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Monday, July 9, 2007

Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs or SIPs).

I've made repeated mention regarding insulated concrete forms but had little luck with finding a way for an owner-builder to DIY a structure like this. There are a lot of benefits to ICF construction such as a rapid build time, very high energy efficiency, and good structural strength. Well, look no more; I found this site: BuildBlock building systems. They offer DIY homeowners avenues to financing and building their own home using BuildBlock's ICF system while making no payments during construction on their secondary site called BuildMax. Now, I'm sure there are strings attached such as the structure needing to be completed within a certain time frame and similar restrictions, but this does sound like a pretty good deal.

Here's a quote from the site:

"With BuildMax support, you can be a successful project manager, even if you're not handy with tools. We don't expect you to build your home yourself. You only have to manage the building process. But if you want to cut costs even more and build more equity, you can choose to do some simple jobs yourself, such as painting and clean-up. And if you're an experienced do-it-yourselfer who can handle substantial work on your own, you'll keep costs at rock bottom. Whether you stick to supervision or get right in there and do the work, you're building more than a house. You're building "sweat equity," a critical part of the owner-involved building plan to help you get a home of your own."

EDIT: After doing some research, BuildMax is not the way to go. Poor customer support, your loan is low priority if compared to the sure-fire high-credit loans, and is essentially a middle man fee for the very same loan you could get someplace like IndyMac.

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