Mountain House Plans

When my husband and I purchased a fantastic mountain top lot in Hayesville, North Carolina, we went on a search for an innovative and highly experienced designer. We found it – Richard MacCrea. Richard was able to address three critical needs for this project. 1. The site was extremely steep and difficult. The home was precisely designed to fit the site, which reduced excavation and construction costs. 2. Most of the common methods for making this home energy efficient were not practical because of the building site. We wanted energy efficiency, but we did not want to pay extra for it. The design included the methods that worked best and cost the least. The plan included better windows and spray foam insulation to keep out the drafts from high altitude winds. A sealed and insulated crawlspace kept the drafts out of the floor and provided extra storage. We discovered that heating and cooling was very inexpensive once we moved in because of the design. 3. The home was also designed for the spectacular, high altitude view. The views from this design are exquisite and breathtaking. See pictures. We were very pleased with Richard’s professionalism, knowledge, and reasonable pricing. He also delivered on schedule. If we had it all to do over again we would not change a thing! Perfect in every respect.

We are very pleased with Richard MacCrea's design for our home as well as the finished product. We faced several challenges, one of which was that the home as designed originally was too long to fit on our land without being way too close to the road. Richard was able to come through with a design plan that only sacrificed a little outside work space and still made good use of passive solar design, i.e. The house is still one room wide so we get sun in all rooms accept laundry and bathrooms. When the building inspectors didn't understand if some of the innovative things used,like laminate I beams would carry the weight of the roof, or the spray foam insulation was adequate for our insulation needs, Richard came quickly to show them specs and research proving these were more than adequate, even superior to normal options. Time has proved Richard was right. Our electric bill, which is heat, air, and all appliances is in the 120's in summer and has never reached 200 in winter since the back wall is underground to about 5 feet or so. Our house has a Frank Loyd Wright style, shed roof, and tall windows, so even though the back is largely underground, this home has far more sun and light than the average home. Also, because our parents were aging, Richard was able to design this home with no steps on the outside, just a long ramp which looks like a natural part of the design, not "handicapped accessible". Also all doors in the house are 36" wide, both showers are walk in, no steps or high tubs to climb into. Because of budget constraints we had to sacrifice some finishes Richard had originally designed. Specifically the house wide tile floors, which were to be part of the mass which would absorb heat during the day and give it off at night. We had to settle for laminate flooring in some rooms just to save money. However, because of good southern exposure, excellent spray foam insulation, as well as rigid insulation all around the perimeter of the slab so cold wouldn't transfer to the slab making for very cold floors, as I mentioned before, the home is very economical to heat and cool. Richard was accommodating about these changes for budget reasons realizing that solar panels and other things could be added later when more money was available. All in all we are very happy with our home as well as Richard's efforts to help us and accommodate our needs and desires.

I worked with Richard on designing the house I currently live in in Murphy, NC. It is unique and very energy efficient. Richard is extremely knowledgable, works to place and site the house to the land and is more than willing to either come up with plans on his own or to have the clients be as involved as they want (my husband and I were very involved). Altho he has strong personal ideas, he will design the house you want. He was more than generous with his time and is easy to work with as well. Our house was built around 2009. His prices for the design were more than fair. He also does home inspection work and did this for me last year (2016) and again was professional and thorough. I would like to build another home and there is no doubt that Richard would be the go to person.

It was great working with Richard - he has unbounded enthusiasm for creating environmentally healthy homes which use as little on-grid energy as possible. His creative ideas regarding passive solar heating meshed right in with my less-educated desires. The end result is an Energy Star certified home with passive solar heating and active solar water heating .... and it looks good too!!!!