leedhouse.info

LEED Silver at $191 per sq ft in Houston - final budget and LEED meeting

We have a final budget! I met this morning with Michael Strong of Green Haus Builders (www.greenhausbuilders.com), to go over the final numbers, and we are right around $625,000 for the final, "take it to the bank" number.
This works out to be $191.37 / sq ft as the house is 3,266 sq ft. Not bad for a custom, LEED Silver house.
If you check out the chart, you can see some fluctuations, reflecting the budget phases. Back in October we first put in all the things we could possibly want (within reason, and with an overall budget conscious approach), which took the budget up around $600,000.
This number then made us take a long hard look at priorities, and we eliminated some things we did not really need. Out went some things - metal siding, electronics and data network and a few others. Turns out this was the right thing to do, to leave room for what was going to come later.

Then, once the plans were finished courtesy of RD Architecture (www.rdarc.com), Michael got in accurate bids from the subcontracts. In addition, the plans included completed engineering, with a peer and beam foundation, rather than the slab previously envisaged. So the two big increases at the end are for concrete and framing - the core essentials of the house. Some things had just not been added - millwork for example. There were also several small increases, as the plans were now used to make proposals, and some choices, such as a better side door, a slightly larger window in one place - yes, my extravagant steel sink is in there somewhere :-)

We feel that we have a very accurate number now, and will proceed with permitting and seeking financing.

We also held a 3 hour LEED meeting a couple of weeks ago with our LEED rater, to go over all the points - we are looking very solid at the Silver level. We went over each category, and made an accurate count, and where an estimate was called for, made sure it was conservative. Even if we lose 4 or 5 points for some reason, we will be able to achieve Silver, and that is exactly what we were aiming at.