Repost after removal. Sorry for the vague title but I'm trying not to dox myself.
This post isn't to flex or anything. I'm a builder, not a designer, who works with an acclaimed design team. After building their "sculptural" work, as well as classic recreations by other firms, I have picked up useful strategies.
We finished this house (for ourselves) 16 months ago. Did much of the labor solo as well as the design work. Big lifts from selective subs (timber frame and full panelization, roof, plaster, concrete, excavation, electrical and plumbing) helped with time and expertise. Otherwise it's owner built and bank financed.
It was too laborious for me to track every hour, but if I average out the time spent over those years we hit in the range of $475-525 per sq ft. Best I can tell, the scalability of this model tracks downward and upward with sq ft costs. Less materials, less time, less money.
Professionally, I manage the building of exquisite and complex residential projects (budgets at or above 3 million), and I built this house as an antithesis of that costly environment; while trying to achieve something that lives and breathes like luxury akin to projects 3-5x more expensive. My intention was to eliminate fuss, increase buildability and focus on a small handful of textures/colors that promote the intention of the thing. It worked pretty well, and I would do such a better job the next time around.
These days, much like everything else the internet brings, we have grand visibility of the houses other people have. Working class folks can scroll through houses and see all the details, and perhaps associate them with inaccessibility because of the presumed wealth of the owner (which is probably true). But we can, as a collective of builders and designers, offer something that feels really close to that experientially with minimal compromises.
To be clear, I don't think the onus is on design to make this happen. It's largely on the consumer/client base to tone down on the expectations that are driven by a voyeuristic MO (instagram etc). But it would be good to normalize the correct offerings that don't cost a ton, but also aren't plasticky, so that nothing feels like a complete compromise of quality.
For those out there trying to find the balance of accessibility (cost perspective) and good design, what are you running into that keeps you from doing that?
Thanks for looking and offering ideas for making a beautiful world more accessible.
submitted by /u/Odd-Maybe4756[link] [comments]