I am in the very prelimnary stages of planning to have a Spanish-Hacienda style home built in Southwest Colorado. Ideally I would like to use CIF construction. How important is it for the architect to have experience with CIF when designing and preparing construction documents? Also a few more questions about CIF: I rarely hear about using CIF for interior walls. Why is that? From reading the forums, it seems that the contractor / builder experience is more important than the brand of CIF; but is one type of CIF (vertical, composite, block, etc.) better suited for a Hacienda style house than another type? Any recommendations for architects, contractors or builders in the Canon City Colorado area?

Okay John,

You're new and I'll bite...are you sure you want to build with CIF construction...because I don't know if many on here can help you. Now if you are considering insulated concrete forms or "ICF", then that is a different story.

As for the architect, we once did a house (about 8500 sqft), that was litterally drawn on a construction document pad (by the owner) which he bought at the store for $2.00. With a qualified ICF subcontractor, this is possible, but not the best way to go. I have also seen architects draw up ICF house plans that are so complicated that going ICF is a lot more expensive. These are not the norm mind you, but things that have happened. If you have a skilled architect that understands the product and they work with the product's dimensions you will be fine. If you can work with either the manufacture or subcontractor to help them with design, that would be ideal.

Exterior walls are going to build you a safe, quiet, energy efficient thermal envelope. Building interior walls would be cost prohibitive with no real way to gain a return on investment. You can do interior walls, especially if you want quiet between rooms, but other than that, I wouldn't.

I would agree that the contractor/builder experience is much more important that which specific block is used. That being said if they are really good, they should also be able to build with different blocks too. I personally like the traditional flat wall ICF block. Most any would be ideal for what you are looking to do.

Best of luck,

renangle

Yes, I meant ICF. It's dyslexia my kicking in. Thanks for the response. It was helpful.

We have had great results with building designers drawing the plans. Typical charges for average sized homes were less than $700 for a nice set of plans for homes with a basement and one main floor. These plans included plumbing layout and electrical layout. Google building designers in your area.

Spencer,
Where the heck do you find anyone who will design a custom home for less than $700?
It hard to find good stock plans for that money, much less have it customized.

Several in Iowa will do the job as described.

Maybe for projects where there is no engineering required, no permits, no inspections, etc.?

Craig Schreiber in Leadville is a designer who built his own home with a non-polystyrene ICF. He is relatively close http://www.landart.info/wood_block_architecture.html

Also there is builder JK Barnett working on a similar, but much higher budget project in Cherry Hills Village. #2 Random Rd.

It might be worth your while to visit with these people to get a sense for what is involved. They are probably the 2 ends of the spectrum with respect to size, budget, and designer involvement.

Sipper - prescriptive engineering where possible, permit is mostly just a tax, most of the rural areas have no inspections. These projects are typically built considerably above code requirements - just without all of the red tape.

Engineering from a reputable source of mine is typically less than $300 for an average project for those areas that do no fit prescriptive design.