More suggestions

[Ula Oh]

-How often do you look at your ceiling fan/ kitchen faucet/ fill in the blank and think "how beautiful, how special, I'm so glad I spent $300 on it. It fulfills my life and makes me a better person." I hope never. So why would a person spend an abhorrent amount of money on a simple fixture? The only reason I can think of is that this whatever really is special in some way or another. My suggestion; buy quality, buy practicality, buy functionality, buy aesthetically, don't buy because it "fulfills your life."

-DIY DIY DIY. One rule; only if you can. If you don't know how you can actually make a bigger mess and it may cost you more. IF YOU CAN - DIY. The cost of labor I've heard is about one third of the total cost of construction. Can any one verify that? Now that I have said that remember that your time is valuable. Any custom house will take up your time. Now how much time do you want to devote? I'm confident that with my family's knowledge of the building trades and the amount of time on our hands that we can do a better job than some one who doesn't care about our family. If you make a substantial amount of money working and don't have any experience in the art you will be learning as you go. Learning means mistakes. Don't get me wrong mistakes are a vital part of the learning process and important in any endeavor. Except now, when your mistakes can mean your money. If building your own house is your dream it may be worth it to you. It's really up to you to decide.

-Plenty of people want lots of storage space. Most of them just need less stuff. Think about the value and importance of that stuff you are storing. Then think about the cost of building that extra space. A walk in pantry may be well worth it to you. A walk in closet may not. All I'm saying is think before you build.

-Don't get wrapped up in the notion that "this is your home, you want it to be special, unique, you want to spend six thousand dollars on an industrial range, even though cooking for you is limited to the microwave"

Your house is already special, it's an air formed, super insulated, thin shelled reinforced sculptural concrete dome home that withstands every thing but the will of God him self. You don't need to spend extra money to make it special. It already is. Don't get played by clever advertisements.

[sleibo24]

I have to seriously disagree with your comment about the use of aluminum wire. It is illegal in most states and had to be taken out of homes here in FLA if you pulled a bldg permit. I don't think the savings vs safety and relibility would ever be worth it.

[angelofdodd]

The key to the use of aluminum wiring in a safe manner is all your connections(outlets,breakers,ect.),need to be either aluminum or made to be used with aluminum.Otherwise where the aluminum touches another metal it will cause oxidation and a bad/loose connection from the aluminum breaking down.Heat will build up at the loose connection/oxidation becouse of resistance,and can get hot enough to cause a fire.Matt

[sleibo24]

So why would anyone want to use Alum with all the potential problems, and it being illegal in most states?

[Kevin Goebel]

The reason was cost. Aluminum wiring was cheaper than copper wiring. If it weren't for that pesky problem of overheating faster when overloaded and burning down the homes and businesses it was used in, it might still be legal to use.

Kevin