Anybody ever build a slab/patio home?

The wife and I are thinking of making a change. We are considering a move to the country. One option is building a slab on grade home. I’ve heard they are cheaper to build than homes with foundations and basements. I was just wondering if any of you have built a slab home and roughly what they cost/sq ft. I’d really like to hear from a builder. The bank says go ahead, but I gotta come up with 20% down worth of cash/land/sweat equity at closing. I just don’t know roughly what a 3-4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath with a big attached garage slab home costs and I really don’t want to waste a bunch of people’s time to find out I can’t afford it. If any builder or some of you have built one recently and could give me something to go by.
Thanks,MNdrifter.

Drifter – Sq ft pricing isn’t very accurate, there are to many contributing factors. Do you have plans drafted?

We have built quit a few slab on grade homes in the last 12 years….. aprox 30-35. Slab on grade are great for any age but really shine for the 55 and older. Our current project is a slab on grade twin home. We have very very sandy soil which is great and saves a bunch of cash. There is aprox 1300 sq feet per side with 2 beds & two baths & medium size attached double garages. Built on an in town lot with nice amenities but nothing over the top. Not a starter home but more of a mid-grade level of amenities. Sale price in our area $179k per side.

Hope this helps.

Ive built many since 1980 or so ,in every conceivable design,but for the most part, we use a shallow frost protected foundation since mid 80s. A SfPF basically is only 16 to 20 inches in the ground, and the exterior is protected from frost by placing horizontal foam around the perimeter. It’s a very cost effective option when compared to 48 inch frost footings and much less intrusive if the site is relatively flat.

Savings will be in excavation, foundation, and floor joist system. Depending on size of home, can be 20 to 30k less. It varies.

Put a crawl space… Our old house was on a slab the problem is, any major future remodels you will dig out concrete vs going in the crawl space.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Savings will be in excavation, foundation, and floor joist system. Depending on size of home, can be 20 to 30k less. It varies.

+1, My WAG is you are going to save about $10/sf over the footprint of the house. That means if it is a single story, it would be the total square footage but only roughly 1/2 if it is a 2 story.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Drifter – Sq ft pricing isn’t very accurate, there are to many contributing factors.

My standard response to anyone that asks me for “per sqft pricing” is “How much did you pay per pound for your car?” Big difference between buying a Corrolla or a CORVETTE Z06. Both have 4 wheels, transmission, seats, engine,….but significantly different price tags

Just had a 1871 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 2 bath Ranch with a full basement built, building cost (not including lot) was $185/sq ft.

HRG

Thanks guys for thoughts. I really think I’m going to try an talk wife into it. We are young yet (35&38) but this will hopefully be our last home. That’s why I want one level and wide doors. We both have decent jobs. And the next advancement for me I would be required to move closer to work. So I am thinking why not move now when the getting is good in our neighborhood. Good point Randy. I have some chicken scratch plans on construction paper, I guess the next step I will bring them to a designer at a lumber yard. See what they can come up with. Thanks again guys, anymore thoughts I’m all ears.
MNdrifter.

Drifter,
Sit down with your wife.
Take out a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side the header should say “Needs” the other side “Wants”

If you build a slab home, put hot water heat in the floor. AC in the ceiling.
It is worth every penny. Floors are always warn, never a cold spot in the house.
One of my zones is the over-sized attached double garage. I heat the entire house and garage (about 2500 sqft) with natural gas, 95% efficient condensing boiler, with the highest gas bill of about $235. 32ft of glass looking over the lake.

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MNdrifter wrote:

Thanks guys for thoughts. I really think I’m going to try an talk wife into it. We are young yet (35&38) but this will hopefully be our last home. That’s why I want one level and wide doors. We both have decent jobs. And the next advancement for me I would be required to move closer to work. So I am thinking why not move now when the getting is good in our neighborhood. Good point Randy. I have some chicken scratch plans on construction paper, I guess the next step I will bring them to a designer at a lumber yard. See what they can come up with. Thanks again guys, anymore thoughts I’m all ears.
MNdrifter.

Ive got a couple 3 bdrm/2 bath plans that work with a SOG home, if you’re interested in looking at them.

While infloor hydronic heat is often the case, it comes at a pretty steep price by the time you integrate two complete systems.(heating in the floor, cooling in the ceiling) One way around this, is to go with a conventional counterflow furnace, with underslab PVC ducting around the perimeter of the house. I had this in my last golf course house, and was very happy. The 2 lb density foam underslab needs to be about 12 inches below bottom of the slab in order to use this system, but you end up with a warm floor throughout the house, as the furnace brings the house up to seasonal temps. The granular fill in the duct space becomes a “heat sink” when its on top of the foam insulation. There are some guidelines you need to follow in regards to specifying your underslab foam. Horizontal/load bearing foam needs to be 2 lb density foam, but can be either extruded, or expanded foam. My preference is extruded.. anything vertical can be 1.5 lb density foam.

I have a online pictorial of our Shallow, Frost Protected Foundation from my cabin in South Dakota. 19 pictures, with explanations. 18 x 30 house slab and 24 by 24 garage slab. 3 days from breaking ground to ready to build on.. if anyone is interested.

Ill be gone for a week to Lake Powell, starting today..

91reddog wrote:

Ive got a couple 3 bdrm/2 bath plans that work with a SOG home, if you’re interested in looking at them.

While infloor hydronic heat is often the case, it comes at a pretty steep price by the time you integrate two complete systems.(heating in the floor, cooling in the ceiling) One way around this, is to go with a conventional counterflow furnace, with underslab PVC ducting around the perimeter of the house. I had this in my last golf course house, and was very happy. The 2 lb density foam underslab needs to be about 12 inches below bottom of the slab in order to use this system, but you end up with a warm floor throughout the house, as the furnace brings the house up to seasonal temps. The granular fill in the duct space becomes a “heat sink” when its on top of the foam insulation. There are some guidelines you need to follow in regards to specifying your underslab foam. Horizontal/load bearing foam needs to be 2 lb density foam, but can be either extruded, or expanded foam. My preference is extruded.. anything vertical can be 1.5 lb density foam.

I have a online pictorial of our Shallow, Frost Protected Foundation from my cabin in South Dakota. 19 pictures, with explanations. 18 x 30 house slab and 24 by 24 garage slab. 3 days from breaking ground to ready to build on.. if anyone is interested.

Ill be gone for a week to Lake Powell, starting today..

This sounds very familiar to the home my buddy built. I helped him in some of the construction and was there when the insulation, coils, etc were installed. He didn’t opt for AC though, he just puts window AC units in. They are nestled deep amongst pines N of Virginia, MN, so oppressive heat isn’t nearly as much of an issue due to how protected they are by trees, etc.
IDK what he spends on heat bills, but I believe his is electric boilers for the infloor system.
I would love to see your plans if you could share a link to them. I have ideas of buying land up North for recreating and that would be a type of structure I would love to build on it, smaller scale of course.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>91reddog wrote:</div>
Ive got a couple 3 bdrm/2 bath plans that work with a SOG home, if you’re interested in looking at them.

While infloor hydronic heat is often the case, it comes at a pretty steep price by the time you integrate two complete systems.(heating in the floor, cooling in the ceiling) One way around this, is to go with a conventional counterflow furnace, with underslab PVC ducting around the perimeter of the house. I had this in my last golf course house, and was very happy. The 2 lb density foam underslab needs to be about 12 inches below bottom of the slab in order to use this system, but you end up with a warm floor throughout the house, as the furnace brings the house up to seasonal temps. The granular fill in the duct space becomes a “heat sink” when its on top of the foam insulation. There are some guidelines you need to follow in regards to specifying your underslab foam. Horizontal/load bearing foam needs to be 2 lb density foam, but can be either extruded, or expanded foam. My preference is extruded.. anything vertical can be 1.5 lb density foam.

I have a online pictorial of our Shallow, Frost Protected Foundation from my cabin in South Dakota. 19 pictures, with explanations. 18 x 30 house slab and 24 by 24 garage slab. 3 days from breaking ground to ready to build on.. if anyone is interested.

Ill be gone for a week to Lake Powell, starting today..

This sounds very familiar to the home my buddy built. I helped him in some of the construction and was there when the insulation, coils, etc were installed. He didn’t opt for AC though, he just puts window AC units in. They are nestled deep amongst pines N of Virginia, MN, so oppressive heat isn’t nearly as much of an issue due to how protected they are by trees, etc.
IDK what he spends on heat bills, but I believe his is electric boilers for the infloor system.
I would love to see your plans if you could share a link to them. I have ideas of buying land up North for recreating and that would be a type of structure I would love to build on it, smaller scale of course.

PM sent CM..

Heres the finished cabin slab, ready to backfill. the cabin is 18 x 30, 2 story, and the garage is 24 by 30..

Well finding an existing home in my work range is not going well. Seems people are going nuts buying houses right now. We’ve been in bidding wars where we’re $40k above asking price, been second offer a couple times, went to open houses where we can’t find a spot to park in the driveway, etc. We sold our house shortly after my original post last fall. Sold in 6 hours, been renting a house since. We are revisiting the building option. Anybody know where I can get plans to look at for Slab On Grade Home’s? We are looking for something with 2 beds on one side, the master, and 4th bed/office on other side. Open floor plan design.
Thanks,MNdrifter.