I think the only thing you are saving is drywall. SInce they are already there, I guess I would have them go ahead and do the drywall and finish the room. It might be more expensive to have them go back later and do it.

rockybird and mrspete, that's what I figured. Thanks for responding. :)

A bedroom isn't your most expensive room. Your bathrooms and kitchen are.

Your description is not clear. Is finishing the space already in your contract or not?

The s.f. price means nothing. You need to get a real price from your contractor whether it is for adding or removing the cost of finishing the space.

Make sure it includes work that would allow the room to be finished later without reframing or removing finishes to extend the plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems. If all of that is provided, the price difference may drop considerably.

Also take into account the difference in property taxes with one less bedroom. In my state, it makes a difference as we have the highest property taxes in the nation (NJ).

You will want to gave electrical roughed in, and HVAC as well. You're really saving on drywall, flooring and trim and electrical features. My parents did this many years ago for the entire 2nd floor - all just roughed in and a door at the top if the steps.

Choosing a less complicated floor plan would save you a LOT more money. I counted more than 20 corners on your foundation. That's a bunch.

I counted 30 jigs and jogs and that's just on the first floor.

Here I brought it down to 18 jigs and jogs and the only thing you lose is the window seat in the study, and a foot or two of the foyer. And about 6" in the garage.

Before worrying about the cost of the foundation we should determine if there will be a basement and, if not, whether or not there will be a slab and how deep the footings need to be.

It appears the projection in the study may not be on the foundation.

This is a pretty carefully designed efficient house plan so some of the corners may be worth saving. At any rate, it would cause extensive revisions to most of the drawings so you would need them in digital CAD format and pay someone to change them or pay Mitch Ginn to do it.

Since the drawings are only offered in PDF format you would need to have them scanned or digitally converted if that is not a copyright infringement. But I would redraw the set rather than struggle with the problems with converted files. I would not be surprised if the cost of the drawing changes, whether done by you or Mitch Ginn, were greater than the cost of the extra corners.

Alternatively, you could draw the changes and paste them onto the PDF originals then have them scanned.

Thanks, everyone! I was thinking about removing some of the corners by extending the laundry out even with the back of the garage, although that adds a few square feet.

We are in the early planning stages, and don't have a building contract yet. Still trying to decide what we need and what we can afford (and who to choose).

It will mostly likely be built on slab, as that seems to be the norm here. We're in Northwest Arkansas. Here's what I could find online from our area:

Footings: A minimum of 18” deep, 18” wide ditch... Concrete for the footings shall be a minimum of 12”
thick; 18” thick when over 2 stories. Slabs: All residential slabs shall extend above the
surrounding grade a minimum of 2 blocks high.
Final slab elevation shall be a minimum of 12”
above final grade in every corner. Minimum slab
thickness shall be 3½".

Our neighborhood requires a 2500 sq. ft. min. It's an acre lot (171' wide x 262' deep), and we have approx. 50 feet or so to work with between the 50' front setback and a dry creek bed that runs across the middle of the property. The land slopes just slightly uphill from the street to where we would build, and then slopes slightly down again as it gets closer to the creek bed. The foundation of the house next door (that has the same creek bed running across it) is 8 blocks high in the back, so ours will likely be similar.

We're also considering the Seven Pines plan, also by Mitch Ginn. The downstairs layout is very similar to the Stone Creek, minus the study. This plan appears to be a little more simplified as far as corners go, but I believe it has more total square feet under the roof when you count all the covered porches. Here's the Seven Pines:

http://mitchginn.com/house-plans/2710-sq-ft-%E2%80%A2-seven-pines/

I'm not sure if either the Stone Creek or the Seven Pines would be more economical to build than the other. They're both a little bigger than what we really want (which is to stay as close to that 2500 sq. ft. minimum as possible), but I'm having a very hard time finding a plan that size which has 4 bedrooms and the open kitchen island layout I desire. We also need a large breakfast nook (that can fit a long table for 6-8 people) plus a formal dining room or flex room that can serve as our school room, and I really want a nice front and back porch.

I grew up playing with house plans. My grandfather was a home builder, my dad ran a concrete plant, and my mom almost always had a floor plan in the works on her drafting table. The smell of sawdust and fresh concrete is very nostalgic for me. I love it! I know that we probably need to go to an architect to really get what we want, but I keep looking for house plans online hoping that one more search will find me the perfect one (sort-of like fishing... one more cast...). :)

I know that we probably need to go to an architect to really get what we want, but I keep looking for house plans online hoping that one more search will find me the perfect one (sort-of like fishing... one more cast...). :)

LOL. You did what I did. I searched and searched for the perfect plan but none of them did what I needed. Instead of researching plans, I would go and research architects. Heck you can even find a few here on this site who are willing to work long distance. In this day and age, that's not so far fetched.

Find the architect so you can get a home designed for your needs instead having to fit your needs to the house.