How to Bring the Cost of a Home within Budget
With very few exceptions, building projects need to adhere to a budget of some sort. There are times when the initial design that includes all the bells and whistles comes in on or under budget, but more often than not, it becomes a constant negotiation between our desires and necessities, a push and pull that requires us to really examine every aspect of the project.
This exercise has many names. In the commercial realm it's referred to with the misnomer of "value engineering", which to some lovely spread-sheet-loving people means cutting every bit of flesh from the project, only to be left with a carcass of a building not worth the dirt it sits on. But with a more conscientious team it means delivering a building that serves the same purpose but perhaps scaled down, with more humble but still durable materials, and often times with part of the building "shelled in" or with the ability to expand at a later date. While it can be at times a demoralizing experience, it is an exercise in prudence which I've heard somewhere is a good thing :)
But how to do this for a home, your home, that's such a personal thing and something you've been imagining for years now? Well, it's not the easiest of tasks, but is certainly a good way to "trim the fat" from a project. And the funny thing is, often times, you'll come through on the other side liking the project even more, and saying things like "thank goodness we cut that out...why did we ever think we needed a floating stair??" (Because they're amazing, that's why!)
Start On Size and Work In
I tend to work big picture and then zoom into the details. On client projects, and our own, I like to start with the overall scope (size) and see what can be whittled down. This does not mean throwing away the vision, quite the opposite...the vision needs to hold steady while the details get worked out. For example:
Does every room really need its own full bathroom, or can we design a larger hall bath with a separate toilet room instead, thereby increasing its utility?
Do you need a separate formal dining room that will only be used one or two times a year, or can the everyday dining space be used and maybe augmented for those special occasions?
Do you need to land a 747 in your master bedroom or will a Cessna do? Bedroom size and how ridiculous it's become is a whole other topic, but very often people want bedrooms that are grossly oversized for their function.
Do you need to finish the basement now or can we "rough in" the plumbing for the future and leave the remainder unfinished?
Can any of the bedrooms be shared?
Are there one or more two-story spaces that can become usable living space instead, making the house more compact?
So, in other words, we're looking for items dealing with overall size first rather than quality. This goes against the ethos of almost every American home, where size is everything, quality be damned, and instead looks to make the house more efficiently planned.
Now Move into the Details
Now that our floor plan is efficient and tough decisions have been made, I suggest moving into even smaller details of the project.
Can any items be planned for now, but installed later, for example, built-ins like shelving or window seats, tile backsplashes, solar arrays, whole house generators, etc.
Railings can have huge cost impacts. Instead of a glass railing, a cable rail or similar kit-of-parts system could save thousands.
Flooring - A huge finish decision and again one that can have big implications. Yes, the super wide antique wood flooring looks great, but will the home be destroyed if you install a narrower red oak? My wife and I installed the latter in our own home...it's super durable, affordable, and looks great.
Tile - Like wood flooring, tile can vary widely in price, anywhere from $1/ SF up to and above $25/ SF. And chances are for that expensive tile you love there's a much cheaper alternative and you wouldn't even notice the difference.
Cabinets - Custom made cabinets from a local cabinet shop are always the best, if you can afford them. Few people realize the effort that goes into their fabrication, and the price reflects that, so when budget requires, look into cheaper alternatives either online or local suppliers that stock ready-to-assemble (RTA) or fully assembled modular cabinets.
Light fixtures - Running with the theme now, light fixture prices vary a great deal too. For that perfect $800 fixture on Instagram is probably a similar looking $300 version lurking online. If your contractor allows it (and they should), purchase all the decorative lighting fixtures yourself to save even more.
This is not an exhaustive list, but you might notice most of these items deal with finishes. Finishes have a way of ballooning a project budget and wreaking havoc on construction schedules. Often times we pick things we like from perfectly crafted photos on social media and fail to realize how all these little decisions add up. Plus, if they're hard to source, perhaps from overseas, out of production, or not familiar to local labor, it can delay the project substantially.
So how did we pare our house design back? Well, here's a little summary:
Instead of a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, we decided our girls could share a bedroom (at least for now), and we'd provide 1 hall bath for the kids (oh, the humanity!).
The house would not have a second level or a floating stair ($15K savings) anymore. Everything needed to fit on one story within a tight 1,800 SF footprint. We basically cut the overall size to the smallest, most efficient plan that could effectively serve the same function as before. Circulation space was lessened, bedrooms became a little smaller, and a few spaces combined. This in turn shrunk the foundation size, excavation area, etc. A little harder to pinpoint the savings, but likely in the $40K-$60K range.
The house would sit on an unfinished basement foundation with a bedroom and full bath planned for the future as a guest space, perhaps AirBnB, or room for one of the girls to take over later. The front-end savings in not finishing the basement now was around $15K.
Exact adherence to Passive House was begrudgingly abandoned. We would, however, still use some of its basic principles of air sealing and above code insulation. Savings, harder to pinpoint, but likely $20K-$30K. This one is a savings only on the front end, though, as Passive House principles would have led to less of an energy need/use over the life of the home.
Since Passive House was not a goal anymore, we could look at cheaper, double pane options now. This expanded our options, and we were able to get a great looking and quality Marvin window package. They were also more quickly supplied as most triple pane options come from Europe. Savings, around $25K.
Perhaps the most difficult, we had to eliminate the standing seam metal roof, except for a small awning and the front porch. While a metal roof is cheapest over the long run, the right asphalt shingle roof can still look acceptable, provide 30 years of service, and is less than half the cost. Savings, around $15K-20K.
Kitchen cabinets were sourced from a cost-effective local supplier who stocked several lines of solid plywood cabinets. While options were not as vast as a custom supplier, they were readily available, and we were able to work with what options they had to achieve a great result. Savings, $8K-$15K
We worked with the city to save on the site work. News flash...moving dirt is expensive, building roads is expensive, and installing water mains is expensive. With some collaboration between the GC, his site work contractor, and the city we were able to reduce the amount of excavation, the amount of earth trucked off site (which turned out to be none in the end!) and reduce the width of the road. A well was installed of extending the water main, all total around a $40K+ savings.
We had many ideas for hardscaping (patios, retaining walls, etc) that looked beautiful on paper but were just not in the budget. These are things that can come in over time, as savings build back up and as time allows. So, for now our patio is a bed of gravel with a $50 charcoal grill, but someday we'll install pavers and a maybe even a built-in grill or fire pit.
Tile my wife (an interior designer) was able to source from local suppliers from their mid-range lines. The tiles look great, function just as well as expensive tile, and fit the overall design. For example, instead of a natural slate tile, the foyer and mud room area received a slate-look porcelain tile that looks almost like the real thing.
Even realizing I'm probably forgetting some of the decisions we made along the way, since most of this happened during the late-night hours, we managed to trim about $185K+ from the cost. While we had to sacrifice on the overall size and some of the materials, we were still able to keep steady on the overall vision and quality of the project, and instead of seeming like an impossible dream, it started to come into focus as a realistic possibility.
Next up we'll share some thoughts on the final design (on paper, at least).
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