Framing+Steel

Let me just point out one thing you may want to consider before designing your own home. Don't. Hire an architect, explain what you want, have them design it. It is a lot of fun to sit down and sketch out what you want and how you want to live, but not understanding the structural implications is grossly misunderstood.

So we thought it would be really cool to have a sunken living room and a curved front wall and an open living space and a bedroom that floated over nothing. Which is not a problem if you don't care how much its going to cost. Then by all means design away. There is more steel in this 1700sf house than there needs to be. Most houses- which we've kindly been referring to as 'boxes'- don't even require any steel. We racked up an 8k bill for the steel alone, not to mention the overage on the lumber. And we haven't even built those "really cool" stairs we want.

Until yesterday I would have said how much I loved our framers. All in all, i think they have done a great job. Considering this is not just a box and there have been a few areas that have really taken some time and creativity to get right. They have been downgraded to "like"- see later post regarding windows.

They will done and done and out by Cinco de Mayo.