Hi Gidget,
Have been offline for a while, so I'm sorry that I'm just discovering this post now. We built a small ICF home in Seacrest last year, and are very pleased with it. We searched high and low for builders (all types of builders, not just ICF), as we had a very specific (read: low) budget, and we needed to find someone who could build not only high quality, but also very affordably. We found a terrific builder, and we would recommend him to anyone. PM me and I'll give you more info.
He also does very reasonable house plan drafting. It sounds like you have a plan already, but in case you don't, check out his website at
www.WiseHomeDesign.com. Our plan--the "Seabreeze"--is on that site. It's just under 1,400 sq ft of interior space (1,520 exterior sq ft).
We have a house in NY, and that's where we spend the summers (we're there now). We spent the winter in the house in Seacrest, and the heating bills were about $100/mo. The cooling bill for mid-May to mid-June was only about $45, but we weren't there for 1/2 the month (the AC was set to 80 degrees, so I'm sure it still came on). So I expect that to go down for the remainder of the summer.
There are photos of our home under construction on that site, too, which are really cool.
So far, we've been very pleased. One of the main benefits we experience (esp because we're very close to a busy section of 30A) is the quietness. It's true that the cell phone won't work in the house. But we'd set our phones on a windowsill, and it usually still rang--then we'd just go outside to talk. No big deal (unless it was raining...).
We have a hip roof, and only pay about $1k/yr for the whole policy (wind/flood, etc.). Design-wise, in a smaller house, I definitely recommend going with at least 9-ft celings (that's what we used, and we could've gone taller). Our cathedral living area is 12 ft, and that's very comfortable.
We used impact glass instead of getting hurricane shutters. We got the windows & exterior doors at Home Depot because they were cheaper than our builder's contact, but we didn't have a good experience with Home Depot. They constantly screwed up the orders, and the exterior doors (steel) are poor quality. The windows are nice looking, though (we got the bronze/black color for the frames and grills, and with the white stucco exterior, achieved the Alys beach look we wanted).
We opted for stick-built interior walls, which is a cheaper option than ICF interior walls. (If a storm gets through those 11-inch exterior walls, then who cares if there are interior ICF walls?)
Since we're not there now, you could feel free to go check it out. The builder has a key so he could show the interior to you, too. We also used some very cool bamboo fencing (also installed by our builder).
So get in touch if you'd like more info. You're very wise to build ICF, and I don't think you'll be disappointed. But don't believe the stuff about it being more expensive than stick built. We didn't find that to be the case. We built a beautiful house that looks much more expensive than it really was (oak interior doors, granite floors, solid maple cabinets, granite fireplace, high-end fixtures, etc.). We found same-size modular houses that were more expensive than our house...and the build quality difference, well, there just is no comparison.
We also have a great source for solid wood kitchen cabinets--don't do HD or Lowe's...those are very poor quality. You won't believe how gorgeous our cabinets are, and how cheap they were (they were "ready to assemble" and our builder assembled and installed them). They're a real wow factor in the house.
So get in touch...as you can see from this verbose message, I've got lots to say, and would love to share more of our experiences if you're interested.
elenamaria
Thanks again
