I really need some help!!

texican,

Yeah.....my wife says it's amazing what I will cobble together, then crawl out on....

Tell ya one thing.....those are 50 year Elk shingles because "I" am not crawling out there again !

Mushcreek, that is so true. We couldn't use any of our own lumber structurally. (Not that we needed much) There was so much we wanted to do that got shot down by code. So thankfull that we're far enough in the bush that new projects go unnoticed!
And I beleive it about the super insulated house! We had to fight to but the smallest possible wood stove in our place. We only use 1 face cord of wood a winter.
And we're in Canada! It gets frikkin cold here for months! Around -25 to -30 c.
It's also nice and cool in the house in the middle of summer. No air conditioning.
21 c inside 33 c outside today. Don't ask me what that is in faranheit. I don't speak states.

Texican..... you must be in a really different situation for heating? Do you need much insulation at all? That's gotta help on building costs!

TnAndy, that first house is just absolutely lovely!!!!

When Grandpa was building barns and additions he rarely built footer forms. He preferred dug footers using the earth as a form. That's what we're going to do when/if we get around to rebuilding the back half of our guest house.

Nice places TnAndy, and thanks for the info, it really helps.

TNAndy- LUVED the Skyzebo!

G-bear....thanks....you come by some time, and I'll feed ya lunch in it.

Startup: As I said, there are SO many variables, I don't really know how you would figure costs on the front end. I will tell you after doing a lot of custom work for folks over the years, it ALWAYS costs more than people think when they get done....so be prepared for that.

Danaus29: Yes, that's the way we generally do footers here....Rarely form footers, as such....use a backhoe to dig a trench, the pour directly in the trench with pcs of rebar driven in the footers vertically, set with a transit, to act a grade stake to get the top level.

Picture on that first house is a little rough, as it wasn't finished at that point....it really turned out nice, though. Inside was really pretty, I did all the trim in red oak, did red cedar in the closets, and such. Rented it to a guy that liked it so much, he finally asked me to buy it after a few years, and I sold it to him.

If you already owned your land, you could visit your local building inspector's office (at a quiet time when they are not busy) and ask them. For the past 20 years, I have obtained print-outs of building permits from a city and a county which I sort and transcribe to be published in our local paper. Permits are issued and charged for based on plans submitted with their cost estimate. Even in the same jurisdiction there is a terrific variance from one home to the next. It's true, one preson can build a home for what another pays in permit fees. Then there's all the other factors as Mushcreek points out. I was GIVEN as in FREE a nice little 14x54 mobile home but wow did my well and septic cost. My electricity was brought in free by a co-op but there was hooking it up and the pump electric and water lines and decks and skirting.
If you go with a kit home or a monolithic dome you have stable data as to cost but you still have to figure out your local contractor costs. If you buy your land first, the maybe you could find a local genius like TnAndy to help you for something that's a work of art but the odds are very high that God broke the mold after He made TnAndy.
My idea would be to find the land first. Take some building workshops or courses depending on what you are most attracted to. Even if you take a cob building course and then decide to do cordwood or tilt-wall, whatever you learned will be helpful to you.

Where I live, the devil packs up and leaves for cooler climes this time of year. It gets hottt. Winter is mostly mild... will sometimes get below freezing for up to a month, but that's rare.

I have free natural gas, so I don't care how cool it gets... it's the summertime I have to plan for. Current house is under oak trees, and the house rarely gets direct sun, and if the windows/doors are managed correctly, the temp inside stays ~20 - 22 degrees cooler than outside.

Traditional southern homes had high ceilings, for the heat to escape to. New home will have ten foot ceilings in all rooms, and main rooms will have 12 to 20' ceilings, with vents/louvers near the top, and whole house fans to evacuate the hot air that's risen. (Sure my long gone grandpa would think I'm building a gold plated hay barn )

Basically we insulate to keep the heat out, and the cool in. Seriously thinking about having some kind of 'artificial shade' covering the new house, as it's going to be out in the naked sun. Shade clothe like they use in greenhouses, or possibly surplus camouflage screening... depends on how well the airflow patterns I've guesstimated flowin through the house work out.

Back to the OP... I'm in the same boat... but I'm doing my own foundation anyways... already put in my morning shift of mortaring in a stone wall... this evening, I'll brush the joints, move some forms behind the fresh rocks, and pour cement to bind it all together. My "forms" are staying in place forever. Got about two and a half tons of rip rap 'granite' for 41 bucks... couldn't buy but two sheets of plywood for that much. This rock should last for a couple of centuries... and I know for a fact the termites can't eat rock.

__________________
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