"Project Design Part 1" Build Show Build: Boston Ep. 3 

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Thank you sir - been paying attention and asking questions for 35 years

I think he is just selling passive house idea so people over pay for the house and he gets an upsell by installing premium insulation materials which don't pay for themselves.. the solar panel inverters can break and require repair and those heat pumps can break too and are tricky to fix.. oh and that ERV ventilation is mechanical, so that will break too and then there won't be adequate passive ventilation in the house.. good ideas though.. but there is a lot of upsell in this passive house, LEED and solar stuff.. the LEED people who made a big deal out of improving my condo building left a huge gap in the door blowing cold air into the building in the winter and did not care.. because it was all for show and for marketing.. so it is hard to tell what makes sense and what doesn't.. a well insulated house will save money of course.. one thing I was thinking is to pre install the solar panel mounts during shingling of the roof so that they don't drill in afterward to avoid potential leaks at the penetrations of the solar panel mounts..also curious why architects don't seem to use the golden ratio to make beautiful houses like back in the Greek and Roman days, and if they apply simple age old rules to make the house a happy house such as house orientation, etc.. another aspect is that customers really are not architects and they may think they want a jacuzzi or a media room, but really they can't be smarter than age old tested standards that have been tested on millions of people by numerous builders.. so people are more likely to be happy with what is standard and proven to work for people for whatever reasons we may not even know right away, and the customer may end up being happier in a house built on age old rules and standard everything and not what they choose. Like my relative who made a completely open concept house he himself designed, but it is so loud everywhere that you get no privacy when are there.

@@Hello-zf5lq Hello, hello - I think your thinking is wrong. I don't upsell anything. My job is to present options to my clients, offer the pros and cons to such, and coach them along their decision making process. Equipment repair? Do you own a car? Did you buy it thinking it would never need maintenance or repair? Condo's - I don't think I have ever saw one built with any level of good quality, by their nature they are cheap? If we are going back to age old rules, why build it out of marble? Place the house on an elevated base like the temples? Actually most greek temples were around a 2:1 aspect ratio (length to width) which exceeds the golden ratio. Greek and Roman palaces and temples were beautiful, I hardly think you would find their common houses the same. My clients come to me with pre conceived notions of performance and ask that I help them get there - this isn't speculative housing..........Thank you for joining us - much appreciated

@@Hello-zf5lq he has a wealth of knowledge he is willing to share, knowledge about building techniques and materials. Even if his goal isn't to upsell it is going to happen just because people are looking at these videos for ideas on how they could build their own home. Just be grateful he is so generous.

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Thank you for joining us - much appreciated

@@stevenbaczekarchitect9431 💯I am thoroughly enjoying all your Boston build series to date! Have had to view a few more than once so to not miss details and considerations. Smart ways in how you go about doing things Steve. Wow! It really is amazing how important your work is Steve! 🙏💝 You are teaching us and helping us be better prepared. I am growing to see just how important every trades person is in a build. If a Trades person does a good job, belt and suspenders type of job, it would feel that one should bow down to them to say Thank you eh!☺ Finding the right people takes time and constant reaching out and interviews and making sure the right questions are asked. Your presentations are an enormous help in this regard.Sincerely, East Canada, Prince Edward Island🍁🇨🇦😊

@@MegsCarpentry-lovedogs Thank you very much - I am a firm believer we are curators of information and it is our responsibility to share it. Yes, you do need a couple runs at each video, alot of info to try and get in one shot. Enjoy and thanks for joining in - much appreciated

@@stevenbaczekarchitect9431 🙏 ☺ 🇨🇦

Agreed

Thank you for your thoughts, greatly appreciated

A great inspiration was FLW's Usonian houses. Steve is amazing and a joy to work with!!

Thank you

Thanks as always buddy

Thank you

Always a pleasure to have you join us - much appreciated

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Thanks for joining in - much appreciated

Thanks for joining - much appreciated

We are about to build a "real" house

Thank you - much appreciated

Thank you

Thank you - editor is the tops!!! She kills these videos

The engineers I associate with do very well to solve for dreams.....

It is a challenge lol

We need to talk with your company regarding the appliance decisions!

Thank you!!

That is an idea (2 years of each of the utilities/fuel bills) that I am pushing for with the MA legislature. A bill put forth a few years ago by MA Senator Ben Downing for ratings of each house resold had pushback from the RE industry. Simple disclosure of utility usage seems like a no-brainer for consumer protection and needs broad based support. With luck, that is something that might gain grassroots support and be seen as a path for more states once it is done by forward thinking states. Massachusetts first? How about that @senatormikebarrett ?

@@scottrodman Thanks for sharing this info! That's quite interesting that there was a push to do something to improve transparency on this in MA. I suppose it is no surprise that the RE industry was apprehensive about messing with the perception around economics of home buying. Is there anyone you know who is actively working on this in any states, or is there any organizations that come to mind you think would be good collaborators or advocates? I'm in MN and am interested in doing a push on this topic, and hearing about efforts in other states would be very informative for any localized effort.

I am trying to get several groups to adopt this issue. 350’s MA state organization helped me with an effort to get the net metering cap raised in the state last year from 10kW to 25kW, but this RE issue does not seem to have support, largely due to the volume of other issues competing for the time of a limited number of wonderful volunteers diligently working on gas pipeline issues and such. That issue will be a major step for home buyers. What is needed to push more electrification of new and existing homes are programs in each state that provide low cost loans specifically for solar and batteries, state ITC incentives for those systems, and encouragement of participation in peak demand battery programs. Those would make a huge difference in reducing the cost and impact to modernize the grid to deal with the impact of an expanding base of EVs, heat pumps, and induction cooking.

Unfortunately I can remember using Datacad v1 and Sketchup when it first came out. Sketch up has provided an immense amount of design sharing with clients

@@stevenbaczekarchitect9431 When I was studying Architecture (1982-1985) our school was the very first one in Canada that had a computer drafting lab (only one Architect in the entire country, Douglas Cardinal in Ottawa, had a similar computer). The server room was 30x40 feet with a double door to prevent dust getting inside and anyone entering it to work on the servers had to wear a hazmat suit. Using the computer, if you wanted to draw a wall you had to lay out a tracer line for one side of the wall, click on it and enter a measurement for the depth of the wall and then draw the other side of the wall, then draw over the tracer lines with solid lines to create the actual wall. You couldn't add dimensions or notes to the drawing, couldn't create elevations or 3d models, there were no material lists, etc. The entire lab cost over one million dollars and was "state of the art". Now you can download a program onto your home computer for free that has a million times more functionality than that lab ever had. I surprised anyone even does drawings on paper anymore.

Actually I find clients with off the cuff ideas the most intriguin - the ones that want what I just had built are not the most intriguing projects

It's actually a push/pull , plan - exterior-roof......Thanks for joining us - much appreciated

Is there a good source for more information about pumicecrete? I'm guessing it's concrete made with pumice in place of granite gravel to increase the R value?

@@kschleic9053 I am not sure that pumice would replace the gravel. I’ve not looked it up, but this might not be a structural product. It probably has a lot of air pockets for R-value, but needs a structure. I also guess one would not use much, if any, rebar inside. It’s probably more like concrete than hempcrete, though.

Thank You

Everybody has "their" plan.....thank you for joining in - much appreciated

lol you totally don't get it. at all. watch more of steve's videos and you'll realize that the cost of the bag of groceries based on the cost of the groceries within the bag. it's not rocket surgery.

@@stevecrawford6958 it's more about how contractors and others are going the cheap route, not paying attention to details, quantity over quality of projects. Hard to find good people that is willing to go the extra mile to make sure projects are done correctly. That's why I would rather hire someone like him, that would be there at all the steps and over seeing the jobsite making sure it's done right.

@@leekyciabrown3769 that makes sense. but there's just no world where a quote exists until you can convey what you want, what you don't want, and why. your 1900 square foot house could cost 3x more than my 4100 square foot house, or more. email Steve and start a conversation.

What Jesus said... I concur completely.

If you have to ask, then you probably can't afford it. I would guess that the vast majority of custom homes with a budget

It's to keep the attention of the viewer. Just not yours though 😆

I have had the metal roof conversation - here in New England a metal roof costs about 3X, but the metal will last about for asphalt roofs, it may end slightly better, or maybe even, it is an aesthetic choice some people want. It doesn't cost more overall, just initially. Our solar PV arrays usually are paid for within 6 years, most of the time it is more like 5....

@@stevenbaczekarchitect9431 hi steven, I’d love to hear more about the metal roof. I’m in New England and I have standing seam on one of my properties and asphalt on another. The house I am building the cost of materials for metal shingles (made to look like natural stone or other materials) is 5x more but let’s just say it’s 3x as you state some metal roofs are… the asphalt has 25year warranty and I have seen older tech asphalt roofs go much longer - metal roofs really only have 30-40 yr paint warranty but let’s say they go 50 yrs, basics back of envelope will mean it’s still better to put on 2-3 asphalt roofs. I’d like to hear your thought on how solar is only 6-7 years? And also curious what you think about triple vs double pane windows