Green in Medusa

House Appraisal...its ugly!

We received our appraisal and it was not so good. We were hoping to be able to get an appraisal that would cover the construction of the house, the site work, septic, foundation, renewable power, appliances, cabinets, and some miscellaneous items and the balance of what is owed on the land. Unfortunately the appraisal came back about $80,000 under what we had hoped for. The appraiser and bank do not take into account the fact that the house will be sustainable/green, they mainly go off of previous home sales in the area and existing listings. We are in rural New York, we're not a in a posh county with big fancy houses so this is the main reason our appraisal came back so low. This is not great news, we wanted to not have to use any of our savings to use as down payment. The bank will only lend us a maximum of 80% of the appraised value. So that leaves us a bit short. So at the moment we are going through our plans and doing a little bit of "value engineering", we may hold off on a couple of pieces of the project and possibly tackle the project in a few stages instead of all at once. Much to our disappointment one of the main things we can do to save money is to postpone the purchase and installation of renewable power systems. As disappointing as all this is we have to believe there is a reason for all this. The upside of all this is that our mortgage payments will be lower and maybe after some time has passed technology will have gotten better for our Wind and Solar systems. We're going for our bank loan soon so more news on this to come.

Bids, Appraisal & Financing for Green Homes? We've been busy...

So we haven't blogged in awhile, Sorry. Lots of reasons but no good ones. We were waiting for our bids to come in so we can secure our financing. Its a process and a half. We recieved our final bids its took over four months but we finally got them. Since it is a new construction loan we have to show exactly or as close to it how much everything will cost, what we've spent so far and how much we want to borrow. We have put down quite a bit between the cost of the land, the well, engineering fees, architect fees and septic design and we will be spending additional cash out of pocket to pay for other things like certain fixtures and appliances. The bank has to make sure that we are borrowing less than 80% of the value of the completed property, this is called the "Loan to Value Ratio" (LVT). We should also mention that its a bit nerve racking.

SIPS Vs. Modular: Tradeoffs

As their architects and friends we want to congratulate Stephenie and Baldomero and welcome Joaquin to this crazy world of ours. He’s one lucky kid.

Regarding Joaquin’s new house, we’re getting close to reaching a firm number although this pricing process has been especially challenging because for all the reasons B+S have written about to date. This post - long overdue - is to further define consequences of the team’s choice to work with module over SIPs. B+S explained the reasons we all selected modular – no matter how we ran the numbers a modular house is less expensive and has a smaller potential for cost overruns than SIPs. The variations in sustainable considerations – R-value, material content, construction waste – are impressive on both counts and therefore didn’t factor into the decision as much as the cost.

Most of the revisions that came out of our module decision are site and foundation based such as slab-on-grade versus Superiorwall foundation

Fiber Cement Board - Simple Sustainable Siding Saves Cents

Fiber Cement Board treatments by Viroc.

There are several options for house siding that are economical and sustainable. Right now the two options we're considering  are Reclaimed Wood and Fiber Cement Board (FCB).

The nice thing about FCB is that its usually made with recycled content, has a long life span and requires little maintenance and is economical. The down side is the embodied energy in its creation, however much of the downside is equaled out by the great deal of waste that is recycled and does not end up in landfills. A great comparison of cladding materials can be found at the Minnesota Affordable Green Housing Guide.

Part of the house would be clad in FCB and the two sections that jut out (entrance and den) would be clad in reclaimed barn siding. Luckily we have a local source for that.

Eco-Friendly Furniture Options

In the mean time while we wait for ALL the bids to come back we've had a chance to think about other stuff. About a month and a half ago we saw a great post at Inhabitat about Target's new line of eco-friendly furniture. Well some of it is actually very nice, after this project is over it may also be the only furniture we can afford. Target's new line is Made with FSC/Rainforest Alliance Certified SmartWood,100% formaldehyde-free with 100% nontoxic water-based glues and stains. The furniture ships flat to reduce waste and designed and made in USA!
They also seem ripe for a hack.

Pre Fab - SIP's vs. Modular

This project is a constant balancing act. Every decision has to be weighed against several other factors that are often in direct opposition to each other, how does it fit within our budget, how green is it, how much embodied energy is attached, how will it wear, how will it look, how much does it cost, how much will it cost "installed" , and then in the end again its how much is it going to cost? There is never a real answer and probably won't be until you pay the final bill. Estimates are just that, estimates. One of the main reasons for wanting to build this house out of SIP's or Modular prefab is that much of the variables of building are taken out because you know that those specific elements will be done hopefully to spec. in the factory at a pre-determined cost. Luckily we have a great architect that designed a house that would be flexible in the future and could be built in a variety of ways including modular.

The idea of Traditional or OVE (Optimum Value Engineered ) stick building, built by hand on site no longer has the appeal it once did. There is a tremendous amount of waste involved when building on site, even with a well intentioned and experienced builder who is committed to building "green". In addition there is the potential nightmare of cost overruns. Steph and I both work in a production environment where there is always a budget to adhere to and nothing makes us more upset than going over-budget, we both pride ourselves for coming in "on budget".