I need some advice on which type of home to build. We know we want ICF, but we're still looking for floor plans. Which is the most cost-effective type of home for ICF building? One story no basement? One story with walkout basement (we don't want a basement if it's not walkout)? Two-story farmhouse? Cape Cod? Everyone always says building two stories is less expensive than one, but is this true with ICF and all that concrete? I thought a Cape Cod type plan with no dormers might save some money because you wouldn't be using as much concrete, but we want a metal roof, and I know those are more expensive. We are new to house planning, so all advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Audrey,
We are no professionals, but we are first time Owner Builders and just submitted our plans for our ICF home to the City. Since few weeks we are sending out invitations to bid on our project, and proposals we receive are eye-opening. But I also believe that it depends on where you are building. We are going to build a Ranch Style home in the desert of Arizona. The costs and challenges for each job may vary from where you are going to build. If it's only cost-effectiveness you are looking for, then in our case I have no doubts that a 2-story home would have saved us some money, but our criteria are different from yours. But here are my thoughts why 2-story would have been cheaper: Excavating a smaller area, footings and slab costs per sqft, less trusses, less roof/shingles, less maintenance costs of the roof in the future. A 1-story home might require more hallway, which is "dead space" but costs the same as the rest of livable space. Walls: In a 2-story home you might not be tempted to make higher ceilings, so you might do ceilings not higher than 10 foot. That means that you get more rooms/floor space with less ICF walls. You can also save costs if you will build a simple shape, like rectangular. Every extra edge or rounded walls cost more money. We also saved us some money when we changed our floor plan in regards to the garage with 3 garage doors into one big open garage that requires only one big garage door. We were surprised, that walls are considered livable space. That's bad because ICF walls are thicker than traditional walls so it adds to the livable AND taxable space (and your architect might be paid by sqft too). BUT, still no regrets to build ICF, we feel that ICF was the best decision we've made. So to balance it a little with taxes, we've included lots of storage and garage space, because that is not taxable (...in our county, don't know how it is elsewhere). You will have to make decisions if you want your garage wall with ICF too. Because it is so hot in AZ, we went with it because the garage will be our storage space and we don't want the stored items to heat up like they do now.
If I were you and with my current experience, I would recommend you to go to the City where you will apply for your building permit one day and ask them your questions. It was eye-opening/shocking, how much a building permit can cost. Half inch more of a meter (we should have a one inch) would have cost us 15K more for utility costs that are included in the permit. So you might want to know things like that before you start planning your floor plans and keep those things in mind. Also talk to local architects or general contractors, they should be able to answer your questions, too. The more you talk to professionals and home owners in your area, the more you'll find out. Ask, ask, ask. Hope that I could give you some ideas.

Is this a home you will be living in for many years, say like until you can't live on your own again? If so, then I suggest you stay away from 2 story, regardless of cost effectiveness. If you want this to be your last home then keep in mind there is a high probability that some day stairs will become an unmanageable challenge. Then the second story becomes unused space. On the other hand if you expect to have a lot of grandchildren hours in your home, then maybe an upstairs is a good place to shoo them off to for the night!

There are many considerations besides cost. Think back to all the places you have lived in and the things you liked and disliked about them. Incorporate that experience into your planning. If you're going sell in just a few years, then marketing assets and liabilities should be considered. If you might possibly need a "mother-in-law" accommodation someday plan for that by either including that space now, or making sure the ICF wall configuration can be easily modified or added to later.

Cost will be greatly influenced by corners. The more corners and insets, etc., you have, the more interesting, appealing, and costly, the design will be.

Planning the house is going to be a fun and frustrating challenge. Don't short change it.

We spent a lot of time designing our ICF home! First, as far as architectural style goes, you need to pick something that you like, and it should be appropriate for the area you are building in. A New England cape looks as out-of-place in Florida as a Spanish Med looks in Maine. Even if you plan to stay there forever, things change, and you don't want to be trying to sell the 'odd-looking house' should you want or need to sell it at some point.

The next factor is the local terrain and climate. In our case, we built on a hill side, so a walk-out basement was the most economical. Otherwise, we would have had a crawlspace nearly as tall as a basement- with no usable space inside. If the land is flat, you have to move a lot of dirt around to create a walk-out, and your view from the basement will always be a hole. If you have the luxury of choosing the right land, and being able to orient the house to best take advantage of climate conditions and views, you will have more flexibility. If you buy the last small lot in a subdivision, you're pretty much locked in to one orientation. We have some land, and I lived on-site for nearly a year before making the final orientation of the house. We got lucky in that the lay of the land complemented a mountain view, and even decent orientation from an energy use point-of-view.

I'm 60, so I tend to think more actively about universal design and being able to age in place. All of our regular living space is on one floor. There aren't any tall steps required to get in and out of the main entrance. All of the doorways are 36", and hallways are 48". We designed the floorplan around our preferences, so we will have a fairly large and luxurious kitchen in relation to the size of the house. We spent a lot of time thinking about the spaces we use and how we use them. Our last house was 1600 square feet, and we rarely used about half of it.

After all of those factors have been decided, or at least factored in, then you can see what kind of shape the envelope will have. House design is (or should be) a series of compromises. A house designed strictly from the viewpoint of energy efficiency probably wouldn't be very much fun to live in, but building a house of glass in Alaska might be dramatic, but the energy use would be astronomical. I believe the most efficient shape might be square, or even round, but you have to live in it, too. One of my favorite designs was a 1200 square foot cross-gable design. Unfortunately, it had the same wall area as a 2000 square foot home, and would have been expensive to build with all of the inside and outside corners. Since we are on a very limited budget, we ended up with a basic rectangle, and are dressing it up with Craftsman details.

The factor of building with ICF is fairly minor as far as design goes. You do have to plan for the thicker walls. It is usually smart to design around the standard unit sizes of the blocks, so the designer needs to have experience with the brand of block you use. You can cut blocks, of course, but it can be wasteful to be off a few inches in relation to the block sizes. Our house is 43'4" long, since that's what the block came out to. Making it two inches longer would have been a hassle. Likewise, our ceilings are 9'4" tall, since we went 7 blocks, at 16" each, high. Six blocks would have barely gotten us 8', and we wanted the higher ceilings. Again, you can always cut them, or use half blocks.

The main thing is to have fun, be patient, and do your research.

Well, there is three sets of very good info.
As a designing builder, I would add two things.
You can go to the web site of your favourite ICF Block and down load each block type in cadd format. If you are not drawing in some form of cadd, at least print out the pdf drawings so you have them to refer to. Not having to cut, makes the job go so much faster and as stated, less waste.
The other item.
Check with your local elevator installers. You might be surprise at how cost effective elevators have become. $15,000 to $20,000.00 may well give you a personal lift. If this cost is offset by building a two storey and/or basement, it all remains useable space and has a smaller footprint.

Thanks everyone! From what I can figure, a one story with walkout basement will be our best bet..the lot we're looking at buying slopes for that too.

Posted By Alton on 14 Mar 2014 01:11 PM

Elavators are a good idea for aging in the home.  Within the last 10 years, residential elevators have dropped enough in price that they should be considered.  Be aware that in some areas, annual inspections are required at your cost.  If inspections are not required, then it would be prudent to have them anyway.  If the elevator is to be added later, then some planning has to be done now.  Study installation instructions while reserving space for a future elevator.  Some elevators will require more space above and below than others, etc.  The amount of maintenace required for an elevator will depend somewhat on the type of lift - hydraulic, cable, etc. 

Another option is a stair chair lift mechanism. Yes, the ones you see in the TV commercials but the good brands do work very well and provide a way to get up the stairs.

A 2-story has many advantages in building costs, energy efficiency, and aesthetically. In some areas a 2-story gives you the ability for some awesome views and one can leave the windows open on the 2nd floor without fear of someone breaking in.

ICFs lend themselves to a flat roof design for things such as a green roof and\or roof patio, since the supporting concrete structure can be designed to handle the load more easily, unlike a wood-framed house.

The quad-lock site has some good info on concrete flat roofs (via quad-deck product) although I wish they had the warm roof option pictured where the water barrier sits on the concrete, and [more] insulation above that.