The Build finally starts

Last week saw actual build activity in that the footings were dug. Now it's starting to feel we are making progress.
The first picture shows the fully compacted site -- those strange markings coming from the compacting roller on the left.
The second shows the footings awaiting inspection before the form work can be built for the foundation walls.

And we thought soil was just soil

Once the site was cleared, our builder raised some questions about the nature of the soil, given our plans.

We were obviously aware that the center of the site was higher than the sidewalk (formally validated by a survey) and our design took advantage of this to provide interesting steps up to the front door. We also wanted to ensure the sliders out to the patio did not require a step down, so the house is designed on two levels, with the kitchen and dining/living area being 1 foot lower than the rest, something which cannot be seen from the outside. To achieve this, we knew we would need some soil to be taken out.

Our builders concerns related to the nature of the soil -- '' a lot of organic matter" -- and why our lot had that "domed" perspective when the others nearby did not. So he suggested a soil test, which involves soil engineers drilling and taking core samples. The results were not good for a slab-based house, particularly one in an earthquake zone, and were advised to have the soil compacted.

This involved his folks, using special rented machines, digging out the soil and recompacting back in layers, with the soil engineers retesting at each stage. A costly, non-budgetted, item which added 4-5 weeks to the timeline.

This picture illustrates what went on. We gather that the neighbors thought were building a basement!

Demo and site prep

Pictures of the demolition -- note the cut-down trees, which were diseased Eucalyptuses. Several neighbors later commented they were glad these had gone as they were always shedding and made the whole area look messy.

Also, the first photo's perspective makes the site look a lot narrower than it is.

Obtaining planning permission

Our plans were finally submitted at the end of March -- about a month later than we had hoped -- and while Culver City states 10 business days for review, there was inevitably some "back and forth" and then a delay because of our patio cover plans.

This came about because the covered patio "structure" intrudes into the setback area on the house frontage street and we had assumed that this would not be of concern because it would be behind a fence. So we had to submit some supporting documentation related to why we need to do this because of our triangular lot.

So it was mid-May before we were finally signed off and folks who are experienced in this stuff tell us that getting it in 6 weeks was still really fast.

Key decisions within the design details

Once you get into the design details, you make numerous decisions and we will not attempt to catalog them here. However, to provide a sense of what we saw as key to building a modern and green house, here are some examples:

• While J wanted a kitchen that is not fully the "open plan" style seen in many modern homes, an acceptance of a design that partly opens the dining room/kitchen wall, with a horizontal "pass-through," plus this wall not going right up to to the sloping ceiling.
• Aluminum framed windows and exterior doors, both for the look and for no maintenance. All windows and doors going to the ceiling line, again as part of the look.
  
• Space-saving, in-wall pocket doors wherever feasible for the interior.
  
• No air conditioning so a lot of attention to cross ventilation, facilitated by three center hallway, operable skylights and also an operable internal window above the bedroom doors near these skylights - which also provide more natural light into those areas.
• The uses of structurally insulated panels (SIPS) for external walls, providing greater insulation and less waste from stick-frame construction. (Our builder had used these on a recent house.)
  

Developing the plan details: Lessons learned

Moving through the details of the design and plans was an interesting, sometimes frustrating, ride and we occasionally had to negotiate with our architect as to what we considered appropriate steps in the design process.

For example, our builder had provided a fairly detailed, line item estimate, based on recent houses using comparable materials and finishes. So, starting on the detailed design of windows and glass/metal framed exterior doors (W&Ds), we would check with him as to what assumptions he had made to get to his #. We would then use his #s to calculate the likely cost of the number and nature of our wish list of W&Ds.

In conversations with our architect about their number, placement, size and operability, we would then raise cost parameters and his responses left us feeling he was less cost sensitive than us. In discussing this, he defended his process as "you do not design to a budget" but develop your design and then cost it and "re-engineer" if necessary. Given we had that detailed, line item estimate/budget, we wanted to limit the number of costing and re-engineering steps. So we ended up "negotiating" a design process we could all live with.

So we offer the following counsel to anyone reading this with the intent of building their own home:

1. Have your architect articulate his/her design process, preferably with examples, from Day One and, if necessary, amend the process so you are all comfortable with it. Also, have a "process check" discussion every now and again.
2. Try to find a builder who'll provide a detailed, line item estimate/budget based on a "Preliminary Bid Instructions" package, to learn what the major cost drivers are. If some elements are not yet included, keep them on the list as pending, so you do not lose track of them.
3. Remember that the builder has made certain assumptions for each line item, so whenever you feel that your more detailed design and material choices for a particular element might be problematical, check with him/her.
4. Take full advantage of your builder's and/or architects access to current houses when you want to remind, or educate, yourself about what certain materials look like "in situ" or how certain things work, like the different window operability options. You never want to end up saying "I didn't know it would look, or work, like this!"

Selecting a Builder

Our architect provided a "Preliminary Bid Instructions" document, along with a copy of the final floor plan and P met with four builders, previously identified as ones with experience in building modern homes. All were asked to submit prelim. bids before the holidays and three did -- ranging from a brief one page -- X$ per sq ft. -- to quite detailed breakdowns of likely costs, including items we would purchase, such as appliances. The fourth never did offer a bid.

One bid, from the largest company of the four, was 25% more than the other two, so the choice was between two similar bids. One of these was from a builder with more "green" experience, so after one more visit to his most recent house -- including a walk-through with him, discussing choices and specs -- we elected to go with him.

So the start of 2008 has us us with an agreed design, a floor plan (which just needs a few tweaks,) and a builder. So now we start on the more detailed planning and permitting phase with target date to start the demolition and build no later than April 1, 2008

Final steps with the Design

Our architect presented us with a revised roof line, given our concerns about how the "double butterfly" would allow a lot of light to enter all three bedrooms, as we like dark bedrooms for sleeping and do not want have to devise window coverings for angled windows. To help us consider this roof line and also the overall look of the house footprint, P. elected to build a rough model so we could move into three dimensions before we locked down this decision.




As can be seen, this still has the sloping roof elements at each end but a flat roof in the middle. So while the living/dining area on the left-side roof will have clerestory windows on three sides, the only clerestory windows in the right-side roof area will be over the garage, so none in the rear over the master bedroom area. We agreed that this would work for us and still give the house its "feature roof."

So the last steps in this phase are for our architect to provide us with the final floor plan and to develop a list that will help builders/GC's ballpark some prices.

Design Process: Step 2

Our architect presented his proposed design with site plan, floor plans, elevations and perspectives.

We had a very positive reaction to the overall design, which had double butterfly roof over the main, rectangular module. We also liked the idea of a block "feature wall" which he proposed to continue inside the house, showing the exposed block.

We then reviewed the floor plan and how our room wish-list had been accommodated and found we had everything (excluding the garage) in approx. 2550 square feet.

He then asked us to take some time to go over the proposal and we initially focused on our room size wish list -- rechecking why we arrived at such #s and and either getting comfortable with them or tweaking them.

We then reconsidered the house's double butterfly roof line and started to imagine ourselves in the rooms this covers.

Obviously, it will give us the high ceilings and light we want in the living/dining space but when we considered this in the rest of house it raised some questions. The first was how light would enter the smaller rooms like the laundry and the second bath. The second, more significant issue for us, was how much light would be entering all three bedrooms as we like dark bedrooms for sleeping and do not want have to devise window coverings for angled windows.

We decided to revisit this with our architect and seek advice on whether such a roof can work aesthetically if one chooses not to have glass in certain sections, or whether there are other roof designs that still give us a "feature roof" without so much natural light coming into the bedrooms.

Design Process: Step 1

Our architect asked for an initial 2 hr meeting to gain a good sense of our design preferences and the specific needs we want this house to meet – and that we should bring any relevant photos and anything else that would help.

We had prepared a wish list of desired rooms and their approximate sizes, in order to estimate the overall size of the house and also to get clear on what would be their min. and max. sq. footage. We had also found ourselves asking about, and noting, different room sizes as we toured the homes we looked at. Obviously he has to make all this fit together, so we need to be flexible, but the list was helpful as a basis for discussing our needs for this house.

The discussion beyond these more specific aspects was more intriguing as we sensed our architect wanted more specifics on our design choices -- beyond those house photos we had selected. So he asked us to comment on some pictures of elements of Palm Springs houses. Looking back, we feel we had possibly avoided getting too specific on design elements as we really want him have some freedom and potentially test us with ideas we may not have considered.

At our next meeting he will present “a freehand site plan, floor plans, elevations and perspectives,” as per his process.

Our green education

After looking at the various houses and a lot of reading, what "green" started to mean to us was 1) the opportunity to build an efficient house, in terms of heating and cooling, thus making a green contribution, and 2) to also select other products and materials that are appropriately green.

The efficient aspect was easy, starting with the use of tankless water heaters and radiant floor heating. Optimization of natural cooling opportunities through window selection and placement was another obvious aspect. Next was achieving efficient heating and cooling through solar-generated electricity and solar-heated water, both of which we had seen in some houses. Given our site, solar electricity quickly emerged as a fairly obvious choice, particularly as our long term plans for this home allow return-on-investment models with longer periods.

An inevitable question with such equipment is where it will be placed, as we do not want our home to have "racks" and other hardware projecting above those flat and/or slightly sloping roofs. Fortunately, we learned that for our site's solar orientation the solar panels can be placed almost flat with only a 5% reduction in efficiency.

As to the selection of other products and materials that are green, our architect has experience in these areas, plus our reading and research continues.

Designs in line with emerging preferences

Two of these houses have different roof levels within the one structure, and some of those roofs also have some slope -- something that interests us as we had began to think of our house as two modules, one with the garage, bedrooms and bathrooms, and the other for living, dining and the kitchen. Two also have clerestory windows, with high ceilings, a common feature in modernist houses. Also their frontage is broken up by how certain aspects are set back, plus none of them have elements that we feel would look out of date in the future.

Given these preferences, we inevitably like the following house, from the portfolio of our chosen architect who had also satisfied our other criteria.

Our evolving preferences

So we wanted "a modern, single-story house in the 2500 sq ft range" and now we were needing define what modern specifically meant to us. In addition, the architects' houses we had seen added to the list of what we liked and occasionally didn't like, in terms of overall design, key design elements, and interior finishes.

While such architects will (truthfully) tell you they can design all types of modern houses we inevitably saw preferences in design elements, such as how one favored horizontal wood elements on doors and balconies, while another favored metal for siding and to face garage doors. While we have often noted and liked houses that use such elements we were also conscious of some possibly looking out-of-date in the future -- and remember this is our "last house" which we hope to live in for a long time.

So it was back to looking at more house photos and the breakthrough came when J articulated that we wanted a modern home, with "mid-century modern" influences, that would look "timeless," such as many of the homes we had seen on our Palm Springs visits.

Remember, we are still not at the point of agreeing an actual design, but getting to the next level of direction -- to help us select, and then instruct the architect.

Finding/selecting an architect

We wanted a modern architect, with experience on the LA west side and also with green aspects of home design and construction. So we went back through all our Dwell and Sunset back copies plus the literature from the modern house tours we had been on.

We next went through the Web sites of architects of interest, developing a list of eight that we contacted by email, asking them to meet us. Our email briefly described our goal and the initial meetings started at the site, as we wanted to observe their reactions to it .

In preparation, we developed an agenda, which evolved through our meetings, as we added to our knowledge, -- such as the importance of an architects access to, and relationship with, general contractors (GC) with experience of building in the modern style.

For us, the following criteria evolved and they determined our short-list and then the final selection:

• Nature of the architects' work todate and how that fitted our (admittedly evolving) preferences.
• The likely cost of of this type of work, based on more recent projects.
• The quality of these recent projects, accepting a lot of that falls on the GC but trying to establish how the architect has influenced, or not influenced, this.
• That amorphous thing called "chemistry," in terms how we would feel working with this person.

For the final four architects on our short-list we then asked to see examples of their current work "in the flesh," and ended up visiting at least 7 houses.

Pictures of our lot

The original house, from the garden area in narrow point of the triangle. Also, from the street, which will be at the rear of the new house.

















Then a street view of the lot from our "new street." and lastly a view looking down the triangle, which will be the view from our living area. Note no houses in sight!