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whtviper, does your $350k guest house estimate include the detached garage? What are the rough dimensions of it? And is it enclosed or a car-port?
Any chance you should share the dimensions of your guest house, or basic blueprint? Would make for a terrific case-study!
Thanks!
The garage was not included in the quote - I was only going to do a carport and changed my mind later....it added another $25K (I'll edit and note the physical location of the garage isn't exactly where it is depicted in the image - because of the dimensions of the land, the garage is lower than depicted in the image, hence, why it is not attached - I assume it looks that way in the image due to size constraints of the paper.
Last edited by whtviper1; 11-10-2015 at 01:01 PM..
The garage was not included in the quote - I was only going to do a carport and changed my mind later....it added another $25K (I'll edit and note the physical location of the garage isn't exactly where it is depicted in the image - because of the dimensions of the land, the garage is lower than depicted in the image, hence, why it is not attached - I assume it looks that way in the image due to size constraints of the paper.
Hey, thank you for pulling this -- it's nice! Excellent use of of the plumbing zone "stacks" for the upstairs bath down to the kitchen -- smart!
So doing some math for the garage... Square root of 400 sq ft = ~20 x ~20 sq ft which should be a nice sized 2 car garage? (Ha, and I told my HS math teacher I'd never use square root...). I'm guessing that was $25k for the entire garage structure, not just going from carport to full enclosure.
For the main guest house... 1750 / 2 = 875 sq ft per level. Square root = ~ 30. "Massaging" the square structure into a rectangle I'm guessing would approximately be a 2 level guest house 25' deep by 35' wide, maybe a little less?
This helps a lot -- thanks again for going through the trouble.
Here's a question the wife and I are talking about:
We've seen some high end homes which have huge retractable or folding window-doors. With such a huge space open to the outside how do homeowners keep the flying bugs at bay? ( haven't exactly seen 10' x 30' wide screens)
We are toying with the idea of having 3 to 4 hens for the ground bugs ( cockroaches, termites, and centipedes ). Are there any other island methods used?
Here's a question the wife and I are talking about:
We've seen some high end homes which have huge retractable or folding window-doors. With such a huge space open to the outside how do homeowners keep the flying bugs at bay? ( haven't exactly seen 10' x 30' wide screens)
We are toying with the idea of having 3 to 4 hens for the ground bugs ( cockroaches, termites, and centipedes ). Are there any other island methods used?
The high end homes use NanaWall. They can easily cost $30-$50k for ONE sliding door system installed. There are cheaper alternatives but they are still very expensive. Some systems have integrated screen doors inside additional channels. This adds a lot more cost but it allows for great ventilation, sans bugs.
You'll be more concerned with the bugs that fly into your home. Winged termites, mosquitos, flies of all sorts and of course the dreaded B-52 bomber cockroaches. Unfortunately the hens will do little to fix that.
That seems extremely high - even for Kauai. $350 sq ft puts a 1,700 sq ft house at $595,000+ just for the structure - and while I know Kauai is far more expensive than Oahu, that just seems really high. If you paid that kind of money on Oahu, you'd be in luxury home category at that sq ft amount.
I just looked at for sale listings and I think you should try some other contractors.
This typical house in Lihue is nearly 1,900 sq ft on a 16,000 sq ft lot for only $795K unless the land on Kauai is super dirt cheap......
I've seen many low-key homes pencil out at $300-$400/SF on Oahu. Site work alone can cost several hundred thousand for a 2,000-2,500 sf home. So before they even lay one stick they are already well above $100/sf. There is a reason flat and level lots cost a ton more per sqft than heavily sloped lots. The highest price I've ever seen was $1,400/ SF. But that home was more like an ultra high end resort than a home. Once you go high end there really is no limit on the cost per sqft.
What roofing and siding material did you decide to use?
Also subflooring: concrete slab or post and pier?
I can see how you achieved a low(er) price per square foot – very efficient design!
Well - Casual - while the answers would be in the couple of inches of paperwork, I'm not a builder - I'm just the person who agrees to things, writes checks, and signs contracts and stays out of the details. While there were some conversations around options (the siding is wood - the house is on stilts) - like, do you want this or that or this or that, what color paint do you want, etc - my responses were generally around - I want to stay contemporary to the neighborhood - I don't want the cheapest option nor the most expensive option, no - crown molding isn't necessary - no, don't need hardwood floors, but I'll take laminate downstairs - yes, I want a great master bath and large master bedroom - and the living room needs to accommodate a huge wide screen tv, etc.....
As Pj noted, the price goes way up depending on the land - I was fortunate I had 24,000 sq ft I could subdivide that was completely flat......
<snip>
For the main guest house... 1750 / 2 = 875 sq ft per level. Square root = ~ 30. "Massaging" the square structure into a rectangle I'm guessing would approximately be a 2 level guest house 25' deep by 35' wide, maybe a little less?<SNIP>
More than likely dimensions in that neighborhood would be 24' x 36'. Sheets of plywood and just about all other construction materials come in 4' x 8' rectangles. You can get some in 4' x 9' and up to 4' x 10' but anything outside the standard dimensions costs big bucks. Which means, most house dimensions are on either 4' or 2' increments. 36' is much more common than 35' and 24' or 26' is much more common than 25'.
You can get a standard 2" x 4" board (actual dimensions are around 1.5" x 3.5" but they call them a 2x4) in standard lengths of 8', 10', 12', 14', etc., up to about 16', maybe up to 20'. After that you start in on 2x6's for longer, but max is about 24'. There is a "stud" length 2x4 made for building 8' stud walls without any cuts, those are slightly less than 8' but other than that, almost all lumber comes in standard lengths starting at 8' and going up in 2' increments. Pipes generally run in ten and twenty foot lengths.
If your design is set to use standard lengths, you'll save a lot on construction costs.
The high end homes use NanaWall. They can easily cost $30-$50k for ONE sliding door system installed. There are cheaper alternatives but they are still very expensive. Some systems have integrated screen doors inside additional channels. This adds a lot more cost but it allows for great ventilation, sans bugs.
You'll be more concerned with the bugs that fly into your home. Winged termites, mosquitos, flies of all sorts and of course the dreaded B-52 bomber cockroaches. Unfortunately the hens will do little to fix that.
You're right PJ - I've costed out a 10' x 30' span folding door - this would be the cheaper alternative, for around $20k - $30k. They are still expensive so you are not going to have many of them but boy - the WOW factor is through the roof. We just never hear or talk with homeowners who silently cuss to themselves "Damn NanaWall ... letting in all those bugs again!" Or what they do to stop em.
I was thinking of a multi-tiered attack for bug control... hens would help with the ground (war) insects, and I've seen propane gas systems which use "CO2 traps" for the airborne bugs but don't know how effectively they work or if local islanders found a better way...
Quote:
Originally Posted by whtviper1
Well - Casual - while the answers would be in the couple of inches of paperwork, I'm not a builder - I'm just the person who agrees to things, writes checks, and signs contracts and stays out of the details. While there were some conversations around options (the siding is wood - the house is on stilts) - like, do you want this or that or this or that, what color paint do you want, etc - my responses were generally around - I want to stay contemporary to the neighborhood - I don't want the cheapest option nor the most expensive option, no - crown molding isn't necessary - no, don't need hardwood floors, but I'll take laminate downstairs - yes, I want a great master bath and large master bedroom - and the living room needs to accommodate a huge wide screen tv, etc.....
Yes, no one really expects the sheer tsunami of choices and questions from builders until you've gone through it once -- its amazing how little you think of the details that builders need, you just want to scream "JUST BUILD IT ALREADY!" Good that they ask tho.
What I was going for was roofing material (asphalt shingles or tin roof?), your siding sounds like T1-11:
And since your home is on stilts it likely has wooden floor joists I'm guessing...
So why my interest? Arguably the 2 major price factors for any home is foundation and roof systems (think trusses & roof material). Walls are comparatively cheap.
the more square feet you can squeeze between the foundation and roof the cheaper (overall) your home will be. This is why it is always much cheaper to build up than out.
The third consideration is plumbing runs. See how all your upstairs plumbing fixtures (toilet, shower, sink) all sit above your kitchen plumbing? Very efficient -- shorter plumbing runs saves big $$.
All design is a battle between costs and aesthetics. Even without you directly understanding what or why your guesthouse is built the way it is, your answers helps me decipher how the builder is viewing the project with the "hawaiian factor" (heat, humidity, insects, etc) taken in to account.
Personally, I've found it fascinating how most Hawaiian homes are built with wood -- lots of wood -- as in wood siding, wood framing, wood joists, wood flooring, T&G wood roofing, all in a warm and humid area where termites are plentiful and can be SO devastating to homes. Plus with those huge window-doors almost seems to be welcoming insects and termites to the buffet. Now I love wood too and the answer seems to be treated wood and termite control (tenting) every few years. Big battle going on. Here in VA I've never seen pest control tenting -- had to google it. I don't have an answer either... gotta go with what is the cheapest local solution.
I think I mentioned that I am in the "napkin-design" stage for my dream house. The extremely high cost per sq ft of hawaiian construction (looks like its between $200 - $300 per sq ft depending on 1or 2 levels and design) has me nit-picking my floor plan to conserve sq footage wherever I can and shrink the overall size of the home while still maintaining aesthetics and feel (who wants to feel claustrophobic in their dream home?).
So a perfect example of changing my construction point of view from mainland to Hawaii is the revelation I had today. Our master bedroom is in a small building separate from the main house (for privacy) connected by a walkway. My floor plan had a 7' wide wheel-chair accessible hallway inside the house which ate up a lot of room. I discovered I could eliminate it altogether by combining the walkway as part of an outside lanai using the 3' large eaves as cover which results in a huge savings of sq ft inside the house. By comparison this would be unthinkable in the colder mainland states. Building in Hawaii requires a different mindset for problem solving.
Sorry for the rambling ... probably more than you wanted to know. The takaway is that everyone's discussions and contribution is helping more than you know!
use a bug control company to come spray once a month. most people either spray routinely themselves or have a service. flying bugs really not a problem even with the windows open if you keep a clean house sans food on the counters and spray.
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-- it's nice! Excellent use of of the plumbing zone "stacks" for the upstairs bath down to the kitchen -- smart!
). I'm guessing that was $25k for the entire garage structure, not just going from carport to full enclosure.
Termite Food
Plus with those huge window-doors almost seems to be welcoming insects and termites to the buffet. Now I love wood too and the answer seems to be treated wood and termite control (tenting) every few years. Big battle going on. Here in VA I've never seen pest control tenting -- had to google it. I don't have an answer either... gotta go with what is the cheapest local solution.
The takaway is that everyone's discussions and contribution is helping more than you know!
