We’ve just had our land clearing done, it makes it a little more real now I guess. I’ve spent the last 6 months or so just working on budgeting and pricing and it is taking way longer than I wanted, I had hoped to have a budget by thanksgiving, I’ll be lucky to have it by March I think.
We cannot do any more work until the loan closes because of title issues, which is unfortunate because I’d be willing to pay for the excavation to start now just to get a head start because I think the house isn’t going to be done by the time we’ll want to move (which means we’ll be stuck renting). But we were able to get the trees cleared at least.
I haven’t been there to see it yet, but I think it turned out really good from the pictures. This is the view from dirt level, we’ll be much higher when looking out a window, even the first floor is above grade.
View From the Road
View Down the Driveway
Big View
Kudos to you for being able to follow your dream like this! Very admirable. My old man is interested in doing the same and we are trying to wrap our minds around how much something like this would cost. Can you provide insight as to the cost of this castle (excluding the cost of land)….?
Somewhat over $200 a sq/ft. You could get it cheaper by using all stick frame wood construction (vs the concrete and steel I’m using) and perhaps a less aggressive floorplan (less big open spaces inside, square instead of round towers, etc). But one big cost unable to be avoided is stone. I can’t even afford real stone, and finding some of the absolutely cheapest manufactured stone, lucking out and having it be manufactured in the town in which I’m building, calling and negotiating a volume deal with the owner, and finding a really economical installer (some bids were double his), I’m still going to be paying around $350,000 just for stone veneer, and that doesn’t count special trim pieces. You can buy a whole house for that. If you’re willing to use stucco on the exterior you could save a bundle.
Just found your blog after doing a google search on “building a modern castle”. Fantastic! I hope to do the same some day… ideally, on the water. I’ve bookmarked your site and will be following the progress.
Best of luck!
–Rick
Ishmael –
Just came across your blog and honestly not sure how I didn’t find it sooner. You and I apparently have incredibly similar interests, criteria, and plans; allbeit perhaps different styles. I’ve been interested in building my own castle for nearly two decades, and spent much of the last decade doing research, planning, modeling (trimble/sketchup), cost planning, location hunting, etc. I would be very interested in catching up sometime. I am pretty yound and likely still decades away from being able to begin my project, but like you benefit from a career that will make my plans a real possibility.
Anyway – I have plenty of questions: One minor one for example: I had always planned on a similar wall structure – Stone/Foam/Concrete/Foam/Stone, but in my current plans, I assume a much thicker wall. At the base, the walls would be much thicker (partly due to splayed base, but also simply to support several floors) and becoming less thick at higher levels. In manys of the mid-range floors, I assume an outer wall of 2 ft’ thickness minimum, with similar assumptions to your own, but using 4-6 inch ashlar rock layers instead of veneer. Obviously this is expensive, but curious about your decision making in this area, since I’m sure you (like me) value the authenticity quite a bit and would have preferred natural stone.
Anyway – Would love to pick your brain since your are 20+ years ahead of me in the process, but with freakishly similar ambitions and definitions of success.
Indy, our walls do taper in thickness like that. I think the first floor is like a 16 inch thick wall (not counting sheathing/stone, just the structural portion), and then they tend to lose 2 inches a floor as they go up. The splayed base I’m thinking just to do with dirt, pile up and grade dirt, then install what is called stone riprap, put moss and pebbles in, make it look old, etc.
As for using full thickness stone, it simply is not affordable for me. The exterior is about 30,000 sq/ft of wall face, full thickness stone is around $35 sq/ft installed. Veneer is more like $12. So, I’m saving $600,000+ by using veneer.
I can’t even afford real thin veneer stone. I’ve negotiated for a good deal ($3 sq/ft) on manufactured stone veneer. All in with install, lath, mortar should put me about $9 sq/ft, for 35,000 total square feet (including interior usage). When you’re dealing with that much square footage, a $1 difference adds up quickly.
Ishmael, Thank you for your quick response. Makes complete sense and I’ve assumed there will be difficult decisions such as this along the way. Love the idea for the splayed base and adding some age to it.
Planning to follow your progress and will likely ask questions along the way. Interested to know more about site choice, style preference, budgets (time and cost), overall size, room design, etc. Really appreciate you posting all of this. I’ll be a frequest visitor, so hopefully you post often (although I know progress must be painfully slow).
Wish you the very best of luck.