Many Questions

[mutlovr]

I hope to build my own home and I have many questions about the process.  

I live in Snohomish county Wa and right now it looks like the biggest expense in building a home will be the land.  How hard is it to finance land?  Is it possible to finance land at a reasonable rate?   Any tips?

I like many of the plans on the country plans site.  I have a few questions about the plans.   I have played with ideas for floorplans based on several of the plans and I'm not sure which plan I like best.  If square footage is equal is it cheaper to build a narrower home than a wider home?  If I built a 20' home and had a bedroom downstairs and left the upper half storey unfinished would that be less expensive initially than building a 14' or 16' home and finishing the uppper half storey from the start?  Could I use the Victoria Cottage plans in a manner similar to the Whole Enchilada plans and build a 16' initial home with the potential of adding the first floor bedroom later?  

I don't really have building experience, but my brother and father are both engineers.   I think I would like to get the frame of the house panelized so that I would reduce some of the wear and tear on my primary helpers.  Are there companies who would do this?

How much finishing work needs to be completed before a home can be occupied?  Is it legal to live on land temporarily in a travel trailer?  I would love to spend time on the land before I decide exactly where to put a home.

I would like to use salvaged windows and doors.  The wood windows I tend to like are single paned.  Could I build up storm windows for them if I found casement windows?  Would this make them significantly more energy efficient?  I would appreciate any information on using salvaged materials.  

I realize that these questions may be answered in other parts of the forum.  I would be happy to search for answers if someone will tell me what I should search under.

Thanks for any help.

[glenn-k]

Hi mutlovr and Welcome.

I will leave a lot of this to others to answer as I am working out of town sitting in the front seat of my Kenworth Crane truck at a motel because thats the only place I can get wireless DSL.  Pretty dark to see to type.

Use the Click Here button above to search the main  site including the old forum.

Type in anything you want to know and it will be answered-- OK - maybe not that good but there is a lot of good stuff here and a great group of people willing to help.

[peg_688]

Don't ask the engineers first  Check with the local building  dept , and the plat if your land is in one, for local rules . Start small , like in building, if you look at the whole project you'll never move forward ,,think in pieces , smaller the  better. HTBH  ;)PEG

[jraabe]

The structural costs of building are not much different between different plans. Victoria's is probably a bit more expensive just because there are more corners, a more complex loft and stair, and the fact that the roof slopes have to coordinate between the two floors.

There is little difference between the 16' and 20' width houses — costs will be based on the finished SF area and  much of that will be determined by interior materials and finishing choices, not structure.

Unless you are building in an area without codes, I would not suggest using old single pane windows. They do not meet energy code requirements. This means you will be paying for them every year in extra heating and cooling costs.

You can do storm windows on just about any type of window but you are unlikely to save money by bringing back old windows (that is unless your time is free). However, a fully re-weatherstripped, painted and reglazed wood window (perhaps w/ dual pane low-E glazing) can be almost as good as a new one. This is costly but possible.

[mutlovr]

I am attracted to the 14' and 16' plans because of the higher sidewall and more useable loft area.  If I bought the Victoria plans I thought I could use them to build a simple 16' rectangular home.   If I did that would it be possible to add a lower floor bedroom addition later?   In other words use it almost like the whole enchilada plans except with a 16' initial house.
 

[jraabe]

Yes, the Victoria set includes a very simple and easily expandable 16' wide cottage, and it includes the same wall detail as the Victoria for more loft space.

Victoria's house (that is her real name) started out simple but it was a custom design and things often evolve away from the most simple.

That's why I added back the simple option to the plans set.

[hobbiest]

The least expensive house to build-by architectural design- is a square, with a flat roof on top.  It encompasses the most amount of square footage for the materials.  The price is a bit negligable, but I thought I would through that out there since you seemed to be wondering.  Keep it all simple.  The more rooflines there are, the more complex the framing.  I don't even want to get into explaining how to frame up an intersecting gable, or hip roof on a forum .  As far as the temporary in a trailer, you would have to check with local codes...or just don't say anything.  Remember that a lot of the time, it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission, but use you best judgement.  Land loans can be tricky.  Most of the time, a lender will require 50% or more down to secure a loan.  There are ways around this, such as hard money loans, with high interest, but these can get really expensive.  Find out what the building permit costs are, well permits, septic permits, whether or not power is available, how much, etc.  Go to the library and check out a copy of Mortgage Free, by Rob Roy.  It has a lot of great stuff in it.  When you get your land, build a storage shed first.  This won't cost too much, and will give you good experience.  Build a few other outbuildings if you can to get even more experience.  Read, read, read, apply, apply, apply.  Work with habitat for humanity.  Get all the building experience you can, because it will make your building experience (ha, two different kinds of "building experience" in the same sentance ) that much more enjoyable.  Engineers are great, but don't take everything too much to heart unless they have built the things too.  Just my two cents there, for what its worth (about two  cents I think).