Construction Design

Our overall goal is to design our homes in the most cost effective way to build truly affordable housing that is attractive, that fits well in the neighborhood, and is a model design for other housing in our community.  We strive to find the ideal balance between initial construction cost, and affordability for the long-term. 

Construction Basics - Our first concern is site safety.  Second, our homes are designed, to be affordable for the long and short-term.  Our homes are designed so they can be built well by volunteers.  This Fine Homebuilding website contains excellent information.

Design Team - Board member and Building Committee Chair, Larry Kolloff, designed the home we will be building on Silver Street.    Project Manager Cliff Beebe designed the homes we built in North Bennington, Rupert, and West Rupert.   We work closely with each other and an excellent design team.   The goal is to design a home that works for the family and that serves as a model for all construction in our community.  The Design Team is developing plans for the homes we intend to build on Jennifer Lane in Manchester.

We are developing several designs with the goal to determine the most cost effective way to build truly affordable housing that is attractive, that fits well in the Jennifer Lane development, and is a model design for other housing in our community.

Our design team includes

• Thomas and Jamie Hand of Hand Energy Services
• Bill Badger and Greg Boshart, Badger & Associates
• Alan Benoit, Sustainable Design of Vermont
• Bill Calfee, former owner of Peak Energy Solutions
• John LaVecchia, Building Designer, r.k Miles
• Ramsay Gourd, Ramsay Gourd Architects
• Larry Kolloff - Chair Building Committee

Our homes are designed to

• be affordable to build and easy
  
  
  • for volunteers to construct
  • for new homeowners to maintain
• utilize energy efficient and environmentally responsible  materials.

Characteristics of our homes are

Size -The living space provided—excluding stairwells (except to a basement) and exterior storage—should not exceed:

• 900 square feet - two-bedroom house
• 1,070 square feet - three-bedroom house
• 1,230 square feet - four-bedroom house

• The basic house will have only one bathroom and is accessible to persons with disabilities.  Three-bedroom houses may have an additional half bath. Houses with four bedrooms, or five or more people, may have an additional full bathroom.
• A budget is established with a predetermined limit (e.g., $1,000) to allow the family to personalize their home with such features as appliances, fencing, shed, etc.

Solar Design

Passive Solar - Whenever possible, we design our homes to take advantage of passive solar benefits.  Often, setback requirement do not have much flexibility with how we site our homes. 

Solar Hot Water Heat - we worked with Jim and Karen Lee of Solar Pro to install solar hot water heat in the North Bennington home.  We are completing a cost benefit analysis to see if it makes sense to continue to install solar hot water heat in the future. Such decisions take into account the initial outlay of cash and the payback benefit to the homeowner.  As our mission is to help many families, we cannot spend too much money on any one home.    Narrative description --- Specs --- Brochure

These slides show the specific dimensions of the home we are building on Silver Street in Bennington. The home was designed by Larry Kolloff. board member and chair of the Building Committee.  The area of the First Floor is 720 square feet and the second floor is 600 square feet.   The attic space is 600 square feet and the attic over the first floor bedroom is 120 square feet.