Tag: Self-build

Part 2 of the journal

In the previous part of the journal, I wrote about choosing a construction method in terms of business engagement: turnkey contractor, project manager, or full self-management of the construction. In this part, I will talk about construction methods in terms of the physical aspects, the blocks, the rebar, etc., that will make up the house.

If you have chosen a general contractor, then this part of the guide is presumably redundant for you because the choice of contractor dictates the construction method – that which the contractor specializes in. If you choose a project manager or decide to build yourself, the next step immediately follows the deliberation regarding the construction method itself. What will be the material from which your walls are constructed? In the past, the answer to this question was simple. Walls were built from blocks. Today, there are several construction methods from which we must choose.

I will delve into the financial planning of the construction later, but for now, one of the first dilemmas regarding construction is the overall budget in a rough estimate. As we began our inquiries, we saw proposals for all sorts of construction methods that on the face of it are supposed to yield a house at a significantly lower cost than "regular" construction. Wood construction, prefabricated construction, new method X, and new method Y, etc.

It is important to remember that no matter which construction method is chosen, the term "construction method" refers solely to the shell—the outer structure of the house—the walls. The frame accounts for about one-third of the total cost. In other words, even if we find a construction method that reduces the cost of the frame by 50%, the impact on the final price will be 50% × 33% = 16.5% of the total cost of the house. This makes sense. Even in a wooden house, a panel house, or any other method, you still need the same toilets, the same sinks, the same electrical wires, sewer and water pipes, and of course the same concrete-cast safe room. Therefore, one of the first things I learned is the need to take with a grain of salt ideas about significant cost savings by choosing a construction method. It’s not that 16% out of 2 million (about 300,000) is a small amount of money, but it’s a much smaller gap compared to the promises.

The table below was prepared by our project manager, Ronen Kolan, and compares three alternatives we considered:

1. Ytong block
2. Block Ravvid 3rd Gen
3. GSB

The first two alternatives are standard alternatives where a worker lays blocks on top of each other, but there is a difference in the technology used to build the blocks and their insulation properties. This was important to us because of the hot climate and the desire to live with minimal need for air conditioning. The third alternative, GSB, is what is known as light construction or industrialized construction. In this type of construction, there is no worker on site laying blocks on top of each other; instead, a factory prepares all the walls in the factory, and only assembly is done on site. It's like a large IKEA cabinet.

If each criterion in each row can be scored from one to three according to the success of each method in each characteristic, we will get the highest score for the GSB method. Although this method received the highest score, we ultimately chose to work with third-generation Rabi blocks:

It can be seen that the block is wider than usual with a layer of Styrofoam inside the block for improved insulation. There were several reasons for choosing the alternative that received the second-highest score out of the three methods, rather than the highest score:

1. The image shows the roof of the first floor, upon which the walls of the second floor will be built. I marked with red arrows the walls of the first floor that are actually underground. The part that is underground cannot be ventilated in any case by GSM, and the meaning of choosing this method was actually a combination of two methods.
2. We met with the manager of the company that markets the GSM method. Honestly, we just didn't have good chemistry. It happens. It certainly doesn't say anything about him or the method.
3. Some of the criteria seemed irrelevant to us. For example, exposure to future cracks. Our house was built on exceptionally stable rock. My parents' house, located in a neighboring area, hasn't suffered a crack since its construction over fifty years ago, and that was with less advanced construction technologies.
4. While thermal resistance is very important to us, when we studied the subject, we saw that the main thing is actually roof insulation, and specifically in our house, wall insulation has less importance because we chose to have very large windows on the upper floor (the lower floor is mostly shaded).

Large windows in the living room and kitchen intended.

So, after the house was planned, the construction method was chosen, the project manager was chosen, thanks to the bill of quantities the frame contractor was chosen, the time has come for the economic planning of the project. I chose to include the chapter on planning in Chapter D, but this is of course not accurate in terms of the overall project management. Economic planning and execution accompany the entire project. For example, even before planning, one needs to know What is the project budget And this is done through the financial planner even before the meeting with the architect, so that the planning is within budget.

About a decade ago, we began a process that would lead to us having a home in Kibbutz Tel Yosef, where I grew up and where my parents live. We're talking about a neighborhood within the kibbutz where 20 plots were sold to anyone who wanted one. About a third of the buyers had some connection to the kibbutz, and two-thirds were from outside. In this journal, I will present the planning and construction processes with my insights. From the moment we heard about the possibility of purchasing Field in a kibbutz And it took almost ten years before construction could begin. Perhaps I will write about these years later. On this journal, I will write starting from the moment the lot came into our possession, when we received its plans after paying for development, and actually could start planning the house. Building a house is actually a very long series of decisions that the homeowners, my wife and I, have to make along the way.

Decision A – Who will design the house?

House planning is done by an architect. The word architect is a portmanteau of the Akkadian words ardu-akli (servant of the palace) with the word ardkalutu (chief builder). The word architect appears in sources as a house planner. InThe Babylonian Talmud, Baba Metzia, Page 118b" The architect appears as the one responsible for the planning task entrusted to him: "The builder delivered to the architect, the architect is obligated," and in that place Rashi interprets that Responsibility The architect ("father of the creators") oversees the stability and finishing of the structure. Nowadays, the role has been split into two separate entities: Architect Mainly engaged in planning Shape The house is when you Stability The structure ensures The engineer. More on this later.

The architect's role is to bridge the gap between a physical element and two human elements. The physical element is, of course, the plot of land itself, expressed through a plan received from the developer or from whoever sold us the plot / local authority. The human elements are the family building on one hand, and the local authority's building restrictions on the other. Among the authority's restrictions we had were:

1. Limit on house size – beyond a certain size, you have to pay a "fine" for every meter, and even after the fine, there's a limit on the total size.
2. Limit on house height.
3. Parking requirement for a car in a specific spot on the lot.
4. A ground-floor unit must have a house entrance door.
5. Obligation to maintain a protected space for a bombing day
6. Minimum setback of the house from neighbors and street edges
7. And more... all sorts of limitations that I wasn't even involved in, but the architects operated according to them.

The desires of the family building the home should, with the help of architectural mediation, converge between what is desired and what is possible in terms of the authorities, as mentioned above, and what is available in terms of budget. At this stage, I think it would be advisable to also involve Financial advisor / Financial advisor / Mortgage advisor to get an idea of the construction budget. In my experience, many people think of a certain budget, but in reality their budget is much lower. People think, for example, about how much money the bank can approve for them and not about how much money they can actually afford to repay each month based on their financial behavior.

The architect's choice consists of three components:

1. Price - The easiest to compare and, in my opinion (within reason), the least significant.
2. Professionalism - Experience, personal chemistry, etc.'
3. Scope of work This section is the trickiest of all. Let's say we have two architects in front of us with similar abilities and prices. Ostensibly, we could flip a coin. It doesn't matter who we choose. In practice, this is not the case. Each architect defines the boundaries of their work differently. It might be that one architect defines their work as designing the house and accompanying the permit application until it's received. A second architect will visit the construction site a few times during construction to ensure things are proceeding according to the plan, and a third architect includes in their work the design of cabinets, other carpentry work, the placement of electrical outlets, lighting, and generally the interior design of the house. Clearly, the architect who includes interior design for the same price is actually much cheaper because if we chose the first architect, we would have to pay for interior design after construction or forgo a professional designer.

We have chosen Keren Shoham and Hamutal Sadot, who are partners, as the architects for the project. Onyx and fields Facts in the framework of a drawing (a sketch in a simple language) from paper to the delivery of the house, including cabinets, light fixtures, and infrastructure for landscaping (outdoor irrigation and lighting accessories). It is advisable to check in advance whether the planning cost includes all professionals related to the planning or if, in addition to the payment to the architect, you will also pay separately for the engineer. Regarding the division of labor between the engineer and the architect: the architect draws the house, and the engineer determines the construction materials (number of columns, amount of rebar, etc.) needed to prevent the house from collapsing on its inhabitants.

Working with the architects

Planners need to have a good understanding of the family that will live in the house, their preferences, desires, and lifestyle. For example, some people primarily buy prepared meals and cook little. These people will need a smaller kitchen than people for whom cooking is part of their family hobby. Those who really love to cook will also need a larger pantry. Those who want to cook with separation of meat and dairy will need more storage for dishes. Some people prefer a large garden, others prefer a large house. Do they prefer to eat in front of the television, or is there no television in the house at all? And so on. In our case, the details went as far as toilet usage habits, but I will leave those details to you and your architect. I recommend that at least some of the meetings with the house planners be held in your current home, while you describe what you like about it and what you think could have been done better. We had an advantage in this case because Keren, one of the architects, is part of the family and therefore has known us for a long time.

Although the architect can do the planning work solely on the computer after receiving the plot plan, I believe there is a significant advantage in the architect visiting the site itself. There can be landscape considerations. There can be light, shadow, and radiation considerations that affect both the placement of windows and the placement of lighting inside the house. If you've played The Sims, you know what I'm talking about. Upon completion of the house planning stage, architects handle the building permit process, which is a bureaucratic process involving several governing authorities: The Israel Land Authority, Home Front Command, the Antiquities Authority, and the regional/local council/municipality. Consequently, it is tedious, inefficient, and annoying. This process has a significant impact on apartment prices in Israel in general, but that's for another time.

In parallel with the building permit application process and any necessary changes to the plans, the architectural assistants work on the bill of quantities. I highly recommend giving the plans to other people you know who have the ability to understand them. Sometimes a small comment, such as about the size of the kitchen or the location of the guest bathroom, can significantly impact living in the house.

Quantity writer

When I want to make lentil soup, I start by looking for a recipe online. The recipe begins with a list of the necessary ingredients: 3 cloves of garlic, a medium onion, a carrot, half a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of pepper, a cup of lentils, 4 cups of water, and a pot. Building a house is a bit more complicated than making lentil soup, but it also starts with a list of products that will be needed for construction. Unlike lentil soup, where the work itself is not part of the shopping list and is provided for free, in construction, a large part of the grocery list is the labor of the various professionals. Perhaps a good analogy for this is a bill for car maintenance at a garage, where you see costs for materials (oil), products (brake pads), and labor.

I will elaborate further on the economic management of construction later, but for now, it can be said that a detailed and accurate bill of quantities is essentially the difference between future hardship due to taking on excessive commitments and a peaceful financial life in our new home. The bill of quantities also shows the level of "luxury" we will have in the house. For example, will there be a double light switch in the bedrooms? Will that be in the children's rooms as well, or only for the parents? Will the fan heater inside the shower be operated by pulling a cord, or will it have a dedicated switch? Will we have ceiling fans in the house, and if so, how many? Will there be central air conditioning or separate air conditioning units throughout the house, and so on, and so forth...

The last day of the Hebrew year 5778 and the entry into the year 5779 were spent at the home of a man who knew how to dream, and dream big, whose name was not Joseph but David. Even before the concepts of mentor or New Age existed, Ben-Gurion knew that if you have a dream, you can turn it into a plan and eventually into reality. Just 18 years old, the young Ben-Gurion confronted the most important man at the fund The Bond The Polish (the fact that the name of the Bund's representative or the Bund itself is unknown to anyone today indicates the outcome of the debate). The title of that assembly was "Zionism as a False Maxim.".

Two things amazed me at the Ben-Gurion Hut Museum in Sde Boker, which has developed significantly since I was last there as a child:

1. A letter from an Israeli Arab (photo below) to his Arab countrymen urging Ben-Gurion not to resign as prime minister, and Ben-Gurion's reply. An optimistic letter.
2. Ben-Gurion's vision (in 1953) regarding Solar energy production And on this I wish to focus in this article.

As a financial advisor for the construction and purchase of houses and apartments, I naturally encounter various issues and different ways of thinking among families. In this article, I want to offer families planning to purchase Or to build a private house, to introduce another factor into their considerations – The option to generate electricity using solar energy Installing solar panels for electricity generation. When I suggest this to families I consult with, I often encounter a common cognitive bias – Now is not the time. This bias postulates that if the electric company previously paid more than double for privately generated electricity than it will pay for panels installed today, then installing panels today is not profitable. This intertwines with the desire not to be taken advantage of. In other words, if I could have earned 5 in the past and can only earn 3 today, then many people will forgo any profit altogether just to avoid being "ripped off." This is a completely uneconomical perception. Past profits have no relevance; the only question is What can be earned in the future? Moreover, in economic decisions, the amount of money coming in has no value. What matters is the profit or return, meaning the ratio between the money spent to generate an investment and the amount of money that investment generated. If in the past, the Electric Company paid double the tariff but a solar panel cost more than double the money. Investment feasibility should be based on present data and future expectations, and not on past performance. 

In general, we humans tend towards passivity. There are evolutionary reasons for this that are too extensive to describe here, but in brief: for most of our developmental years, we were literally starving. We are "trained" by nature to perform only actions that will bring us benefit (food) in the short term (the next meal, the coming winter, etc.). Thinking about an investment that will benefit us in 7 years is beyond the horizon for those who haven't been trained to think this way, and therefore not worthwhile. But, guess what? Most of us will indeed face financial challenges in seven, eight, and twenty years. However, this article is not just intended to encourage the installation of solar panels for those who own a private home. This article is intended so that anyone planning a private home will at least consider the future possibility of generating electricity from solar energy and plan their home accordingly. For those who do not heed this advice, it could be a great regret for years if in the future the technology improves even further, the potential income will be much greater, but the roof will be designed in a way that it cannot be used (for example, with a slope facing north instead of south).

Solar panels will bring two additional benefits to their installer. Besides a steady income:

a. Shading the roof with surfaces placed on it will make the house cooler.

B. The electricity we consume from burning oil, coal, or gas kills us twice: once through air pollution and a second time by funding those who fight against us. The transition of more and more people to clean energy that does not perpetuate terror is an important act on a national level as well.

Wishing you a Happy New Year, a year of fulfilled vision, a year of growing and spreading peace and brotherhood, many deeds and successes.

More photos from the visit to Ben Gurion's Hut and Mitzpe Ramon