ProHOME resonance

The current issue of Fine Homebuilding (June/July) features an article on their new venture, "ProHOME", a teaching effort to demonstrate best practices that the magazine promotes. Reading the article, I was struck by the parallels with our own venture.  Specifically:

- The house is "modestly sized, energy smart, healthy, flexible, and durable".

- Timeless appeal, inspired by farmhouses, with an energy-capturing shape.

- "Aging-in-place flexibility of the floor plan, which allows for converting the first-floor flex room into a master bedroom".

- "Air-sealing, insulation, and resilience" are baked into the design and detailing.

A major differentiator, however, is that while the Fine Homebuilding team isn't "looking to spend any money certifying the house under any particular green-building program", we will be seeking both GreenStar and LEED certifications.

Waiting and waiting

As of today, we've had 3 open houses and 28 showings at our current home.  No offers yet, which at least tells us that we didn't undervalue it for the initial listing.  On the soon-to-be-under-construction property, we are waiting for the city to complete its permit reviews, and are using the time to complete deconstruction to the degree that we can.  So far we've removed and found new homes for all of the interior doors, all toilet fixtures, window shades, kitchen countertops, interior trim, lights, fans, and a number of other components.  Kitchen cabinets have been removed and will be reused in the new house, as well as some of the windows, the kitchen sink and faucet, and many of the transplantable plants around the house.

We're anxious for construction to start!

MLS #4697468: And we're off!

As we prepare to submit the new house drawings to the city for a building permit, our current house just listed for sale!

10%!!!

New details + more information = new bottom line. And - no surprise - the new bottom line is more than we can afford.  So we're now part of the magical reality of:

" V A L U E      E N G I N E E R I N G " ! ! !

There are many euphemisms for this, but the real bottom line comes down to "making it cheaper without sacrificing the essence."  There are several forks in this particular road.  Which one slopes downward quickest to the best possible destination?  Once more: STAY TUNED!

Pricing

The updated pricing set is now in the hands of the contractors, and so it's anxious waiting time.  Will the hygrothermal analyses and revised envelope detailing, the structural framing definitions, lighting schedule, kitchen bump-out, and any number of other bits of new information push the bottom line beyond reach?  Is some redesign in our future?  Stay tuned!

Taking steps toward realization

It's a three-ring circus!

With the property in hand, we are finalizing construction materials and details, making selections, and gathering salvaged materials for incorporation into the new home.  At the same time, we've hired an independent rater to guide us through our dual-path LEED and GreenStar processes, are running building science evaluations on the exterior envelope assemblies, and are firming up the home's bones with a structural engineer.  Finally, we are slowly but surely prepping our current home for when we'll list it through our realtor.

Oh: And there's real, billable work to be done, too!

Budget realities, apparently.

The initial house estimate of $480,000 quickly went up to $674,000 and so we are faced with difficult choices, what with the Sworn Construction Statement due Monday in order to meet the sequence of events preceding the closing in 3 weeks.  The quandary is that this project CANNOT become a million dollar effort.  That defies the challenge of realizing an "affordable" new, high performance house.  I don't wish the epilogue to this entire project to be "Sorry.  It Can't Be Done".  Stay tuned.

Design studies

We are simultaneously working through costs and design refinements.  This is an image testing a possible new kitchen configuration.

An end. A beginning. 12/5/15.

Late today, everything changed.  We purchased a property on which to build.  Look for this website and its coverage to shift focus.  it's going to be hard, but it's going to be fun!

Possibilities!

We have recently looked at and are considering 3 different properties; 1 in Saint Paul, 2 in Minneapolis.  We did a walk-through of one with our realtor, and are awaiting his analysis of the property relative to the neighborhood, value potential, and any market caps that we'll want to stay within.  There is a possibility that we'll make an offer.  If and when something happens, the world (from our perspective) will start to change.

Market Expectations

The house project continues, with some new thinking injected by our new realtor (we seem to have burned the first one out, as he and his wife are retiring and moving to another state!).  On one hand, my wife and I have our own set patterns of living, and expectations for the new home based on what we like and don't like about our current home.  We are modest in our lifestyle, do our own house cleaning and maintenance, and aren't aspiring to "luxury" living.  We believe in a light environmental footprint and believe that "green" should not be everyone's responsibility.  On the other hand, we are reminded that there will someday come a day where we'll sell this future home of ours.  If we live in the home we want in a neighborhood that we like, there will inevitably be a price point that we'll need to fit into so that we're not extreme outliers.  At that price point will come market expectations.  A future buyer will see certain deficiencies as deal-breakers, and demand various essentials if they're going to make the best offer.  How to balance these expectations against what we believe in, when the two clash?

I cannot wait, by the way, for the time where this blog becomes a daily thing and the new house is actually starting construction!

Transitioning

With the remodeling essentially complete and the holidays behind us, we are getting more aggressive about a new property search.  On our mind: Location, economics and the ethics of teardowns.

Getting ready: A strategic remodeling

In anticipation of the new house to come, we are remodeling the kitchen and family room areas of our existing house.  These heavily-lived-in spaces were worn and dated looking, and suffered from 2 minor leaks above the ceiling.  This strategic remodeling is both a chance to enjoy a major refreshing of the rooms in the time we have left in the house and also give these rooms a cleaner, more up-to-date image.  Most appliances are now replaced, along with the main countertop, sink, backsplashes, and flooring.  We took advantage of the old ceiling elevation and created a raised portion in the center of the kitchen, highlighted by cherry cove moulding, new semi-flush lights, and a soft gold paint finish.

Antithesis: Example #1

This house, near Rochester, is currently for sale by RE/MAX (and featured in the current Midwest Home magazine).  To me, this represents much of what is wrong with current residential design.  It could be a metaphor for the U.S. in some ways: Isolated and gluttonous, the haughty sole occupant of "the highest point in Olmstead County", surrounded by needy monocultural turf, it is selfish in the extreme.

For this or more of the same, contact Robin Gwaltney at 507-259-4926.

For a corrective reset, stay tuned to this blog or contact me for one possible domestic future-oriented exemplar.

Waiting for HELOC

In one ring of the multi-ring build-a-house circus comes some initial financing.  This entails financing for both our existing home and the new property (when we find it).  The existing home requires some key updates to a few areas in order to get it ready for showing (when the time comes).  The new property is something we want to be able to make an immediate offer on when the time comes. Getting financing in place for both needs came down to applying for a home equity line of credit (HELOC).  This is a new thing for us, and it's been a revelation on how long the process takes.  We made the in-person application and submitted the necessary materials 5-1/2 weeks ago.  We are still waiting for approval, despite having excellent credit scores, minimal debt and clean financial backgrounds.  The wait time is surprising to us, and I put this in a blog post to share it with others who might be considering a similar action.

Form Studies

The current design in white model form (a nice little rendering option provided with ArchiCAD version 18!), showing the high roof pitched to the sun's average noon angle and the low roof intended to have vegetation and a useable deck.  The house is less than 2000 gross square feet, including the finished basement.

Seeing the house this way strikes fear in the Wicked Witch of the East...