ECOHOME PROJECT — BASELINE

Did you notice that there are a lot of blogs out there that are all talk? For example, all my previous blog posts as I tested the waters! Now, though, I would like to be able to walk you through my journey as I design my dream EcoHome — something I promised on the home page of this website :) .

INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT

I want to design and build my dream home one day. However, I want to ensure that I am not throwing my money away with frivolous incremental improvements and I don’t want to have to pay a fortune to Build Better. So the exercise is this: I will research and plan an EcoHome in comparison to a baseline conventional, stick-built home design that is currently for sale in the MD Foothills (my desired location). I will then post either weekly or once every couple of weeks the research I have done since the previous post.

To get the ball rolling, I have prepared a spreadsheet which shows the Baseline property to which I will compare my research:

In my exercise, I plan to focus on researching and comparing the following major Categories to my existing Baseline:

1. Utilities;
2. Construction Methods;
3. Mechanical and Electrical Systems;
4. Architectural Finishes and Layout;
5. Building Envelope;
6. Government Sustainability Incentives; and
7. Sensors and Smart Homes.

ANALYSIS OF THE BASELINE

Land Cost (Rural)

I was looking for property in the MD Foothills 34, Southwest of Calgary, Alberta. We want land from any size between 2–10 acres, preferably with no existing buildings, which overlooks the mountains. The price range for properties fitting our description obviously varies substantially, but I found one which was acceptable for $300k. Fortunately for me, the land had no previous buildings but DID comes with a fully designed Rancher-style house plan.

Utilities Cost (Allowances)

I will be working using the assumption that the EcoHome property has no pre-existing building on it, and as such has no existing utilities (deep or shallow) nor does it have any preexisting road. According to the detailed house design I received, I was able to break out the cash allowances for individual utilities and construction costs from the actual house costs. Landscaping was excluded from the Baseline cost, so I will decide later if I want to show it in my analysis for the EcoHome.

House Cost

This section is the most useful from a big-picture standpoint; what does it cost cumulative for the house and what is the relative cost per square foot of livable space. Typically, a new construction project ranges in price from $170/sqft to $250/sqft depending on the quality of the finishes and any addition of high-performance systems (i.e upgraded electrical and mechanical systems, or the addition of smart-home features). The house design I was provided hits almost the exact halfway point of this scale (the average of $170 and $250 is $210), coming in at $215/sqft.

House Amenities

This list shows all the features which are included in the Baseline home design. The list includes the construction method, all mechanical and electrical systems, architectural finishes and miscellaneous legal costs. It is by using this list that I will compare apples-to-apples the conventional home construction to the EcoHome construction. While I may not have agreed on carpet flooring in all rooms listed, the design concept is so similar to my dream house plan that it’s a very functional Baseline to which I will stick for this project.

This fun exercise should take me until Christmas, and I am hoping that it doesn’t creep too much into the New Year — Mark and I have so many other things planned for 2017! However, I know that designing a full house plan (no matter how imaginary) is not a quick process. We will re-evaluate the deadline in December.