Hi everyone,
My husband and I are about to have a house built in southern AZ. Our son is an engineer and is doing that aspect of the process as well as designing the building (a Santa Fe style) How ever my husband and I are new to having a house built and new to Rastra. We have found that there are not many builders in the area that REALLY know what Rastra is or how to build with it.(my guess is thats why the quotes are , well crazy high)
Rastra will supply the crew to construct the walls only so we are faced with the task to find builders to do finish work and interior work.
This brings me here to pick some brains and welcome your advice!

Tuff,

With any of the styrofoam cement composites I think using a very experienced contractor is key. These types of systems bring there own set of problems issues and difficulties to the table. These can all be overcome, but an expeienced contractor has already done the learning and will cost you a lot less in the end. If you hire inexperienced subs you will get wildly varying bids and opinions. You have chosen in my opinion one of the more difficult systems to build with, but depending on your interior and exterior finishes, you can get a great result. It is my opinion that the cement composites are not a DIY type of building system. I know of a Habitat for Humanity project that took two years to complete, way over budget, and cost the organization many volunteers due to its difficulty to work with.

I feel if you are using inexperienced contractors you need to prepare yourself for a job that will take more time then expected and probably be over the budget you have set.

My advice, Get an experienced General Contractor who has 5 or more cement composite builds under their belt. It will be money well spent.

ICF Contractor

Hi ICF,

Rastra will supply there own people to construct the wall system. We will need to find our own to frame inside(probably standard
stick frame) and to waterproof out side walls. We live about 2500 miles away though our son does live in the area. You can imagine
this adds to the difficulty! Any way I thought this would be a good place to ask questions maybe even find referrals for the
work we need done. We know how important it is to find the right people for the job! Thank you for your reply we look forward
to gathering much needed information to educate ourselves to this process!
Tuff

I've been on a bunch of Rastra jobs and given what you say, my advice is: watch the details. Make sure they give you window and door bucks, securely attached to the concrete cores and ideally with a thermal break incorporated. Make sure they lay out all the interior walls and give you cored out concrete cavities around preplaced anchor bolts or something equivalent to attach them to. In short, make sure that when they walk off the job all the next steps are prepared for. Gouging out Rastra so you can find a core and drill a red head in so you can hang your porch roof will be a real pain compared to setting something there before you pour.

db,
Thank you we will add this to our notes!
Tuff