“A house according to The American heritage dictionary is an English word which means” a dwelling place”. It is a structure on a piece of land which serves as a dwelling place for the people, especially for the family. You might have an image in your mind of a house (your dream house), made up of sloping roof, walls of bricks, having rooms like bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and a lobby and with a lawn and plants outside. Home construction has been existed and grown through ages in order to provide shelter to one and after that under the influence of environmental and cultural changes an infinitely diversified collection of various architectural types has been created. There are different styles of home such as ranch style, Tudor, modern and so on. And these are built with the help of various construction methods such as wood framed construction, steel stud construction, insulated concrete forms or ICF construction and log and timber construction. The most widely known and the easiest method of construction is wood framed construction method.
Home construction is a very dynamic and evolutionary process. A modern home has many facets of construction and there are a lot of things which should be taken into consideration while building a home. The process of construction includes some basic phases and each phase consist of various parts and that interact with each other in one or the other form.
The different phases are:
- Design phase or a pre design- architectural design,
- Floor layout, Building code; External construction- shallow foundation of the home,
- Light frame construction,
- Domestic water system, Weather protection, retaining walls;
- Internal construction- plumbing,
- Air conditioning, flooring,
- Ceiling, walls, insulation,
- Cable wiring, Telephone and Ethernet wiring;
- Finishing construction.
- Interior decorating, Painting,
- Furnishings, Fixtures, cabinetry and appliances.
The building of a house goes through the following steps: preparation of the site, constructing the foundation, framing, windows and doors installation, roofing, siding, rough electrical, rough plumbing, insulation, drywall, underlayment , trim, painting, finishing, bathroom and kitchen counters and cabinets, plumbing, carpet and flooring, hook up to water main and septic system installation. Another aspect in the home construction is the estimation. Estimation system is a method which helps in estimating the cost of the job. It is not exactly a pen, a paper and a calculator nor estimating software. Rather it is a process in which you hire someone who understands the estimating procedures. Another point that should be taken into account is while constructing is making sure that everything is consistent. There are various methods of estimation such as guestimate- it’s a shortcut method of giving a client a quick and easy number; square foot unit cost-it estimates the cost factor for the given area; piece estimate-it is the most accurate method of estimation; another method is unit price method- it is a combination of both area and piece method and it is quick and accurate. Each estimation method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some are performed easily where as others are difficult to perform and time consuming.
Resources
1stAllaince Mortgage - Houston Mortgage Company that offers residential mortgage financing for homes in Houston and all of Texas.
home extensions - home extensions and house modifications attractively styled by architect-yourhome