I received a note from someone the other day asking how much it would cost to add a room to an existing house. She was interested in the “cost per square foot” for budgeting and planning purposes. She also asked what the best options might be. Figuring the cost of building a new house based on a cost per square foot is a tough thing to do because there are so many variables. Additions are even tougher to estimate. You could spend anywhere from $100 per foot to over $1000 per foot. It all depends on the complexity of the addition, the way it is built, the level of the appointments (finishes, fixtures, etc.), the construction materials used, and the location in which it is built.

Can you compare an addition of a simple room with no plumbing or special features with the cost of a kitchen addition full of cabinets, countertops, plumbing fixtures, and appliances? The kitchen addition could cost twice what the simple addition would cost based on the “cost per square foot.” What if an addition was to be built on flat land, clad in vinyl siding, and contained only a couple of simple windows. It would be much less expensive than an addition built on sloping land, clad in fieldstone, full of high-end windows, and included a soaring ceiling. Comparing the cost of these two projects would be like comparing apples and oranges. (more…)

phz52xeufd

It seems that kitchen design continues to trend in the upscale direction. People are looking for better cabinets, granite or solid surface countertops, and professional looking appliances. One of the icons of the upscale kitchen is the Sub Zero refrigerator. The name Sub Zero has come to symbolize not just a high end kitchen. Having that Sub Zero label on your refrigerator can influence a buyer’s opinion about the entire house. I’ve often joked that the label alone is worth tens of thousands of dollars in the resale value of the house. That’s how effective the brand identity campaign has been for the Sub Zero people.

And just what’s so appealing about a Sub Zero? Obviously it is a very good product. They have great features such as two individual compressors, one for the freezer side and one for the refrigerator side. Many of their super deluxe models have specialty features you probably didn’t even know you needed until they told you. But I think the single most valuable feature of a Sub Zero is the fact that it is “cabinet depth.” This means the front of the refrigerator sits even with the face of the lower cabinets and front edge of the countertop. It doesn’t stick out several inches like standard refrigerators and look like a big bulky box in the kitchen. With a cabinet panel installed on the doors of the Sub Zero, the bulkiest object in the kitchen, the refrigerator, can take a less intrusive position in your kitchen and give the entire kitchen a more unitized and cleaner look. (more…)

Have you ever been walking or driving along and had your attention grabbed by a house? It happens to me a lot. Maybe that’s because I’m an architect. But I think it happens to everyone. There is something about a good house form that can really catch your eye.

You might not know exactly what I mean by a “good house form.” We architects often use the word “massing.” This refers to the overall shape and bulk of a building. It’s the shape of the structure and roof line in its gross form. It ignores the finer details. It relates to composition, balance, visual flow and a lot of other artistic terms that even professionals have trouble expressing in words. But a good house form is one we know when we see it. One way to evaluate a house form is to stand back and squint at it. This will keep the details from confusing your mind. A good house starts with a good house form. The details will further enhance it, making it even better. But it’s hard to save a bad form with expensive materials and details. A house has to have “good bones.” (more…)

I’ve been writing fiction as a hobby for several years. I have not had anything published, but I’ve learned a lot about writing, had a lot of fun, and harbor dreams of maybe someday actually finding my novels in book stores. I am a realist, though. I know that there are thousands of us aspiring fiction writers out there writing novels no one will ever read. But that is going to change for one of us very soon.

I have entered my mystery novel, Carribean Ice, in a writing contest. It’s the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. In early February, there were up to 10,000 entries in all genre. They cut those to 2000 without any notice to the entrants. And then on March 16 they announced the 500 Quarter-finalists. I was lucky enough to be one of them. Each quarter-finalist gets a full manuscript review from Publishers Weekly. this is a valuable tool for writers. I’ll be interested to see what PW thinks of my book. (more…)

     Electric bills always seem to be going up. Wouldn’t you like to find a way to reduce your electric bill? To reduce our electric bill, we usually think of ways to use less electricity, which is a good thing. You can reduce your electric bill by making your house more energy efficient. You can reduce the wattage in the lights in your house. I’m not a fan of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs, as I’ve written in an earlier post to this blog. But advances in LED technology are quickly changing the way we produce light and much lower electrical consumption. Although it helps, changing light bulbs is not the quickest way to reduce your electric bill. You can immediately reduce your electric bill by 20% to 40% by installing a Computerized Energy Management System.

     One company I’ve worked with here in North Carolina is Smart Energy Solutions. They have a computerized system that manages the big consumers of electricity in your house, like water heaters, air conditioners, dryers, and such. Here’s how it works. In the background, without any noticeable change in your daily living habits and convenience, this system prevents the big electricity consumers in your house from coming on simultaneously. The dryer might wait to start its heating element until the air conditioner is done with its cycle, for instance. This prevents peaks in your electrical usage from occurring and levels out your electrical consumption throughout the “on-peak” period. In most places, the “on-peak” period is usually from around 8:00am through early evening during the weekdays. (more…)

     In these uncertain economic times, more and more builders find themselves faced with the problem of getting paid. When the work is complete, some homeowners are slow in paying the last bill. This could be for a good reason. There might be unfinished or improperly done work. If non-performance is an issue, a surety bond can provide the home owner with the necessary assurances.  Some items might be on back-order and the homeowner needs to hold some amount of money to guarantee the builder will come back to fix errors or install missing pieces.

     This is the correct thing for homeowners to be doing. But other times a homeowner might simply refuse to pay knowing that legal action by the builder will be expensive. The cost of suing might exceed the amount of money being held so it would not be worth it. The builder is forced to walk away from the money he is owed and the homeowner is unethically enriched. It’s truly sad when this happens. I wish there weren’t people in this world who would take advantage of hard working builders this way. (more…)

    I did a book signing yesterday at a Barnes and Noble bookstore. These events are good opportunities for people to ask me any question they like about house design and homebuilding. I have been designing all sorts of houses for many years. I think Lincoln was President when I got my architectural license. It was so long ago I really don’t remember. Over that long time, I thought I had answered just about every question anyone could ask about house design. But yesterday I realized I have been living in a delusional world. I got a question that literally left me speechless.

    A woman came up to the signing table, thumbed through my book, Designing Your Perfect House, and complimented me on it. Then she asked, “Do you design houses that protect people from radio waves.” My answer was the same as yours probably would have been. Total silence. I had no idea what to say. (more…)

    The days of “Living Large” may be numbered. House design is changing. We might soon be bragging that we’re “Living Small.” With the current economic conditions, we are seeing our dreams and desires in a whole new light. High energy costs, environmental concerns, maintenance costs and the cost of the house itself are strong motivators to reevaluate one’s needs and create a house design that responds to those needs.

    I think the best way to reduce your living space is to write out what we architects call a “program.” This is the first thing i do when doing a house design. This is a list of needs and desires plus a target size for the spaces you want. It’s a good idea to multiply out the areas of these rooms, include hallways, closets, stairs, and other small spaces and add them up to get a total. Take that total and multiply it by 1.15 to add 15% for the area the walls themselves take up. You’ll end up with the total square footage your house design will need to include all that you want. If this total is too much, go back and reevaluate what rooms and spaces you included. Trim out the excess. I discuss this process at length in my book, Designing Your Perfect House. A good, well thought out program will become your road map to the right sized house design. (more…)

Today, we awoke to a freak snowstorm here in Raleigh, North Carolina. I say “freak” because any snow is a rare occurrence in this part of the country. Snow in January is a novel concept in the southeast. Everything, and I mean everything was closed. We were crippled by Mother Nature.

 When the flakes stopped falling, we had about six inches of nice, clean snow on the ground. I put on my tennis shoes (I don’t have boots anymore since I moved south) and found my gloves (they were in my golf bag where I left them following a chillier than usual round a few weeks ago) and set out to clear the snow. I don’t use a snow shovel any more. I’m not sure I still have one. I use my leaf blower, instead. It works surprisingly well. It fluffs up the snow and blows it away almost without a trace. I cleared my sizeable driveway in a little over an hour. The best part is my back doesn’t hurt! 

(more…)