Costs of Construction | Elizabeth Explains

Building a sustainable or “green” house, or building any house for that matter, is a complex process. It involves an intricate process which encompasses a design that reflects the clients’ vision, an understanding of how to optimally place the structure on a given site and a contractor who understands the challenges of the concept and puts together an efficient plan to get it done.

 In this video Elizabeth DiSalvo, founder of Trillium Architects, talks about the elements included in the construction of a sustainable home. She addresses material, labor and the markups of both the contractor and the architect. The video will give you an excellent idea of what to expect if you are contemplating building a new home.

Significantly, Elizabeth explains what is and what is not included in the construction cost of a home. She uses what she calls the “upside down test,” where anything that would fall out if you held the house upside down is not included in the construction cost. In terms of markups, she explains that both the contractor and architect usually charge around 15% plus/minus to cover their planning, design, supervision and logistics management of the entire job.

 Attention to detail and fulfilling the homebuyer’s/owner’s vision is the most important aspect of designing and building a new sustainable home. As DiSalvo puts it, the end product is always a home that is “happy, healthy, warm and dry.”

What we do at Trillium Architects

At Trillium Architects we believe in quality. We believe in building homes that work, last and are loved. Looking forward into the past we believe that you should live in a home that you would be proud to leave your grandchildren - and one that will last long enough for that to be a possibility.

We have just begun observation of the construction of what will be our second LEED Home. We have recently completed 3 new homes in Fairfield County, CT (one of them LEED Certified Home) and have one new home in mid-construction outside of San Diego, CA. The common thread that runs through these homes is that they are all super energy efficient, sustainable, relatively small homes (for Fairfield and San Diego Counties). We also have a number of additions, renovations, curb appeal upgrades and deep energy retrofits underway.

At Trillium Architects we design green homes.

What does GREEN mean? Green is an umbrella term that means:

• energy efficient
• sustainable
• healthy
• low maintenance
• low carbon footprint
• natural
• environmentally friendly
• smaller in size
• appropriately sited
• practical
• beautiful
• enjoyable
• user-friendly

At Trillium we pride ourselves in doing 3 kinds of ‘Green Homes’:

• New Green Homes
• Green Home Additions and Renovations
• Deep Energy Retrofits 

16 March 2010 ~ Rowayton - Design Drawings and Concept

This house in Rowayton, CT is approximately 4,000 sf including the basement, 1st and 2nd floors. It is being built on the site of a previously existing 2,200 sf home. The original intention of the owner was to keep as much of the existing structure as possible. In this case, however, the ceilings of the existing home were all 7’-0” tall and the structural members of the home could not economically support any additions. (Large quantities of steel would have had to be added. This was a disappointing revelation for both the home owner and the architect shared the goal of creating a very green, LEED certified home and keeping the existing home from entering the landfill is a big first step in sustainable construction.

Once it was decided to tear the existing house down and start fresh, we were given a bit of a blank slate as far as design went. We had a few parameters to work with:

1. The footprint would be limited by zoning code to approximately 1400 sf.
2. The house would be turned to face due solar south for a roof PV installation.
3. The driveway could not be moved.
4. The major living spaces in the house should face the view (a small pond and stream in the back yard.)
5. The first floor would be open living space, the second floor would hold 3-4 bedroom for the family of 4 and the walk-out basement would house playroom, guestroom, mudroom and garage.
6. The clients were invested in the idea of having a great house for entertaining.
7. The clients were very invested in the idea of having an extremely energy efficient and healthy house that they would have LEED certified and would do so for the purpose of promoting environmentally friendly building.
With these parameters in mind we came up with these floor plans.

The house is highly suitable to the family and every space is utilized. There are no useless living rooms and dining rooms that are only used 2 times a year. The spaces are flexible enough to work for the family during day to day life and for friends and parties when needed. For example, the dining room is designed to be intimate in its located space but able to expand out into the foyer when a long table is desired. The bedrooms were designed as more intimate spaces for sleeping only with large closets storage, sitting rooms and bathrooms for other uses that often creep into bedroom living.

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16 March 2010 ~ Rowayton Foundation and Basement

This image shows the foundation of the Rowayton house. The foundation is constructed with a product called Superior Wall. Superior Wall is a a pre-manufactured insulated concrete wall system. It comes to the site in large panels shipped on trucks and lifted into place by crane. The panels are set on a gravel foundation and bolted together on site. The manner in which they lock together creates a weather and water tight bond which is then also water sealed along all of the outside underground surfaces. The benefit of something like superior walls is that they are pre-insulated (Similar to ICF’s*) and due to their T-shape they break a great deal of thermal bridging*.