is possible to work on a real budget, be green and still have a nice design. Many of these options favor the custom design process, but they can be adapted to stock plans. It also speaks of high owner involvement or hiring an architect to coordinate these items. 

Keeping the plan simple and open accomplished several things for us. First, fewer walls equals less material. In addition, the visual connection between spaces increases the perceived space, making it feel larger. This means my family can be in different parts of the first floor (Kitchen, Living, Dining), but still remail connected. This is a win-win situation. Insist on a good plan design to eliminate wasted space.

As we look at the houses around us, we see one common problem- building too big. Just how much space do you really need?

Seriously. Instead of building a bigger house, get rid of your stuff- you know, that broken appliance in the basement, those old outdated clothes, and do you really need 3 coffee pots? This one is simple; most families do not need more than a 2,400 square foot house unless you're the Brady Bunch. This is "green" 101.

You don't need to buy from the expensive showrooms. They have marked up their products many times over and you're not getting any benefit besides a snobby person looking down on you. There are hundreds of online retailers that sell lighting fixtures, hardware, bath accessories and furniture. Catalog what you need, make your lists and go shopping. This way can calculate your fixture costs as you go and compare them to your online budget allowance. If you are concerned about quality, find the fixtures at a local showroom, check the quality first. Search for them online and see if you can't beat the price. Be careful with plumbing fixtures. Online retailers do not sell the correct internal housings for the faucets and shower fixtures. We have a local plumber's warehouse that worked with us to coordinate all of the technical things.