I am in the design phase of my home and am looking for suggestions to keep costs down.  The home I am designing will be ICF construction ranch style with a full basement.  My question revolves around gables.  At the front of the home there are 3 gables which will jut out approximately 5 feet each.  There will be a concrete floor system with hydronic radiant heat and I am building in a climate where temperatures vary from -30f to 95f.  I am trying to determine if it would be more cost effective to build a square basement and cantilever those gables or just build straight up with ICF.

There will be several factors in play here, engineering costs, material costs and keep in mind I will be stacking my own ICF's.

Opinions are much appreciated.  Thanks.

Brad

For a visual the front facing wall will be similar to this:

|____|--------|______|

Brad, is your lot a walk-out?

Dave

No, it is a flat lot with no walk out.

My basement is far from square (10 outside corners, 6 inside corners). I faced the same decision, but decided to go straight up with ICF. It increased my basement size, and most ICF contractors bid on the wall square footage, not the design anyways. It made the floor system and load bearing points a bit more complicated, but overall I think it was more cost effective to go the way I did.