New Build Design Hacks for Efficiency and Affordability 

It’s funny that we consider a house that is 1500-1600sqft as a small or tiny house. Most people never use all the space in larger homes. It’s waste of money for building cost and for energy cost to heat and cool unused space. 1500-1600 is plenty of space for a family of 4.

I absolutely love the content that Keith puts out. I love his concept of building in stages, and cash flowing as it comes. Our generation needs more of this advice if we ever want to own a home.

Most homes are built big , fast, and look like all the rest. Nice to see these architectural details and customization go into a small home. Great work!

As a HVAC technician and appliance mechanic. I love you. That mechanical room will make everything so much easier for installing and servicing equipment along with the rest of the home it impacts.

I love this video. I am just not a fan of the electrical box on an exterior wall ... I would much prefer the electrical box on an interior wall and not compromise my insulation

The only caveat about having the mechanicals in between the two upstairs bedrooms is the noise of the heating/cooling system turning on and off while people are trying to sleep. It may seem like a small thing but can be very annoying. Make sure you plan to put in noise cancellation framing/insulation in that room.

That's one of the cleanest build sites I've seen.

This is going to be a gorgeous home Keith. You and your team really put a ton of thought and heart into these details to prioritize function and how people will actually inhabit the home. Please do a video once you have insulation in and talk about air sealing and ventilation strategy for this build.

A full covered porch on the front would make it farmhouse style. Nice use of space in the design any raised ceiling does add a spacious feel.

Great vid. lots of good idears here... Nice design, tight. Love the creative use of "leftover spaces", so often overlooked in tract developments.

He keeps insisting it's a tiny little place. This house is bigger than any average house in France. We have around 1200sf and ours is considered big and people keep commenting how big it is 😂

Who else wish for this man to build their home? Family of six here, we would love to build a small but sufficient home just like this!

For an American home, this is pretty solid. I like your thoughtfulness about making best use of space for storage and utility purposes. Good consideration for aesthetics too. Keep it up.

SPpent the last 2 years DIY building my own home and now debt free as a result.

love the various seating benches with informal opportunities to dwell. Thanks, Keith. Great ideas!

in addition to the added height boxed in around the attic access to keep cellulose from falling, i like to sandwich a few layers of EPS between drywall (lower) and sheathing (upper). a nice dense foam/rubber gasket around the edge helps finish off the energy improvements. a pair of large drawer handles on the underside gives you better control too.

I spent about 10 years building homes as a subcontractor, got into Real Estate and been doing that for about four years. I’ve been aching to get back to building houses, but I’d like to do it as the contractor, like what you’re describing. It’s been difficult to get my food in the door.

My 2 cents as a builder. Use a kerdi in the showers and foam blocks for the stool in the shower corner. Get some blocking in those bathroom walls for handholds.

Great overview, really helpful to have you explain your reasoning from a framing perspective and how that translates to the finished benefits.

Very helpful Thank you for sharing

Smart ideas and very well explained! Well done sir!

I like that explanation of getting every sf on that upstairs bump out. Then you walk into the bedroom with a loss of 30-40 sf from thos rafters at the wall. A 5/12 would look horrible but a sloped or flat roof would cost less and get you 20-40k in value back in those bedrooms. Using my market $300sf pricing.

Wow. Great explanation!👍

Looks nice - I wanna live here!

❤ You just became My Spirit Animal

I love the details!

A small footprint, while maximizing interior space. Good job with taking advantage of all the dead spaces people don't normally think about. I'd be interested in this house plan if you have a garage option designed.

Your electrical boxes need to be bumped out when installed next to door frames. The door trim will interfere with the finished plate eveytime. Also, the raised attic access makes it harder to get in and out of the attic.

I could tell this plan was great even from your mechanical room video on it. It is really cool. One thing about not using the trusses is that it probably allowed you to have a bigger upstairs? Could you have still got 16 ft wide upstairs with them? I love all the design additions you made.

Keith! Do you sell those saddle supports for the timber posts? I’m a GC up in Northern Utah and we just changed over to timber posts on our builds. I tried to find the post you mentioned from a year back but couldn’t find anything. I would love to see some details on how you’re anchoring those timber posts to the porch in a video or talk to you about it. I love your channel. Just found it this morning and I’m watching everything. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I wish I would’ve been able to work for someone like you when I first started out in the industry. Would’ve saved me a lot of headaches and sleepless nights but you live and you learn I guess haha.

Excellent video!!

Nice!

Nice video, thank you.

Love Keith❤

Great video

I like the use of space especially in a time with high $/ft2. Unfortunately smaller homes are higher dollar per square foot on what is essentially a custom home. I think contractors will charge more on smaller homes due to fewer days on site. Any time there is increased complexity above standard building practice the price will increase. Will be hard to compete with large developers with a handful of home designs that their contractors can knock out in a production manner leading to lower costs to produce. You may end up with a home thats hard to sell due to the price per square foot. Of course thats market and site specific.

2 mistakes right off the rip are slab on grade and your electrical panel on the outside.

Love your way of utilizing space. What I do not like about modern builds are the lack of tubs... Walk in showers without a seat are trends... Old people need a seat... To bath your kids you need a tub and spray hose NOT a fancy shower head like rain falling. Plus new builds leave out medicine cabinets and storage in the bathrooms. Personally I HATE CLOSETS off of the bathroom 🤮 yucky. I have to grab achange of clothes while hubby is doing business 😅😂 ick! 😁😉

So- the mechanical room will essentially be a walled/doored off space that is temperature controlled. Got me thinking. So- all our junction boxes for wifi connectivity could also be moved to this room.

The cost is minimal compared to the added value and attraction given to what is typically a boring design.

That is a nice design. A cozy and efficient use of space. What kind of rough in material cost are you talking about?

First time viewer, nice thoughtful nooks and window seating areas and other details and explanations. You mention small house under 1,500 sq. ft., and its probably in another video - what is the size of this house?

Is the walk thru available yet? First I've I've seen of your videos.

This was an interesting video, and I loved all of the little built-in spaces for storage, but I was a bit confused during the part where you were talking about the electrical panel. At least where I live in Michigan, if that was the box the meter was attached to with the service disconnect, it would be surface mounted on the exterior outside of the building envelope so that the only penetration through the wrb would be a hole just big enough for the cable to the breaker box to pass through. If that was the breaker box, it would be mounted flush with the interior wall surface so that breakers could be accessed from the inside, with insulation behind it and the only wall penetration again being for the cable that goes to the meter and service disconnect. It makes no sense to me to have that large of a whole punched through the exterior envelope when that box could've been surface mounted. Also, I think your perspective on house size is rather skewed. You refered to a house under 1500 sq ft as nearly a tiny house, when in reality a tiny house is around 400 sq ft and anything over 600 sq ft can no longer be considered as a tiny house by most definitions. Also, a typical 2 or 3 bedroom house is in the 800 sq ft to 1200 sq ft range, with 1500 sq ft being a large 3 bedroom or a small 4 bedroom home. A typical bedroom is only about 10x10 ft, so if it's a 3 bedroom home that's 300 sq ft. Even if you make the bedrooms 10x12 ft for 360 sq ft and call it 400 sq ft to account for closet space, that still leaves around 1100 sq ft in a 1500 sq ft house for the kitchen, living room, dining room, laundry, and 1 or 2 bathrooms. That is not a small or tiny house for most people, and is plenty for a family of four and overkill for just a single person or couple (if they aren't planning on kids in the near future).

A “tiny” house is under 500sq ft not 1500sq ft. No wonder housing is so unaffordable in the USA. This was literally the average size house in the 1960s.

Where are the plans available? I want to understand how those bump out windows are framed while maintaining necessary structural support. Thanks!

About the attic access, how does more height help with insulation not falling on you. I would imagine seismic effect over time will shake up some insulation but I don’t see how that height will prevent it?

How can i get a copy of the floorplan or purchase the plan from you?

Everything makes sense except for moving air through the house. All the air movement should be controlled . I’m sure Many high efficiency homebuilders would degree.

Why did you put OSB in the inside walls? Does it make the room sound proof, just wondering.

What does something like this cost ?

how much was this build?

Is that advance framing?

How do we get the plan?

well your pretty good ole son.

How much per square ft?

Do you offer architectural drawings?

Dude wants a thicker wood post, go figure 🤔 Everything a single person needs in a home can easily fit in 500 square feet. 1500 square feet is enough for a small family.

Those bump out/bay windows probably add $8k to 12,000. Tempered glass, framing, insulation, siding, trim, roof cost, etc.. There is so much wasted space here it is remarkable. A hallway, the biggest example of wasted space there is. Efficiency of design solves most of these. His much lauded staircase is not only added cost- but imagine moving furniture or beds up that “added feature”. I’m sorry, but this house is neither well designed, economical, nor needed. Pay for those bump out windows for 30 years… with interest. 🤦🏼‍♂️

3:32 you have to say primary, Master is no more 😮

It feels like this gentleman has little clue on how a house is used. His suggestion for “book storage” and “laundry baskets” are completely not fathomable.