Fernando Ruiz is a home builder with several decades of experience building affordable homes that are still high quality. In his book “Building An Affordable House” he details how and where it is possible to smartly design and reduce costs without being cheap or sacrificing. The details provide a lot of insight into where “value” is important in a home, and how a house might be built, changed, or upgraded in the right places.
What Is “Affordable”?
What does he mean by “affordable”? A house that someone earning 80% of the median income can buy on less than 30% of their salary. As a rough goal - a house that costs about the same per month as the rental price of a three-bedroom apartment.
How To Do It: Value Engineering
Value Engineering: a studied approach to cutting costs without compromising quality.
This requires both knowledge and skill. You can’t “just do it”.It involves dissecting every facet of construction and analyzing each reduction against uncompromising standards. Look through all parts of your business for potential savings, then compare each potential reduction to see how it affects quality.
Value is built into a project from the foundation and up - not added as an afterthought.
Like others he believes success is created $10 at a time.
Ruiz advises builders to work backwards to a construction budget based on this goal.
Work As A Team - Designer, Builder, Trades
Ruiz says: engage contractors early in the design process. Collaborate with subcontractors and material suppliers to find cost savings. They are the experts at cost for each of their own areas, so they can find the best tradeoffs. Ruiz calls this “Blueprint Democracy”.
Creating and reviewing the plan with a cross functional team is a good place to start: a designer, a framer, a plumber, an HVAC expert, and an electrician. Ask "what can all of the other trades do to facilitate your work?"
The number of people involved in construction makes it easy for human error to creep in and cost money. A finalized blueprint should be like paint-by-numbers.
Write actual dimensions in bold, on a spare blueprint for each trade
Specify a common "pull point" for everyone to measure from the same place
Help set up everyone so they can do their job well, without stepping on each other’s toes or getting in the way.
It’s interesting that many of Ruiz’ principles make use of modern building science and improved construction techniques, such as advanced framing.
“Study and engineer every system in your home, then work out problems before breaking ground. Use advanced construction techniques to build a better shell.”
Why Build “Affordable”? An Investment In The Community
Ruiz shares data on how much home prices and costs have increased since the mid 1990s. The book is from 2005, so this is even more true two decades later.
See if this sounds prescient:
“House prices have increased much faster than incomes. … If or when interest rates go up, many first-time buyers won't be able to afford a home.” —Chapter 1, Money Matters
Ruiz notes that many large companies can find great ways to improve profitability on high-end, pricey homes using his techniques. But for him, focusing on building at the “affordable” end of the market is also about investing in and creating the community:
“Building affordable homes … [is] a social investment in the community, providing the opportunity of home ownership to those who the market might otherwise leave behind.
Knowing you are helping to build a better world … Where families can afford to live. Good housing affords happiness.” —Chapter 1, Money Matters
Elements Of Good Design
Good Design means: efficient, valuable, affordable design that is also easy to build.
Keep It Simple
“Create a cube. This gives the best floor-to-wall ratio, so the smallest exterior space for a given living area. This gives you the most efficient cost, and the best lateral and shear resistance for hurricane and seismic zones.
Use simpler shapes. This keeps the second story simpler, as well as the roofline and plumbing/wiring/connections that need to be made.” —Chapter 2, Design
Use All Of Your Space
When placing the house on the lot - use the smallest possible setback from the front, and build to the edge of the lot. This makes the best use of space and gives you more usable area. WrathOfGnon would approve.
"The traditional practice of setting the house in the center of the lot and leaving large setbacks on all four sides greatly reduces the usability of the land on both sides of the house.
You can create ‘location, location, location’ through careful site design and development in almost any neighborhood". —Chapter 2, Design
Design And Build For *Your* Site, Beginning With The Foundation
Get a soil test to see how much weight it can hold. The test may show you need less foundation because the earth is strong. Then build a foundation that is designed to hold the load you need, for the type of ground you are on. Don’t use a one-size-fits-all, over engineered solution.
"Millions of dollars are buried every year in oversized and sometimes unnecessary footings". —Chapter 3, Foundations
A team of: an engineer, a soil expert , and local “ready-mix” plant operator will be able to figure out the right materials for foundations and basements.
Group Plumbing Together
Ruiz shows how planning can make a house both easier and cheaper to build. For example: by grouping plumbing fixtures together - both on the same floor, and between floors. I am glad to see this idea show up across multiple sources and experts, matching the Hot Water Rectangle.
"Save money on lavatory and kitchen faucets, which are easy to replace. But insist on high quality brand name products for anything that's buried inside a wall". —Chapter 5, Plumbing
You know the chapter is good, because it is named “Plumbing: Less May Be Better”.
Group Electrical Together
Group, space, and plan electrical boxes so that all trades can do their jobs quickly and easily. Ruiz shows several examples of changing the layout or shape of a room to maximize usability while minimizing un-useful outlets and switches. “Your eraser can be a very lucrative drafting tool”.
“To help the electrician avoid extra kitchen receptacles, install a ledger of blocks along the back of every counter. This allows them to locate outlets exactly where required.” —Chapter 7, Wiring and Light Fixtures
Air Sealing, Air Sealing, Air Sealing
It’s nice to see Ruiz’ experience confirming advice from other sources - like how air-sealing is one of the most cost effective improvements you can make to the comfort and energy efficiency of your home:
"Few upgrades deliver as much benefit at low cost as airtight construction and upgraded insulation. … Air sealing is more cost effective than insulating with a higher R value.” —Chapters 2 and 6, Design and Insulation
Design In Beauty
“Designs need livable traits to help people love the house.
Even as you whittle away expenses, don’t forget that the definition of value ultimately rests in the perception of the buyer. … It’s the ‘inefficient’ details like overhangs, arches, and cozy nooks of “wasted space” that many buyers value most. … Review your plan to make sure it has a few lovable traits. Never underestimate the power of aesthetics”. —Chapter 2, Design
Plus Many More Tips And Tradeoffs
The book is short (200 pages) but is a constant stream of tips and advice. Ruiz lists *many* alternative methods for framing, foundation, and steps during all phases of construction.
Each chapter contains a neat sidebar called “Money-Saving Green Checklist”. The interesting part is that the lists both save you money and make the design better. Brilliant.
Summary
This book is a fabulous resource if you are building a house from scratch. For improving an existing house I found it less useful. I did not find that many tips or changes that I would be able to make in my current home, but I am happy to have confirmed that several of the fixes I have already made (air-sealing) were the correct decision.
If I was designing and building a house from scratch, I would definitely get a copy of this book, and go over it with the design, build, and trade teams I was working with.
References
Building An Affordable House, Fernando Ruiz