Hello I have this idea of building a concrete home in Florida for a winter home. I am from Canada, the plan would be to spend 3 or 4 months of the year i the house. We would maybe rent it to friends for vacation or just let it sit for the rest of the year. I saw this house that has been built in Europe. We were actually going to see it last summer as part of a european vacation but covid and well... The house https://www.bogenhaus.at/ It is basically made out of bridge sections. They are made in the USA as well as Europe. Several things I like about it, it will go up very quickly, should be energy efficent. Maybe its not too green considering the large use of concrete. I have experience in construction, mostly doing renovations like plumbing, electrical, drywall and painting, so it suits my skills in that once the shell is built I can do some of the interior work, or at least manage local trades to do the work. I assume I would need to have plans draw up and stamped by a local engineer. I know there would be many, many steps to take, but does anyone see a "show stopper" in this design? Any reason it could not be built in Florida? I am sure it would be hurricane proof. I am thinking of building somewhere in the Orlando area. not near the coast. Thanks for your input

I think it would be very helpful to use local talent that know how to get homes approved in the Orlando area.

Link to an engineering firm in Florida that has experience with precast concrete homes:
https://www.florida-engineer.com/commercial-engineering/precast-concrete/precast-concrete-homes/

Exactly my thoughts as well. And check with the local building department too as they will be the party that stops your show. Typically, you are more at risk of this the more you deviate from their conventional and established building methods. And if you build in a development, you may have CC&Rs to contend with as well.

The very best concrete home is made with ICF! ( Integrated concrete form) and actually Canada is the largest market in NorthAmerica for ICF. ICF is made with 2 EPS Styrofoam walls held together with plastic web ties. The web ties also have vertical furrowing strips embedded into the styrofoam walls that allow you to attach your wall cladding to, the web ties have places to attach your rebar to. You pour a concrete footer and stack these blocks like legos and put rebar in them and you use a special ICF wall brace (www.plumwall.com) during the concrete pour to keep the walls plumb and you fill the blocks full of concrete. The styrofoam remains on the concrete wall after the pour and becomes your home’s insulation. (ICF homes are 65% more energy efficient or MORE compared to a wood framed house! These blocks have both an air barrier And a vapor barrier.and are sound proof. They also have a higher indoor air quality. You form around the windows and doors ( called bucks) and you brace the bucks before the pour. Internal walls use regular framing. The walls will withstand sustained winds of 250 mph or more ( ICF walls offer concrete core wall thickness up to 30”!). The standard 6” core for above ground walls are rated at sustained winds of 250 mph. They have withstood hurricanes , E-5 tornadoes, fires, floods better than any other building system on the market. We install metal stud walls on the house interior and use a new sub floor and drywall panel made of sulfate magnesium oxiide. This material has excellent fire resistance, is water and mold and mildew resistant, has sound proofing qualities, is considered a green building material, is carbon negative, is high impact resistant ( I dom’r recommend you kick or punch the wall in anger least you want to make a run to the hospital…. LOL! It installs the same way drywall does, and screws and nails will not corrode due to the material in the panels!. We pre-panelize our ICF walls into 12 ft tall wall panels, pre-wiire and pre plumb them, install window and door bucks and buck bracing install concrete rebar in the walls ( fiberglass rebar (MST-bar- it never rusts, and is 3 times stronger than steel rebar, we instal the MgO drywall on the interior wall side. We also pre-panelize our internal steel stud walls , all pre wired, pre plumbed, MgO drywall installed. Any floors above basement or first for slab we use steel floor joists that can be up to 30 ft long and be installed clear span we build those floors in sections ( called cassettes). They are 12’ wide by up to 30’ feet long. We install the MgO drywall on the bottom of the cassettes and install a MgO sub-floor 20 mm panel on the top of the cassettes . We also install radiant panels just above the ceiling drywall of the cassettes between the floor joists ( for radiant heat AND cooling! No ductwork required!. We install either SIP roof panels or a concrete roof ( flat or pitched. If we are building a concrete roof then we use the cold rolled steel joists ( now called rafters) and install a steel Lewis deck on top of the rafters and pour the concrete on top of the Lewis deck, no shoring required to support the roof during or after the concrete pour. We erect houses on-site we build houses at our shop. We are now working on figuring out the engineering to build custom POD kitchens and bathrooms at our shop in these PODs. They are completely finished at our shop and then shipped to the jobsite for building erection JIT. We will be able to build a 5,000 sq ft house in 3 weeks once this is complete. Should the house be flooded you don’t even need to remove your subfloor or drywall! Disaster recovery is much Quicker! In this video CNN interviews the owners of a ICF house on the front of Mexico beach in the Florida pane handle that took a direct hit by the Iwall of Hurricane Michael! https://youtu.be/eLjsDQyW5Y8?si=_FS6TVnbwa_dB5gG