Greetings, I am a new member to this community. My name is John Mersereau and I live in S.E. Michigan near Manchester. I run a video studio for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but I will be retiring at some point and would like to have a studio of my own. Sooo, I am in the early stages of planning to build a studio. The details I learn in this planning stage will inform me as to how large of a building I can afford and the construction methods I will employ. Nothing is set in stone. I am hoping that those generous souls in this community would share their thoughts and expertise on what they would do. At this stage, I think the largest building I could ever afford would be a 80'x60' with a 20' height to the bottom of the eves. I might find out that I can only afford a 60'40' with 14' height. I really only want to spend $100K, so perhaps this is not even possible? Maybe I have to think 40x40? Once this building is up, I would really like to keep the heating and cooling costs low, so insulation and HVAC are going to play a major role. Am I crazy to consider ICF? The PROs would be I would get solid quiet building that is nicely insulated. CONs - cost and difficulty of putting up 14 to 20ft tall walls(?) Or should I go with SIPS? Or should I just put up a metal building with the usual methods of insulation therein or maybe use spray foam? What would you do? What about the footers and slab? How would you do it? I would like hydronic floor heating to keep the noise down and the floors warm, but is this idea warped or ? Lots of questions and good advice is needed. Thanks in advance!!! JMerser

Sheesh, what happened to all my new paragraphs and sentences??? I apologize for this blob of text

Posted By jmerser on 22 Feb 2019 04:26 PM
Sheesh, what happened to all my new paragraphs and sentences??? I apologize for this blob of text

Use a different web browser. Both FireFox & Chrome get the formatting right.

I tried both Chrome and Firefox - no changes.

This is pretty strange a thing to happen in 2019, after all, this type of software has been able to parse different browsers and OS for a LONG time without these issues.

I might try reposting to see if there is a bug in this site's software that wouldn't allow for actual edits to happen.

If you GC it, you might get into the ball park. If you hire a GC... all bets are off. \ Conditioned 1600 sq ft with 14 to 20 ft height is your smallest option = $63 a sq ft. I know labor is less costly there, but even so, you are likely going to have to build it. First, if it is super insulated and airtight, radiant is likely overkill Spend your money on high performance windows, insulation galore and make sure it air tight.

If you want to go ICF, hit up the various vendor sites that'll give you an idea of what you'll need.

http://foxblocks.com/project-estimator/

https://logixicf.com/one-minute-estimator

Since I can find retail pricing for FoxBlocks at Menards.com we can do a quick & dirty price breakdown.

160 linear feet.
20' wall
4 corners (assuming square/rectangular)
Estimating glazing at 20 3'x4' windows. With majority glazing on the south facing and minimal East/West
Plus buck material and clips.

A DEAD ON, it comes to .94 truck loads.
About 58 cubic yards of concrete (rebar costs not included)


Straight Block x 501
$21.99 each: $11,016.99

Corner x 60
$29.99 each: $1,799.40

Buck: x 102
$16.99 each: $1,732.98

Clips x 5 (250 ct boxes)
$99.99 each: $499.95

Materials Total: $15,049.32

Now you don't want to buy dead-on. Because you're going to have mis-cuts, stuff damaged in transit, etc.

A concrete truck is 10 cubic yards. So, 6 trucks.
Michigan, a truck load of concrete will be between $1700-4100.
AVERAGE price is about $2800

So $16,800

Plus you'll need a pump truck.

A pump truck'll do about 24 yards an hour.
And you are NOT going to pump a 20' wall in a single pour.
So, you're probably looking at (rounded up) at least 4 hours.
Figure $435/hour, plus travel (be generous and just assume double the hourly) plus about $30/sq yard of concrete placed.

About $5300

Note: THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE FOUNDATION OR SLAB! But, using this you can calculate.
Talk with an architect about rebar schedule.

For the walls, you'll looking at about 5200 linear feet of rebar

Rebar: Again, retail from Menards.

You're looking at about $2150 for #4 (1/2")

You're looking at about $3650 for #5 (5/8")

Doing it this way as you can hit the sites yourself, do the math, etc.




Block Supplies (+10%): $16,555
Concrete: $16,800
Pumping: $5,300
Rebar (figure high end): $3,650

So, pre-pad/foundation, you're looking at about $42,305


I'd go further, but I'm running late for work.

Please note that you can probably realize some savings by going direct to the manufacturer for your loads too.