10 THINGS WE LEARNED
By Jason Hammond
To be truly "green" you need to leave the environment better than you found it.
2 MODERN DOESN'T MEAN EXPENSIVE
If you're willing to open your mind, looking for deals online and getting creative with materials, there are ways to get a super-cool home on a somewhat "modest" budget.
3 ARCHITECTS ARE PEOPLE, TOO
Architects are not all ego-driven, self-serving maniacs with only their own interests in mind. If you do a little research and find the right architect, it can be a rewarding, collaborative relationship.
4 STUFF IS GOING TO GO WRONG
I don't care who you are, how well you plan, how smart your architect is or how good your builder is -- stuff will go wrong. The important thing is how you and they react.
5 BUILDING A HOUSE IS A LOT OF STRESS
Your entire world is turned upside down as you make decisions at light speed and spend money like a lobbyist in an election year.
6 MODERN IS ON THE MOVE
As more people in their 20s and 30s enter the housing market, don't be surprised to see something along the lines of our house going up in your neighborhood. There might even be whole new developments that allow only modern homes.
7 EVERYTHING COSTS ABOUT $1,000
Many changes will cost $1,000s, not $100s. Think through everything in the planning stage -- it's a lot less expensive to change it on the blueprint than it is to change it on the job site.
8 GREEN CAN BE UNSEEN
Products that get the most attention (solar panels and geothermal heating, for example) are great solutions but maybe not the first and/or best place to spend your money. The first thing you should do is make your house as energy-efficient as possible. Invest in great windows with a low U-value, or increase the R-value of your walls by using structural insulated panels (SIPs) as well as optimizing the design of the house to benefit from simple things (that cost nothing) such as passive solar design.
9 IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME
There's a moment when the workers stop coming by on a daily basis and you start to move your things out of boxes and into the spaces when you realize that this is your house. You've put so much time, energy and effort into completing the vision and suddenly you realize the vision is now a reality. For all the stress and trouble, it is an incredibly rewarding feeling to have built something so unique.
10 NO HOUSE IS EVER REALLY DONE
Homes are really living structures that are constantly evolving and changing.
With all these lessons learned, I don't know that I'm quite ready to jump into another house project just yet. However, I have found that I love sharing with other people what I've learned along the way and I can't wait to start a new adventure. What that might be, we'll just have to wait and see.
IN MY TOOLBOX
www.livemodern.com: A community of people with great ideas and a willingness to share information.
www.nfrc.org: The rating system for the energy efficiency of windows and a great unbiased tool for selecting windows without all of the marketing hype.
www.treehugger.com: Don't let the name fool you; this site is full of new and inventive things in technology and the environment.
www.mocoloco.com: If you're crazy about modern design, this is the site for you. It covers topics ranging from art to architecture.
materialicio.us: A showcase for cool, modern stuff; you can sign up for daily e-mail feeds.
"25 Houses Under 3,000 Square Feet" by James Grayson Truelove. Beautiful photos of some of the most stunning homes nationwide. More than a coffee table book, it's an inspiration manual.
"Farm Houses, The New Style," by Neill Heath. New and alternative materials in the context of classic American farmhouse styles.
www.greenbuildingtalk.com: Advice and information about alternative products and green building.
about the writer
Jason Hammond
The staples distributor issue added to a mixed quarterly report for Medtronic, which is run out of Fridley.