[mindwaves]

So, I have just discovered this series on Youtube, and it fascinates me.

To those who are not familiar with the premise of the show, it is basically some people who want to build a new house from the ground up (or to extensively remodel an old structure) to fit their unique needs. It is set in or around England and is often set in the countryside (but not limited thereto).

Most people end up building super modern houses with white exteriors and white interiors with tons of glass. It surely looks fantastic, but completely impractical many of the times. It is in very poor form for the children in many situations, and very cold, and lacking in function, but it looks nice, and that is the main goal of the people, however impractical it may be.

Most people have to borrow money to finance their grand house of about 600,000 British pounds, which is about $1,000,000 USD.

Assuming you have $1,000,000 USD to build a house (excluding land costs), what kind of house would you build and why?

I would build a modern Chinese villa of sorts, complete with a grand entrance gate. (see below). The main house itself would be mainly one story, with a small two story section. Some elements of circles will be incorporated in the design, such as a circular door, but the house itself will be rectangular. Main colors will be black, red, white, blue, green for the exterior walls and tiling. The interior of the house will be white with brown/black furniture with red accents and lots of paintings.

The house will, as modern houses have, have lots of windows, but not as big nor as grand as I see on Grand Design, for practicality and privacy purposes.

The house will have a courtyard with a rectangular pond in the middle, of which, fish will be used to populate it. The fish, not koi fish, can be raised and eaten fresh every day.

Some examples:

Entrance gate for car:




House itself:



Courtyard:

[Face Ache]

I don't want a million dollar house. I'd like a small easy-to-clean, single storey mid-mod Eichler style house with a slight Balinese influence. Front door opens onto a courtyard with a small garden/pond. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen/dining, study, family/lounge room, double garage and a separate workshop. Pitched ceilings throughout.

A bit like this one...



I'd use the other $500,000 to make a second, almost identical house and sell it for profit. Then I'd build another one... and another one...

Small, interesting spaces for teh win!

[Shaddim]

We built a log home; 1, because they're extremely energy efficient, 2, it uses mostly a renewable resource, and 3, because one of our best friends owns the company and we got an amazing price per sq/ft. Also, it's extremely addition friendly, as we've needed more space we've been able to easily add more to it, and the additions have taken very little time to build.

[The Final Dakar]

You'd better be asian or boning one with that pad.

[mindwaves]

Yes, I am Asian as some of the old-timers might know.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by mindwaves 

Yes, I am Asian as some of the old-timers might know.

You sound unamused. I like the architecture, but its not like as a half-guido in rural PA I could pull it off (assuming I had the cash).

[Thorzdad]

For me, it would less the home I built than it would be the location I would build it on. Find a semi-secluded location, then build something modest and cozy with all the modern conveniences.

[andi*pandi]

FA, I like the overall design, with a center courtyard, but would like some second story space. Maybe a bigger courtyard. And a porch. And a turret.

[mindwaves]

I do like the idea of a turret. It would be a watchtower of sorts.

[mindwaves]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

We built a log home; 1, because they're extremely energy efficient, 2, it uses mostly a renewable resource, and 3, because one of our best friends owns the company and we got an amazing price per sq/ft. Also, it's extremely addition friendly, as we've needed more space we've been able to easily add more to it, and the additions have taken very little time to build.

This makes sense to me rather than some of the eco-people I see on the show. If I were to design an eco-building, it would be out of mud bricks, similar the Indians in southwest US.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by mindwaves 

This makes sense to me rather than some of the eco-people I see on the show. If I were to design an eco-building, it would be out of mud bricks, similar the Indians in southwest US.

My last full month on the grid, we aren't anymore, guess what the electric bill was, in the middle of June (pretty warm and using electric AC, house kept @22C average), for a little over 10,000 sq/ft.

[mindwaves]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

My last full month on the grid, we aren't anymore, guess what the electric bill was, in the middle of June (pretty warm and using electric AC, house kept @22C average), for a little over 10,000 sq/ft.

Hmm, 10,000 sqf log house is huge! I'm guessing around $400?

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by mindwaves 

Hmm, 10,000 sqf log house is huge! I'm guessing around $400?

Pretty close. $346.

Eat that, Al Gore!

[Face Ache]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

... and a porch. And a turret.

You Americans and your guns.

[iMOTOR]

I'm less interested in watching someone pay someone else to build a house and then say "we built a house."

Let's see a show about people building their own homes, literally.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by iMOTOR 

Let's see a show about people building their own homes, literally.

Sounds good. Not only interesting when they get it right, but a chance of comedy when they get it very wrong.

[Doc HM]

Series can be interesting. Yes too many white square clean glass. I nonsense houses. McLeod tend to the gushy. Interestingly the most popular build ever shown was a cottage built in a wood by a charcoal burner from (essentially) twigs. Lovely.

I always get annoyed that every builder goes waaaay over budget then magically finds an extra £230 000 from some where. as you do.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by iMOTOR 

I'm less interested in watching someone pay someone else to build a house and then say "we built a house."

Let's see a show about people building their own homes, literally.

Many of them end up 'project managing' or helping out with labour to save on costs. One or two aim to DIY from the start. The aforementioned cabin guy did a lot of work himself and much of his assistance was from volunteers IIRC.

They really are a varied bunch featured on the show, though many of them are indeed well-off and don't get their hands very dirty at all.

[ajprice]

The Grand Designs Drinking Game | Blog - Gareth53.co.uk
It's better with a drink .

Kevin turns up and the wife gets pregnant part way through the build. Drink.
They project manage the build themselves. Drink.
Kevin demonstrates something with a model made of cardboard, polystyrene or straws. Drink.

and so on.

[Face Ache]

Originally Posted by ajprice 

The Grand Designs Drinking Game | Blog - Gareth53.co.uk
It's better with a drink .

Oh dear. I'm currently watching S14E01 and drinking while reading this thread.

[ghporter]

Adobe bricks are very labor intensive to make, and you still have to waterproof them. Not really very eco unless you live where there's almost no precipitation at all...and don't mind having your inside wall treatments to consist of various colors of mud.

A log home can be quite efficient and ecologically friendly, but a lot of them are not because of the site prep and the "amenities" folks want, like super-heavy duty air conditioning, in-floor heating, etc.

A more ecologically friendly building concept is steel. Steel frame, steel roof, light-weight steel wall framing. Steel is incredibly recyclable, and extremely robust for its weight, especially compared to traditional lumber-based structures. If you add steel-reinforced, poured concrete walls (bonus to use eco-friendly foam forms that also insulate the walls), you get a highly energy efficient structure that is much easier to weather seal. Steel roofing does not suffer from hail the way lumber and asphalt shingles do, so it's also far more weather-safe.

The one down side is that if you go the whole route, you may wind up with a very well electrically shielded indoors environment (no broadcast TV or radio, and impaired cell service), but that could also be a plus, since nobody else could pick up your WiFi network outside... It doesn't take a lot of effort to make the indoors EM shielded; use expanded metal lath for a stucco exterior, and just ground the lath... The only way for RF signals to get in would be through windows and non-metalic doors.

[Shaddim]

It helps to build on the side of a large hill or mountain, with a natural canopy of trees. We get, at most, 6 hours of direct sunlight each day (in the early morning), but a good deal of it is shaded by tall surrounding trees. Less direct sunlight hitting the house = less heat you need to remove. Yes, it was more of a pain to build that way and the builders weren't thrilled that I didn't want to clear cut and bulldoze entire site, but I felt it was important that the house blend with the forest, not only from an ecological POV, but from an aesthetic one as well.

[Face Ache]

Originally Posted by Face Ache 

Oh dear. I'm currently watching S14E01 and drinking while reading this thread.

FYI: Boomer couple build one of "God's Waiting Rooms" on the edge of a quickly eroding Welsh sea-front for £350,000 with an F.U. attitude to any descendants. "As long as we enjoy it..."

Storm hits and erodes 15 years from the predicted 60 year lifespan of the house overnight.

Boomers die in a fire.*


*Sorry, that was the fairytale ending. Boomers build house and are happy (until, presumably, it inevitably collapses into the sea and they rely on their neglected Gen X children to support them.) **


**Bitter? Me?! Haaahahahahaaaaa!

[Waragainstsleep]

There was one episode where a young couple with kids planned out their dream family home and the husband dies during the build. She finishes the house but every inch of it reminds her of the husband. Its pretty heartbreaking.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

It helps to build on the side of a large hill or mountain, with a natural canopy of trees. We get, at most, 6 hours of direct sunlight each day (in the early morning), but a good deal of it is shaded by tall surrounding trees. Less direct sunlight hitting the house = less heat you need to remove. Yes, it was more of a pain to build that way and the builders weren't thrilled that I didn't want to clear cut and bulldoze entire site, but I felt it was important that the house blend with the forest, not only from an ecological POV, but from an aesthetic one as well.

Hah. In our corner of the world, you maximize direct sunlight as much as possible.

[Phileas]

Originally Posted by Face Ache 

Small, interesting spaces for teh win!

When Wallpaper magazine was young and awesome, they actually sold a small house that was built around a central courtyard. It was pre-fabricated and cost the grand total of £100,000, including delivery and erection anywhere in Europe. I had a deal ready with the owners of an old warehouse building in Camden, to build the structure on their roof with a 999 year lease. Unfortunately, the local council did not give me building permission and the plan never got anywhere.

[mindwaves]

Originally Posted by Face Ache 

FYI: Boomer couple build one of "God's Waiting Rooms" on the edge of a quickly eroding Welsh sea-front for £350,000 with an F.U. attitude to any descendants. "As long as we enjoy it..."

Storm hits and erodes 15 years from the predicted 60 year lifespan of the house overnight.

Boomers die in a fire.*


*Sorry, that was the fairytale ending. Boomers build house and are happy (until, presumably, it inevitably collapses into the sea and they rely on their neglected Gen X children to support them.) **


**Bitter? Me?! Haaahahahahaaaaa!

I watched that one also. House was ok, but that one storm took fifteen feet off. Just four more storms like that and bye bye house!

They should continue to dump dirt off the cliff every year to protect their house.

[Face Ache]

S14E02 is a small (150m²) £125,000 renovation. Self builder. Quite a nice house in the end.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I would also end up with a modern house. Lots of natural light/glass, clean square lines, open/minimal spaces, exposed wood, metal, concrete and glass. Basically, completely opposite of the current 100+-year-old house.

[ajprice]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

I would also end up with a modern house. Lots of natural light/glass, clean square lines, open/minimal spaces, exposed wood, metal, concrete and glass. Basically, completely opposite of the current 100+-year-old house.

Hmmmm.

[mindwaves]

I watched a few more episodes and it befuddles me that some people would design a custom house, which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, who have very little savings. Many of them have to repeatedly go to the bank for multiple loans. And when they do eventually finish the house, they will have a huge loan, which they may never be able to pay back.

I would never attempt to design a custom house without a huge amount of savings first.

[mindwaves]

What exactly does a project manager do?

It seems that many people opt to be their own project manager in order to save money. People seem to admit that it is a lot of work, but I don't think it can be difficult, especially because the people, without any training or experience, can project manage designing a custom house from scratch.

[Waragainstsleep]

Essentially they negotiate prices, hire and fire contractors, yell at people to turn up on time etc. The main trick within your control is stuff like making sure the bricks arrive before the bricklayers do. There are lots of things with knock on effects and if the knock on is that you have workers sitting around waiting, your budget can spiral fast.

[ghporter]

You also want to make sure the bricks don't arrive WAY before the bricklayers do and thus get in everyone else's way. Project management is project management, whether it's building a house or designing a large-scale software app, or planning a vacation.

One real advantage of using an established design from a builder is that all the project planning is already handled. Shovels don't hit the dirt until all the options are selected, or at least are planned for, which allows for pre-done planning. When our house was built, we made all the decisions in advanced, including tile, carpet, wall colors, etc., and it all flowed. The house was even finished a little ahead of schedule.

House "flippers" often skip the planning step, which costs them tons of money. "Failure to plan is planning to fail" has been attributed to Ben Franklin, but whoever said it first was right.

[mindwaves]

Thanks for the information. I just saw an epsiode where this guy built an arch over this roof made of clay tiles/bricks. I think it would cave in under a 5.0 earthquake.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by mindwaves 

Thanks for the information. I just saw an epsiode where this guy built an arch over this roof made of clay tiles/bricks. I think it would cave in under a 5.0 earthquake.

Luckily that isn't a concern in Britain. No fault lines anywhere near.

[Shaddim]

You've had three 5.0+ quakes in the last 30 years. In fact, the `57 quake centered in Derby nearly leveled the whole town. They're uncommon but not unheard of.

[Waragainstsleep]

I don't remember any quakes in my 34 years. I've certainly never felt one. '57 is a little before my time.

[Shaddim]

There was a 5.2 six years ago, that's usually pretty noticeable. That's probably enough to make adobe bricks crumble.

[sek929]

My father designed and built his own house. If you're going to build a custom house hiring a contractor that can't also act as the project manager is a mistake, very large projects benefit from additional separation of duties but residential construction is best overseen by a home builder.

[ghporter]

...a home builder with an incentive to get it done right, not just "get it done." Sadly, there aren't a lot of home builders that aren't huge conglomerates AND are not intentionally "highest end only," which makes it harder to find an independent builder that can do your build correctly.

[Waragainstsleep]

There is at least a few episodes featuring these guys and their pre-fabricated houses:

Modern timber-frame architecture in wood and glass: - HUF HAUS

They are an amazing bunch. The one that sticks in my mind, they turned up at some ungodly hour in the morning (having driven from Germany) built the house in only two days, and despite working two 18 hour days to get in done, they didn't leave until they had taken every single tool tray and screw container out of the back of their van, emptied each one, cleaned it and put it back in place, including the ones they didn't use.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

...a home builder with an incentive to get it done right, not just "get it done." Sadly, there aren't a lot of home builders that aren't huge conglomerates AND are not intentionally "highest end only," which makes it harder to find an independent builder that can do your build correctly.

There are so many levels to building a home, you really don't know who will be doing what after you hire someone. Contractors sub out to subcontractors, who then in turn contract out to individuals, and then those individuals bring along their best good buddy Jim Bob who's never before worked construction in his life. Been there, seen it happen in person.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

There are so many levels to building a home, you really don't know who will be doing what after you hire someone. Contractors sub out to subcontractors, who then in turn contract out to individuals, and then those individuals bring along their best good buddy Jim Bob who's never before worked construction in his life. Been there, seen it happen in person.

Hence my comment about an established builder.

A builder has his own framing crew that can also double as finish carpenters, he maintains a team of subcontractors that have all worked with each-other before and most importantly understands all aspects of home-building and can oversee everyone's work, not just his own crew. If the electricians I use hire out some asshole to bung up a job I'm in charge of there's goes to be a frank discussion. Luckily that almost never happens when you use the subs you have used and trust. Once a team starts making money together the best thing for everyone involved is to do excellent work efficiently...not fast and sloppy to hit a low bid. If you shop around for each individual low-price sub there is a near 100% guarantee that things will not go smoothly, and in the end smooth is fast and fast saves money.

[mindwaves]

After watching a few more episodes, I've noticed that many people misuse the word 'organic.' I guess that is the new word for 'natural.'

Also, many people claim to want to be eco-friendly, but then use vast amounts of concrete to build a house many times too large for themselves, and put on a grass roof and call it a day. It would be far more eco-friendly to buy an existing house (as opposed to new construction), and doing some simple remodeling to make it better. They are mainly doing the house for show (one of the reasons why they are on the show).

Also, still surprised at the many people who can't afford to build the house, but still do anyways.

[Waragainstsleep]

Yeah, its not a Grand Design if it doesn't spiral over budget and threaten to bankrupt you.