Home Plans layout = building cost?

[knosaj]

really bad description in the subject line.


i have designed a floor plan that i really like.  now, much like everyone here cost is a major factor and i will be building most of the house myself with help from a few others.

now, my design is about 1100 ft2 of interior space with a 14'x12' dogtrot.  the basic dims (-dogtrot) are 95'x14'.  unless i am doing the math wrong, something is seriously off.  i roughly estimated the 2x material for the roof framing on 95' (this includes the dogtrot space) of 2x8s, 16" on center and WOW it comes out to be pretty costly!  now, there has got to be a cheaper way to get the same dimensions.  after all they do it for manufactured homes. i know they bring costs down by mass production...but if there was a cheaper way they would do it.

thanks for your thoughts.

[Don_P]

One thing to consider, that 1330sf is enclosed by 218 feet of wall, at 24x55 it is enclosed by 158 feet of wall, 24x38 with 12x38 of loft is enclosed by 124' of wall.

[John_M]

...it's always cheaper to build up than out!

[Erin]

I might be reading you wrong, but is it correct that your house is going to be 14' x 95'??
Ie, a long, single-wide trailer house?

In which case, this is a really inefficient way to built (trailer houses are only built that way so they can be moved to the site). 
But you have a long hallway that take up a lot of space and serves almost no purpose.  You have a LOT of roofline, as well as wall length and you end up with a fairly small living space.

1100sq' is a perfectly fine size, but there are far more efficient (cheaper!) ways to build it than really long and narrow...
Like Don said, you might want to consider a more squarish shape.

[knosaj]

yea these were my concerns as well.  your right, as i was saying...there is ALOT of roof this is what threw up a huge red flag. the total length of exterior walls, which use up the most materials, are not too different in a more rectangular design.  but, every little bit does help.

trailers being designed this way for transport was a glaring observation that i didnt make. 

alot of this is i just like the way things lay out. at least in the plan i have. -but it is still a work in progress.  i need to figure out an accurate way to estimate materials...i dont mind spending a bit more for what we want, just not a huge chunk.

thanks all.

[Erin]

Funny how many of us start out designing something similar.  lol
Long and narrow.
And then someone points out that 'you really don't want to do that.  Here's why...' 


The house we're actually building looks nothing whatsoever like my first few generations of sketches. 

[MikeOnBike]

When I sat down to draw up a cabin plan for our place I was a bit concerned when I ended up with a long/skinny design.  I kept trying other variations but kept coming back to this design as the best solution for my design parameters which are:

- maximize view
- single bedroom
- no loft/stairs, single story
- concentrated plumbing layout

I was able to eliminate the hallway problem by using the galley kitchen as the connecting space for the bed/bath/living space.  With only two or three of us at the cabin, traffic is not a problem.  Perhaps you can put your bedrooms at the end of your structure and use public space as a hallway.

I really like the dogtrot layout but we are off-grid so I would have two wood stoves for heat which is a cost and complexity I don't want to deal with.

Do you have a drawing you could share?



12'x40', 14' in the middle



The view...

[MushCreek]

I also wanted to keep things 'skinny' to keep spans within reason, and also have a view out the back. Add to that I wanted lots of light and ventilation. This is what I keep coming back to; a variation of a cross-gable design. There are only 3 'major' rooms, and all have a view, and windows on 3 sides for light and ventilation. Since I'm on a slope, and this will be our only home, I'm going with a full walk-out basement; thus the stairs. On my lot, the garage was the biggest challenge, since it has to be right where it is, pointed the way it is. The living room is on the 'wrong' side because I wanted the porch on the east, since SC has such strong sun. Our current porch in FL is on the west side, and it is unusable much of the year because of the strong sun and heat. I have hundreds of old sketches; it's funny what I thought were good ideas when I started this process. I'm not done yet- now I'm thinking a 20X40 2 story to cut down on the size, complexity, and cost of the basement and roof. I won't be done until the last nail is driven............

[firefox]

Powder? 

[MountainDon]

Powder, most likely as in gunpowder. 

[considerations]

Maybe in a this house, since it has a "parlor", the "powder" room is a 1/2 bath, or a guest closet? 

[MountainDon]

I believe I stand corrected.

[rick91351]

Powder, most likely as in gunpowder.  

Maybe in a this house, since it has a "parlor", the "powder" room is a 1/2 bath, or a guest closet?  

Don I think if it were the gun powder thing most likely would be a more correct http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armory or Armory.  Sorry considerations its a guy thing.  You know to many trips to the range..... 

[MountainDon]

No, no, no! 

The armory would be a separate building!   

This is just the ready use powder/ammo room.

[MushCreek]

'Parlor' is a room to small to be rightfully called a living room; 'Powder (room)' is a room too small to be rightfully called a bathroom. I guess I've been reading too much 'realtorspeak'!

[rick91351]

   Dang Mush we thought that was your reloading room.  How big of a gun safe you figure you can get in there?  Have you worked on your elevations yet?  How many square feet are you calculating this floor to be?  Reading what you wrote, you are planing a an upper lever so the stairs are not for a basement?  So would the upper would run over the kitchen and the garage?  Are thinking you will do four foot knee walls on the upper or full sized walls?

Opps!  I think this subject got stole and hijacked once again!  

really bad description in the subject line.


i have designed a floor plan that i really like.  now, much like everyone here cost is a major factor and i will be building most of the house myself with help from a few others.

now, my design is about 1100 ft2 of interior space with a 14'x12' dogtrot.  the basic dims (-dogtrot) are 95'x14'.  unless i am doing the math wrong, something is seriously off.  i roughly estimated the 2x material for the roof framing on 95' (this includes the dogtrot space) of 2x8s, 16" on center and WOW it comes out to be pretty costly!  now, there has got to be a cheaper way to get the same dimensions.  after all they do it for manufactured homes. i know they bring costs down by mass production...but if there was a cheaper way they would do it.

thanks for your thoughts.

Part of your problem is the dog trot style.  It is another reason you just do not see it done much anymore.  When it had its era, materials were cheep, labor was often shared or traded.  It was nice to get the hot kitchen away from other parts of the house.  Wiring and inside plumbing was not a real problem, because if it even existed it was never spread out like it is today.  If built in the true dog trot style you have two more exterior walls to frame and side as well as the inherent roof between the two.  Something you must decide do I / we really need that extra expense or can we find something more economical to build.  It could also be build without the roof between and when when budget allows then connect the two.  I am not advocating that, just tossing it out there.

I think up can be cheaper as John_M says.  However if someone is bidding on a job, up is often bid higher, from what I have seen around here.  You might check and see with a local truss company and see what they would bid trusses for your dwelling at.  You might be pleasantly surprised.  Engineered, stamped and dropped at your building site is sometimes the way to go.

Where are you planing on building?  What are the building requirements of the county or...?  Are your utilities already in?  Are you still drawing and dreaming?  Toss some of your dreams on here and we all might have a better idea as to what you might do?  We don't always pirate subjects and topics!