I'm a commercial carpenter for over 20 years, recently divorced having had to sell my home to settle up and want to build a new home as rent is just too high around here.  I don't have much money though.  If I can go cellar, that would be ideal, I may have to sub out a slab and keep my mechanicals above ground, not what I want, but not going to stop if I have to.  I would have to sub the concrete, block or ICF thing out as I am a plate up experience only.  The plans I have drawn are a simple 4 corner home with a room in truss (finish off later with budget being the factor) my dimensions of the home are 26' x 42'.  I am in a sandy area so excavation will only require knocking down a few trees and moving sandy soil.  How much would a ICF contractor likely charge me for pouring a footing/footer and building an ICF cellar to 8 or 9 feet with one door for a walk out.  Nothing complicated.  The excavation will be done by someone else or them, I just want a price for the ICF build so I can see if I need to stick with slab construction.  Thanks for any help or heads up.

Where are you in the country?

13612 Watertown, NY area outside of Ft. Drum or north of Syracuse a bit over an hour

Check with Build New York Green ICF INC • Syracuse, NY; VICTOR BORISUK   XXX-XXX-XXXX (Phone #s and email addresses are not allowed in forum posts)He can work with you or for you.

With that name you must be from Fort Drum. I can help you I cover the North Country.

I live near Ft Drum, but I am not enlisted or in the army, I moved here from VA.  My moniker/screen name comes from my old hobby in the south which was legal  Title II firearms/machineguns for civilian ownership..not here, I don't even have a handgun in this communist state...anyway........back to what I came here for.  I am recently divorced and paying a boatload of child support, hence the need for a home that I can afford.  I've been a commercial carpenter for over 20 years, but I'm trade specific and it doesn't include concrete.  I can take care of building the house, but the concrete or doing ICFs is not something I want to experiment with.  First thing I have to do is see if it's financially viable to even have a cellar.  This is something I would like to have, but can live without if I have no other choice.  My question is still the same, what can I do a cellar for money wise based on my initial description in ICF's if I contract this out?  26' x 42' 4 corners nothing fancy other than a 3'0" door to walk out.  Any ball parks of what it should cost me.  Include the footer, ICF, slab and basic waterproofing if you can.  I'm in a sandy location. 

I sent you a PM. I need some more info.

Dude you're going about this wrong. Here's your errors...

> Nothing complicated.
> want to build a new home as rent is just too high around here. I don't have much money though
> finish off later with budget being the factor

First off, you have very little control over the process. Your house will be complicated because the engineer will make it complicated because he will be adhering to county rules which are complicated.

Secondly, if you don't have much money do not build a house. I built my ICF house using mostly my own labor. I might be even now. Difficult to say. At the low point of the market I was behind. Materials were priced so high that it was more expensive to build a house using your own labor than the house can fetch on the market. Now with housing picking up you might break even. Materials are a huge expense. Heavy machinery, if/where needed, is expensive.

Thirdly, if you go into this thinking that you can "finish later due to budget concerns" you may be in for a surprise depending on how stringent your county is about things. Without an occupancy permit they may shut down your temporary power. The inspector may raise a stink about you living in a house without an occupancy permit. You could find yourself in a pickle with that attitude.

That said I think you should start by investigating what type of heavy machinery work your county will require you to do. Take a look at what I got into by going with ICF's, see link below.

http://tj.jjt.kinnect.me/construction/foundations/

In California everyone knows about earthquakes but few are aware of the 1/100 year flood. FEMA designated my area to be a flood zone once in 100 years. So I had to have 4 feet wide foundations 2 feet underground and on top of that I had to build a 6 foot high retaining wall stuff it with dirt compacted at some spec. On top of that I was required to have a 8 inch thick slab. I had to pay a technician $700 to sit there and watch the compacting take place. I had to pay an engineer $300 to certify that the slab was 4 feet above grade and 2 feet below grade.

Find out ahead of time what the county will require for this sandy area. It sounds like trouble to me. They may ask you to dig a deep ditch and then compact it. Digging these days costs $100/hour. That's how much people with a hoe take in my neck of the woods. Count another $1000 for certifications and paperwork. Do this research ahead of time. I was bushwacked and my county told me I had to raise the house 4 feet above grade after my engineer plans were done. I had to pay my engineer $1500 to change my plans as a result of the complication.

I got your phone number.  I will be calling you when I get back to Virginia.  I am currently down in NC finishing up a small job with my former employer.  I will be back sometime in the evening on Thursday, when is a good time to call?