I am thinking about building an ICF home on east side of Lake WA. But I have troubles finding a descent ICF contractor who doesn't charge triple price for a project. znaconstruction.com and icf-dev.com  really suck, Legacy icf llc seems to be out of business. I am wondering why people in our area are so ignorant about quality construction. For an experienced  ICF contractor, building with ICF should not be more expensive than 5-10% of the regular stick house. But znaconstruction.com and icf-dev.com want 30-40% on top of that which makes me really frustrated with the idea of building with ICF. Does anybody know any good ICF builder who doesn't want to rip you off? It seems almost impossible for "regular joe" to build with ICF in Puget Sound of you do not build a mansion...

I can't help you for your area...but I want to comment on your post.

Are you telling me/us that your million dollar stick home as ICF is 1.3-1.4 mil?

Why don't you post some of your local prices of lumber and concrete, because you are assuming you are being ripped off in labor only

You live in the heart & soul of timber country, so 99% of all construction is wood frame. The contractors that you are asking about ICF probably have no real experience in it so they are charging you for their learning curve. In their eyes it's almost blasphemous in wanting to build with anything but wood out in the heart of lumber country. That's like saying you hate the Green Bay Packers and hate cheese, all while living in Wisconsin


That's the M.O. of contractors. When you ask them to use a method that they are not very experienced in, they charge insane amounts for it.


I think your best bet is to find COMMERCIAL contractors, as they will be more versed in concrete and steel construction. The problem is most commercial contractors will not deal in residential but if your home is large enough, they might do it.

Posted By Chris Johnson on 26 May 2013 09:15 PM

Are you telling me/us that your million dollar stick home as ICF is 1.3-1.4 mil?

I am not planning to do million dollar home, it is way beyond my budget. My budget for a house would rather be 300-400K for 3br/2bth around 2000-2300 sq. ft. (house only, excluding land development). We have a lot of build-on-lot builders in my area, but those build stick houses only. You can easily build stick house with those under 300K. When I spoke with the guys from znaconstruction.com and icf-dev.com, they suggested it is too unrealistic to build ICF on that budget. I am not talking bout luxury features or something, very basic finish, no granite, hardwoods, etc. I just suggested if I can build decent house under $300K, i should be able to do the same house with ICF exterior for under $330K. Or I got something wrong with my math...

Posted By Lbear on 26 May 2013 09:25 PM
You live in the heart & soul of timber country, so 99% of all construction is wood frame. The contractors that you are asking about ICF probably have no real experience in it so they are charging you for their learning curve. In their eyes it's almost blasphemous in wanting to build with anything but wood out in the heart of lumber country. That's like saying you hate the Green Bay Packers and hate cheese, all while living in Wisconsin


That's the M.O. of contractors. When you ask them to use a method that they are not very experienced in, they charge insane amounts for it.


I think your best bet is to find COMMERCIAL contractors, as they will be more versed in concrete and steel construction. The problem is most commercial contractors will not deal in residential but if your home is large enough, they might do it.

So, you are suggesting to forget about building an ICF? I don't have a real experience in construction (I am a software engineer ), but I keep reading online about ease of use and how easy it is to build with ICF... and the major point, if you have a construction company that builds with ICF, don't you want to promote your business and offer lower prices to attract more customers, at least for me it will make sense. Unless you have so many customers that you are not really interested in small projects like mine... Just thoughts...

Posted By fromminsk on 27 May 2013 01:27 AM

So, you are suggesting to forget about building an ICF? I don't have a real experience in construction (I am a software engineer ), but I keep reading online about ease of use and how easy it is to build with ICF... and the major point, if you have a construction company that builds with ICF, don't you want to promote your business and offer lower prices to attract more customers, at least for me it will make sense. Unless you have so many customers that you are not really interested in small projects like mine... Just thoughts...

If you never built a home before and don't have experience in construction, I would NOT attempt a DIY ICF build.

I am not an ICF contractor. I believe and support ICF and will use it on my future home. Although I will hire a professional ICF contractor to do the job. I do have experience in some home construction but I would not attempt an ICF build.

ICF is very regional and if your state doesn't have a huge amount of ICF builds, then you will have a very hard time finding an ICF contractor to do the job. That is what you are encountering in Seattle. As mentioned, 99% of all residential builds in that area are wood frame, you are in timber country and that is the main building method. When you ask a residential contractor who does wood to do a concrete structure, he/she will panic and will not turn you down but will charge you a "learning fee". Even so, I would NOT let a contractor who is inexperienced in ICF, do an ICF home. Do you want someone learning on how to do ICF on your home? I surely would not.

Alternative building methods like ICF are regional dependent. For instance, SCIPs is very popular in the SouthEast USA. It's almost non-existent in areas like Arizona and Northern States. The USA builds with lumber, that is the predominant building method. You go to Europe or Israel and the opposite is true. It's all masonry.

Posted By fromminsk on 27 May 2013 01:19 AM

I am not planning to do million dollar home, it is way beyond my budget. My budget for a house would rather be 300-400K for 3br/2bth around 2000-2300 sq. ft. (house only, excluding land development). We have a lot of build-on-lot builders in my area, but those build stick houses only. You can easily build stick house with those under 300K. When I spoke with the guys from znaconstruction.com and icf-dev.com, they suggested it is too unrealistic to build ICF on that budget. I am not talking bout luxury features or something, very basic finish, no granite, hardwoods, etc. I just suggested if I can build decent house under $300K, i should be able to do the same house with ICF exterior for under $330K. Or I got something wrong with my math...

Wood frame homes are usually calculated by sq.ft of living space. In your example a 2,300 sqft home at $300k - $400k is running at $130 - $173 per sqft, which the latter is for a very high end home. With ICF, the costs are averaged by calculating WALL SPACE square footage, not interior space. The wall space INCLUDES the window area. So I will do the liberty of saying a 2,300 sqft home (interior) would have around 3,000 sqft of wall space ( I assume two levels, a basement and 1st floor).

The average amount for ICF is $15 per sqft of wall space. Once again, this is very regional pricing and in a place like Seattle where ICF builds are lacking, you are going to be well above the $15 average. So $15 x 3,000sqft of wall space = $45k. This would be for everything, the ICF forms, the rebar, the concrete, the pump, the labor, the window bucks. You would end up with a finished wall assembly that is ready for drywall and whatever exterior finish you would be doing (I assume a siding of some type for a climate like Seattle).

$330k - $45k (ICF wall) = $285k That leaves you will $285k to finish the roof, install windows, doors, drywall, siding, electrical, plumbing, flooring, etc. Even at $20 per sqft of wall space, you would be looking at $60k for the ICF walls or 330k - $65k = $270k to finish the rest of the home. From a previous post that I remember, the Washington area ICF costs were going around $20 per sqft of wall space.

One thing you can try is to get a hold of some seasoned ICF contractors who are in neighboring states to see if they would be willing to come into Seattle and do your ICF home. Other than that, you can try and talk to commercial contractors who are well versed in concrete and steel (since most commercial buildings are concrete and steel) and see if they would be willing to take on your project.

Does anybody know any good ICF builder who doesn't want to rip you off?

Call Travis Stanton at Contour Construction in Stanwood. He builds down to Seattle. He is hard working, experienced and honest. His bid will be fair.  If his schedule is too full, he can give you two other contractors who will do a good job.

That is what you are encountering in Seattle

What Seattle has right now is a mini building boom. Qualified contractors are being offered up to 30% above their regular rates to take projects.

Posted By ICFHybrid on 27 May 2013 03:04 AM

Does anybody know any good ICF builder who doesn't want to rip you off?

Call Travis Stanton at Contour Construction in Stanwood. He builds down to Seattle. He is hard working, experienced and honest. His bid will be fair.  If his schedule is too full, he can give you two other contractors who will do a good job.

Thank you, Sir, for the advice. I can see that Contour Construction is doing ICF in our area. I am still surprised how ignorant most of the people about ICF. Most of the people I speak with have no idea what ICF is and they haven't seen anything other than stick house in their lives. I even spoke with fox custom homes representative (build-on-lot contractor), even they are not aware of the technology.

Posted By ICFHybrid on 27 May 2013 03:10 AM

That is what you are encountering in Seattle

What Seattle has right now is a mini building boom. Qualified contractors are being offered up to 30% above their regular rates to take projects.

I can definitely see that. A regular custom home with minimum features usually went at $100-110 per sq. ft. Now it is more like $130-140 price tag.