[DoIt_Yourself] Home Design Software
Hilde, It's always good to have what you WANT laid out for any architect or drafter, so doing it yourself gives you and them a better idea of what it is than any verbal explanation or pictures. Sierra has a bunch of programs like 3D Deck that can start you on your way to where you want to go. You do really need to take that info to an architect because they are going to be able to calculate a materials list much more accurately and also keep it 'safe'. The costs of building depends on exactly what you want to do-- having an unfinished basement certainly will be cheaper than the finished family room. Everything is dependant upon man-hours involved, what you are willing to do yourself, and the materials involved. My husband and I do nearly everything ourselves. The workmanship is the utmost importance and I find that it's nearly impossible to pay someone to do it as good as you would do in the first place. It disgusts me to pay good money to not like something I could've done better in the first place. I guess I'm particular and perhaps eccentric? Look for books or websites on the specific job you are dealing with. Sometimes you can get too specific in trying to search the web and other times too general. Plan a good half hour a subject. Use home centers if you are close. Sometimes they have very knowledgeable people on premises who can help you out with questions... but sometimes not. You need to make sure the person doesn't just 'sound' like they know what they're talking about. Know county/city codes and ordinances when you do things yourself so you are prepared for inspection. Call different subcontractors/businesses for estimates on specific jobs. Find out the cost of materials yourself and you can calculate the labor involved and if it's really worth paying someone to do that specific job. I would say that it's far better to have someone come in and install your septic system than to have to 'plant' one yourself--- but, that's just my opinion. But, say that you are going to put vinyl siding up. You would be far better off spending more on materials for quality and hang it yourself--- than you would in paying someone to come in and do it. I have done this for less than half of what a national sales 'chain' estimated. My materials were much higher in quality and the job was no comparison. My neighbor's siding waved and puckered while mine was straight and true. Had I paid twice the bucks for this company to do the job, I would've looked at it every day in disgust. Cost is all 'local'. You will most likely have to call around as opposed to finding that info on the web. While I can say that you could expect x number of dollars a sq. ft. here in rural NC, it would probably by y number of dollars where you are. Good Luck on your information collecting; Edie
Hi Edie! Thanks for all the great information! That's kinda what I figured...it would cost a lot more if I went in to an architects office not knowing what I wanted and have him/her draw up a bunch of plans as opposed to one or two based on what we really want. The 3D Deck that you refer to - does it do interior room plans as well, or just decks? I'd hate to spend money on a program that doesn't meet my needs. perhaps eccentric? The existing home has four large rooms, a very wide hallway, a front porch (that they had closed in with VERY shoddy material - we will be making that into a porch again) and a screened-in porch in the back. It also has stairs leading to a nice sized attic (mostly unfinished though it does have a solid floor) and a cellar (I would almost consider it a root cellar) - oh yeah, and a tin roof. We will be adding on to the back of the house (starting with replacing the screened in porch and going way beyond it) a very large living room and a very large master bedroom. Under those additions would be plenty of room for building underneath since the land slopes down from the house. We would be fine with having the basement unfinished and finish it ourselves as time/money permits. We would just need a floor/walls put in as opposed to an open space with just support pillars. One of the four existing rooms would be broken up into two bathrooms - one for the main part of the house, the other, larger one to connect to the future master bedroom. I agree that workmanship is so very important. Unfortunately, the farmhouse is 2 hours away from our current home and my husband's job prevents us from going up there except maybe one weekend a month. So doing projects ourselves will be limited due to time, except for perhaps one week a year during vacation. My parents own the property next to our farmhouse, and we can stay there when we do go up to work on it. I am also fortunate in that my husband is very handy, not to mention that my father is a master cabinetmaker and has his own shop with lots of tools. But my father is not the youngest man anymore, and would not be willing to do TOO much work, though he would be willing to help, as is my mother, our kids and friends. Who would I contact about county codes? Or would a local (for the farmhouse, not for our current location) contractor be able to provide the information I need? Oh, I agree. We would be having the septic/well/plumbing done by a professional. That's something that none of us have much experience with (other than installing the actual parts like the tub/toliet/sinks - that we can handle). The farmhouse is located in Mt. Jackson, Virginia - beautiful countryside...near Harrisonburg, VA. Mostly farmland/ranches, but in the mountains. I really didn't want to get in touch with contractors at this point, because we won't be adding rooms on for at least another year and a half. The other problem is that we aren't up there except for a couple of days a month, and to meet with a contractor would be difficult to arrange. First we want to get the existing house liveable - with plumbing, updated electric, cleaned up, front porch restored, etc. Then we need to save money for the additions. But do I save $10,000? $20,000? $40,000? I really have no idea about a ballpark to work with. Perhaps I should add meeting with an architect earlier on - maybe he/she would be able to advise us on the approximate cost. Again, thanks for all your insights! :) Friends, Hilde
Hilde, I believe the 3D Deck is only "open-air"; it's probably not got a screen or wall capability. Sierra does sell a package of 3-5 cds that are their 3D home improvement series--- you might want to check out their website. I think the 'average' $ per square foot is somewhere between $60-85. That's a very rough estimate though. Actually, the sooner you meet with the architect the better. If you think that you are going to be ready in a year, it might be that long before a contractor or subcontractors can begin to start. There is no harm in lining these people up early. Good Luck! Edie
Hilde, Got a link that might be useful. www.servicemagic.com Supposedly- haven't tried it- this site finds prescreened service professionals in your area. You want a job done and this site gives you three names of people in that area who can do it. There are also articles on this site that you might find helpful. Edie
Hi Edie! Whew! $60-$85 for a square foot! That's a lot! If I want to add 1000 square feet to the house, it would be $60,000-$85,000? I could build a new house...a much bigger new house...for that! I'm playing around with Broderbund's 3D Home Architect now...it seems to do most of what I need, though isn't as user friendly as Total 3D Home. But I'm plugging away at it and learning on the fly! :) I'll check out the Sierra site to see what they have to offer - thanks for the idea. I agree about the architect. We will probably make an appointment with one, though probably at the in January - got a kid going into college next week and then Christmas to worry about. I also have no idea on how much they would charge, but I'm sure I can get a rough estimate when I am ready to call around. Thanks again!!! :) Friends, Hilde
Hilde, That $60-85 is a 'finished' sq. ft. figure. It includes things such as light and plumbing fixtures, windows, choice of flooring, paint-- etc. When you start doing things yourself, you can easily knock that number down. But that is about what the national average is for finished sq. footage. My sister and her husband are doing all kinds of 2nd story additions in their home and she is calculating that it costs between $5000-7,000 a room depending on what's going in it and how large. They have not 'bought' any labor, except for some materials delivery. I thought there were a lot more people on this list and was hoping to see some better answers than what I could give!!! We're thinking of doing an addition above the garage. I rented a townhome once that had a laundry closet upstairs and I loved it! My husband thinks with all the wasted space over the garage, we'd do just as well to add a whole bedroom/den over it and encorporate a laundry room in it. We were thinking about hiring some labor for the roof demolition and the framing and doing the rest ourselves, just for 'speed' purposes, but we haven't firmly decided when we're going to do this and if that's what we want to do. Edie
Hi Edie! I feel a lot better now knowing that $60-85 is for "finished". All we need are floors, walls, and ceilings, and we can work on the rest as $$$ and time permits. I know that you are just estimating when you give me your thoughts...and I do appreciate the dialogue and insight. Your sister's calculations of $5-7000 per room is quite workable - is she and her husband doing all the actual work (other than the material delivery) - or are they going to have contractors do the work of framing - building the walls, floors, ceilings, etc? I really appreciate your input, but I, too, hoped that more people would have insights to give me in planning for my project. Since I'm new to the list, I don't know how active the list usually is. Maybe people are on vacation or something? Oh, I agree that having the laundry upstairs would be great! I'm planning to do that myself. Nothing I hate more than dragging clothes up and down stairs to be washed! :) Good luck with your project!!! Friends, Hilde
Hilde, My sister's husband has done all the work himself. He put in a solarium off the dining room that is mostly windows. They've added 3 bedrooms and 2 baths which required roof demolition, framing and flooring. I am amazed that he's been able to get it to a 90% completion in a year's time.... with a full time job and all. So the $5k a room comes out to be what he paid for- mostly in materials. I think that he had dumpsters delivered a couple of times, some building materials delivered and a bobcat rented for some excavation. Edie