Hi all, I am new to this forum. I currently live in Birmingham Alabama. After the April tornado, I am seriously considering building a house with ICF. I am having difficulties finding builders or architects that build with ICF. Thanks Edward

You can also contact the block manufacturers directly. They can put you in touch with their distributors in your area who, in turn, can tell you about the builders they do business with. By the time I did this I had already spent quite a bit of time finding the same people through more exhaustive routes.

The downside of "starting at the bottom" as I did at first was that there were a large number of builders who said they built with ICF whose real goal seemed to get me to turn the job to conventional construction.

You will want to start by considering a number of different block systems, too. Each distributor can have different reasons for steering you to one or another of his builders and you definitely want to have as large a selection as possible.

You can also contact your local architects' association. They will know which of their members are doing/have done ICF work. For example, in my area, it would be the Northwest Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which covers a four county area. Make sure you get recommendations from at least one AIA chapter that covers a larger metropolitan area.