Almost every state follows a "regional" building code. Your son should contact the local inspector to determine what are the local codes. He can buy a copy and study them. After determining he is "in-code", he should go to the local permit office and discuss his plans with the building inspector (city or county inspector). Let the inspector study them. It is the inspector's job to know what is and isn't permitted. Your son can make any adjustments before he starts construction. Maybe he can invite the inspector to lunch and discuss it. It never hurts to be nice to them.

LOL! I agree that starting out on a diplomatic right foot could make a big difference in the grief factor. I didn't know though, that a layman could buy a copy of the local codes. Will definetly look into that! Thanks a bunch. cora

When we built about eight years ago, we didn't range as far as an earth-bermed home. But we did want to follow "Category 1" energy standards, a standard the housing lobby fought tooth and nail for years, using the trite "people won't pay for that -- our sales would plummet" argument though it was clear people were springing for more square footage, fancier kitchens, and home theaters. We also wanted to network the audio/video/computers in the house.

We found we had to provide a lot of education for the contractors and subs. Most of them had heard of the new techniques and standards, but had not had an opportunity to get their hands on them. In some cases, we had to provide the materials; in others, provide the specifications for the materials. Pricing was fluid as the contractors' prices and labor were unknown.

We had to straddle the fine line between wanting to inspect to make sure things were done correctly and not making it look like we were checking up on the workers. We covered that by involving ourselves at the job site early. We'd come by to "see how things were going" and to take pictures "for the scrapbook" (both true, but not our entire motive). That gave us an opportunity to meet the workers. Sometimes we brought pop or coffee and donuts, etc. It gave us an opportunity to gauge their knowledge of what we wanted to do, and we tailored our comments to that (the electrician had never hung Cat 5 cable before; we had to give him some simple guidelines; ultimately, I decided to finish the connection panel myself, which I know was a relief for both of us).

We didn't have any problems with the inspectors. We weren't building anything as "exotic" as an earth-berm or geodesic-dome house; what we were doing was an extension or upgrade to code they had inspected scores of times before and items for which there were few or no specific regulations. tsmith offers excellent advice. A collaborative approach with those who do the work and those who approve it will be the most successful, if our experience is any guide.

Here is a link that might be useful: Minnesota Category 1 residential energy standard

Thanks, Steve. The link is enlightening, even though we live in Florida. The biggest problem I can forsee is the distance we will have to travel from where we currently live to the construction site - a good hour's drive. We will be doing most of the construction ourselves but I understand that installing solar conversion panels generally isn't allowed/approved for the average DIYer. Will see how or if things have changed by the time we reach that point. Needless to say, I'm SO excited about this project and want to see it completed. cora

we built an out of the ordinary self designed home over here, all we did was find a building company that could grasp what we where planning , they then used their design department using autocads, to design the structure it then went to their engineer who included the stress and loading factors, and then to our council for approval.

they didn't seem to care what the home looked like other than the structure was at the required stress levels, the plans where approved no worries.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

HI, Len! Guess I didn't mention that my son has been doing CAD for years for several architectural firms. He's been with his current firm so long, they've made him an engineering consultant although he has no degree. He told me once that he's always been able to think three dimensionally. As for the house plans, he first drew them while in jr. high school. They've been constantly upgraded to include the latest technology. He is very hands-on and will learn anything he feels he needs to know - or - is just curious about. I just hope I live long enough to see it all completed! cora