We are frequently asked the cost of building a project. Universally the answer is: It depends what you build. Following is a list of some of the elements that go into homes in our region and their installed costs. The prices will vary depending on the supplier, contractor and the market conditions at the time of the bid.

Estimated Installed Costs of Building Components From Contractor Survey

Living Room Ceiling

Even though it may not be the first thing you notice when you enter a room, the ceiling makes a big impact on how you perceive the space.  A well designed room should include careful study of how the ceiling is perceived.  Simple unadorned ceilings are fine as long as they fit the rooms they are above.  There is almost no limit to the design options available when considering the ceiling of a home.

Exposed Beams In Kitchen

When additional ceiling height is needed, sometimes the best choice is to reveal the underlying structure.  In this kitchen, the ceilings were low and unattractive.   The beams were even better than we hoped for once the contractors took down the plaster.

Built Up Beams in Master Bedroom

In this master bedroom, we provided interest and detail by designing built up beams which were painted the color of the surrounding trim.

Study With Barn Beams and Reclaimed Timbers

200 year old beams reclaimed from barns slated for distruction as well as reclaimed flooring work together in this study to create a warm, rustic feeling.

Curved Ceiling Reflects Curved Structure of Roof

This screened porch has a lofty feeling with a natural pine bead board ceiling following the curve of the exterior structure.  The roof of this porch is a copper barrel vault.

Front Door With Side Lights and Transome

The front door is a symbolic welcoming gesture to the world beyond.(even if we enter the mudroom door most of the time)  When designing a new home, a strong inviting front door is relatively easy to create.  An existing home whose front door is ill defined and hard to access, often poses a greater challenge.  Many times the biggest hurdle is to create a functional front door on a home whose approach is defined by the automobile rather than foot traffic.  We enlist landscape architects when the problem is really not about the house but is the setting surrounding it.

Covered Entry Door

A front door does not need to be grand or complex to be inviting.  Although my personal preference is to provide cover at a front door, that convenience is not absolutely necessary.  Simple designs can work well.

Home With Red Door

In a few of our homes, the front door is the door which is used by family and friends on a daily basis.  Most of the time, the front door is where guests are greeted and the side door is where family and close friends end up coming in.  If that side or back door is the one used 90% of the time, I feel it should be given it’s due and also treated as an important focus of the home.

Recessed Door with Stone Surround

200 Year Old Brick on New Wall

Brick is a great example of a material which must be removed from a wall carefully then cleaned, sorted and stored.  There is a high loss factor since many of the bricks crumble  when separated from the mortar.  Care must be taken to confirm that the old brick was fired properly.

Reclaimed Flooring and Beams

Reclaimed flooring must be pulled up from an old home or barn without splitting the wood and at the same time nails pose a threat to saw mills if the boards need straightening.

Reclaimed Beams, Flooring, and Bookcases From Resawn Beams

Barn beams, which can be used decoratively or structurally, need the least amount of reprocessing. If the beams are made into flooring, they must go through a saw mill and need to be milled to create uniform widths and thicknesses.

Today’s fast growth pine varieties cannot come close to matching the durability, beauty and grain structure of 200 year old lumber.  The rich dark patina which comes from age, cannot be easily reproduced with stain alone.

Given the chance, we use reclaimed materials whenever possible.

Home Office with Transom Windows

A home office can consist of anything from a countertop with a plug for a laptop to the most elaborate command center worthy of a corporate titan.  To me the two most important characteristics of a home office is that it is a place you like to work and it helps you organize and  find the stuff you are working on.

Often our clients insist on a great view from their home office while others find a view too distracting.  There is no ‘right’ solution to a personal work space except one that helps you get the job done.

There can be a dichotomy between wanting to be part of family activity on the one hand and the need to concentrate on the other.  Sometimes a well placed set of pocket doors can create a reasonable balance.

Home Office With a View

There is only one consistent planning component, and that is the fact that technology will change continuously. It is easier to build in options for new cables, outlets and connections than it is to retrofit.

Home Office With Fireplace

Like any insurance policy, a generator is an unwelcome expense until the power goes out and then it can literally be a life saver.  Family members and friends with medical conditions that require constant power can be at risk during these blackouts.  Extended power outages in the winter can allow pipes to freeze especially if you are away on vacation or only up on weekends. Hundreds of dollars of food can spoil during a summer power failure, so the price of a back-up system can be offset by the damage and losses it prevents.

Most new homes we design in areas prone to power loss include an automatic back-up system. Homeowners can setup a simple system with the help of an electrician for as little as $1500 which will power their oil or gas fired furnace, well pump and a few other outlets.  Of course someone must be around to manually turn it on and keep the generator filled with gas.

The following is a range of prices for generators including installation by an electrician.  Not included is any structure or gas tanks/lines which would be provided by the individual gas companies or any underground work.

$2,100 portable generator

$370 transfer switch

1. Portable generator with manual transfer switch-$1000 to $3000 for the generator  plus $400 for the switch and installation. (Powers a few circuits)

$4000 propane generator including automatic transfer switch

2. Small propane generator(15kW) with automatic transfer switch-$4000 plus $900 installation and any underground work needed.(Powers most circuits in average home)

$11,000 (30kW) propane generator

3. Medium sized propane generator(30kW) with automatic transfer switch-$11,000 plus $1300 transfer switch plus  $1750 installation and any underground work needed.(Powers the average whole house completely)

Special thanks to Kyle Lougheed of Ginocchio Electric who installs generators for many of our clients for his help in estimating installed prices

Quiet Space With Bookcases and Fireplace

We all need time to think, read and/or write, to sketch or simply dream.  A quiet space within our home can be a refuge from hectic lives and too many electronic diversions.  That space doesn’t need to be a closed room with a heavy door, you may want to be close to the activity inside your home, just not in the middle of it all the time.

When planning a quiet or contemplative space, care should be taken to decide whether the room is going to focus inward, outward or both.  If there is an existing view, designing the size and placement of windows is critical.  An inward focused room might include a fireplace, an art wall or perhaps bookcases galore.

We sometimes include a reading nook in our designs which has a built in window seat and a side wall to lean up against. It is important to remember that one person’s contemplation may include Tolstoy while another’s is brandy and cigars.

In the summer, my back porch gives me a needed respite, and in the winter my quiet space is our kitchen at 5:30 in the morning.  This is the time before everyone wakes up that I use to daydream and write blogs.

Quiet Space With Art Niches

Quiet Home Office

Restored Entry

Entering and leaving most homes, we pass through an entry hall that is formal or casual, one that is meant either for guests, family or for everyone. Many homes we design have a main entry which is meant for the arrival of guests with a place to hang their coats, and a ‘mud room’ entry which is for everyday use as well as muddy boots, dogs and gardening apparel.

In my house (circa 1790) we have a center hall with one end leading to a porch and the back yard and on the entry side, a covered portico. Our entry hall became so chaotic with piles of coats, shoes and gloves, we built in a bench, hooks, baskets and shoe storage for every member of the family.  This really made a big difference when getting everyone out in the morning and reduced our chaos.

A more formal, double height entry speaks of arrival.  It makes sense to include a closet for guests’ coats either within the entry or close by.  Even though this type of entry is used mostly for guests, owners enjoy the formality of descending a grand staircase each morning on their way to breakfast.

The first thing we see when we enter our homes is the entry hall.  It deserves the attention given the rest of the house.

Mudroom Entry With Storage

Double Height Entry Hall

Simple Entry Hall

New Stair Hall

Entry Hall With Stair

Entry With Pocket Door

Ironfish, Metalsmith, Artist, Craftsman

Attendance was up over 30% from last year and we all had a great time!  Here are photos of a couple of vendors who generated a lot of interest.

Because of this years’ expanding attendance, we are considering the addition of a tent section, which would increase the number of vendors.  We will be interviewing craftspeople that produce high quality unique products for the home.  If you know someone who fits this category, please ask him or her to get in touch with Lois at lois@crisparchitects.com.

I look forward to seeing everyone next year.

WindTroinics/Honeywell Wind Turbine

Talking to the Experts

Screened Porch Addition to Period Home

As I sat down to dinner on our porch the other night, I knew something was wrong.  The kids were already scratching.  I turned on the ceiling fan, which normally blows away all but the most determined bugs and it barely had any effect.  The next thing I knew, the kids were going for the bug spray.  We made it through dinner, but until this crop of mosquitoes has gone south, we will be eating indoors. It dawned on me that in an average year we get few mosquitoes around our house.  If they were as bad all summer as they were the other night, I would have built a screened porch instead of an open porch, or I would be having screen panels made. If everything were equal, an open porch is the ideal choice for enjoying the outdoors while under a roof, but if the bugs make outdoor living impossible, screens are the way to go.  As I have mentioned in the past, the Phantom Screen Company makes an automatic roll down screen, which is very effective, but due to the roller, tracks, and power requirements, it does not always adapt well to every porch. In the end, sometimes an old fashioned screened porch is the best insurance against the onslaught of insects who just won’t leave us alone.

Interior of Additon

Porch With Deck Above

Screened Porch Below Roof Deck

Screened and Open Porch

Screened Porch With Grill

Screened Porch After Styling

It was on a rainy morning a couple of weeks ago that our photographer, Rob Karosis, began shooting the first of our recently completed projects.  If it were my first photo shoot with Rob, I might have been worried.  As always he pulled it off beautifully, and you really can’t tell it was drizzling.

We have been working with Rob for many years and our photos are a team effort.  We borrowed some props from our friend, Ruthie Bontecou at Punch in Millbrook, NY. Sandee Mahoney who is great at architectural design, also is our primary photo stylist with Joe Melito and myself filling in as needed.  Rob is always the director who knows the final effect he is trying to achieve.

Similar to the architecture itself, architectural photography is an art form, using objects, proportion and light to make beautiful compositions.  On top of the creative aspect (not unlike architecture) there is a technical side, which is vital to the final product.  During the shoot Rob uses artificial lights where necessary, but he must often wait for the natural light to be just right in order to enhance the composition. Many hours are spent adjusting colors and contrast and balancing the layers of indoor and outdoor light.  In his virtual darkroom, he makes them work together.

An architectural photographer cannot make a bad project look good, but they certainly can bring out the best of any design.

Space During Styling

Close Up of Table

Front Page of Web Site

I am really excited to announce that after many months of hard work our web master Sven Nebelung completed our new and improved Crisp Architects web site.  Sven created the previous web page almost 10 years ago when a lot of people were using dial-up connections for the Internet.  At that time images needed to be small for quick loading.  Most of us have faster connections these days so we decided to enlarge all the photos and enhance the format.

We have gotten many compliments about the web page over the years from people who liked the way it looked and the simplicity of navigation.  With the new site, we tried to maintain that simplicity but enlarge the photos that our favorite photographer, Rob Karosis, shoots for us.

Although we think it is perfect, I’m sure Sven would love feedback from anyone who has a chance to click through the new site.  Please take a look and send us a note if you can think of any way we can make improvements.  Jimmy Crisp

Inside page

Wood and Stone Floor

The selection of a kitchen floor is another example of how our wealth of choices makes those selections all the more difficult.  The criteria for a kitchen floor includes the following:

1.  It must be attractive-a very broad and subjective requirement, which is often in the eye of the beholder.

2.  It must be durable-there are many forms of durability.  For wood, durability may mean looking good with dings and scratches.  With stone or tile, you will want something chip and stain resistant.

3.  The surface should be pleasant to walk on-radiant heat greatly enhances this.  It especially helps  with a stone floor, Wood floors simply need to be smooth and splinter free.  Serious cooks also appreciate a surface that is easy on the feet.

4.  It should fit the budget.  Material prices for kitchen floors can vary from $3.00 per square foot to over $100/sq ft.

5.  One of the most important criteria is that the kitchen compliments the rest of the house.  We can all think of kitchens, which seem as though they were placed in a home without someone ever looking at the style of adjacent rooms.

Stone

Some choices and their general characteristics include:

1.  Wood-varies from soft to quite hard.  A broad palate of colors and textures is available.

2.  Stone-benefits greatly from radiant heat and holds up well to dogs and rough treatment. It can be a bit hard on the feet.

3.  Tile-almost limitless variety available.  Grout choices are important since the grout is usually the hardest part to clean.

4.  Cork-soft to walk on and easy on dropped plates.  Cork has a distinctive look that works in some homes.

5.  Concrete-perfect for radiant heat, and can be finished in many colors and textures-requires special construction detailing.

Walnut floors

The kitchen is one of the most frequently used spaces in the home.  The floors endure spills of everything from spaghetti to red wine, olive oil to flour.  When choosing a kitchen floor just make sure it is ready for all the messy fun you will put it through.

Pine Floors

Stained/Painted Floors

3" Thick Swinging Doors

Garage doors may seem to be a very mundane topic, not worth much thought in the overall scheme of home design, but in our office, that is not the case.  When you think about it, garage doors are quite large elements, which need to be worked into the composition of a building. Those considerations are important whether it is a stand-alone garage, garage/guest house, or a garage connected to a home.

We have designed 3” thick authentic swinging carriage house doors for an owner who didn’t mind clearing the snow in the winter, and we have chosen ‘off the shelf’ doors to match our structures.  Most often we take an ‘off the shelf’ door and modify it with cross members or other details.

Doors With Modified Details

The proportions, details and colors of garage doors are as important as any element in the design of a home or accessory building.  We strive to make sure that the garage door style both matches and enhances the surrounding architecture.

Door Selected From Manufacturer

Doors Which Match Color and Details of Home

Simple Modified Doors