A Word Picture -- Factors to Consider

by Monolithic March 10, 9:35 a.m. Links

Family

Number of people that will live in home
Number of children
List ages of children
Will this be your retirement home?
Does anyone have special needs?

Location

Address of building site
Approximate size of property
Will this home be located in the country or within city limits?
What is the approximate size of the city?
Describe the view from the home and direction.
Will there be zoning or architectural covenants to consider? What are they?
What type of topsoil and underlying material is at the site?
What is the topography of the land? Provide plot plan if possible.
Will you be on a septic system or sewer?
Will you have a water provider or your own private system?
Are you in a seismic zone? Any other special conditions?
Describe generally the weather patterns in your area.

Style

What style of home would you like to create both on the inside and outside? Ranch, Adobe, Spanish modern, etc..
Is there a particular design you are interested in? Which one?
Size of dome or square feet you are considering
What type of profile do you like? It might be low and stretched out or high with a loft or second floor, compact, flowing, etc.
What shape fits best on your building site?
Will the garage be attached or separate?
Will the garage be conventional construction or a dome?
Would you like your windows and doors with inset construction or with augments?
What color would you like? Sandstone is our most popular, but we also stock eggshell and white. Other colors are available with a 10% extra charge for ordering.

Lifestyle

Do you do a lot of entertaining?
What type of entertaining do you prefer, formal or informal?
Do you prefer inside sit down entertaining, or outside casual?
What size groups do you normally entertain?
What would be the maximum and minimum number of guests?
Are there usually a lot of children attending?
Does entertaining include specials, such as movies, games, pool?.
Do you do a lot of cooking?
Do you want a second floor?

Bedrooms

How many bedrooms?
What are the approximate sizes of bedrooms?
- Master
- Second
- Third
- Fourth

Bathrooms

How many bathrooms?
Size of bathrooms
- First
- Second
- Additional

Kitchen

Will there be a table in the kitchen and/or snack bar and/or breakfast nook?
Will you need a pantry? Describe it.
Will the laundry be in the kitchen or a separate utility room?
Or would you prefer a “great room” with dining/kitchen and living areas combined?

Closets

What size closets would you like?
Standard or walk-in? Square feet?

Finances

Is this a pay-as-you-go project?
What are your minimum and maximum prices for this investment?
What do you expect your monthly payment to be including taxes and insurance?

Featured Domes

Robot Ranch: An earth-sheltered dome and a work in progress

At first glance, when you drive up to what you think is Al Schwarz’s Monolithic Dome home in Ferris, Texas, what you see is a door, sticking up inside a concrete arch, that’s covered with rocks and surrounded by more rocks. “Is that the entrance?” you wonder. Once through that door, you go down a slate staircase that spirals over an aquarium and down into the main dome with living, dining and kitchen areas. You are underground — literally standing inside a hill — but if you hadn’t gone through that door and down those stairs, you wouldn’t know it. It’s comfortably cool and light inside this dome that’s inside of a hill — like being inside any quiet, nicely lighted, restful, Monolithic Dome home. (Continued…)

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What's Hot

We Know Domes - Hire Monolithic Today

Being the coinventor of the dome and the founder of the Monolithic Dome Institute has given David B. South the opportunity to not only fine tune the building process, but to create a company whose main mission is to make available Monolithic Dome technology to all the world. It is the hope of Monolithic to educate the public about Monolithic Domes and to provide professional services to its customers by creating a successful partnership with them through all phases of their dome design, planning and construction. (Continued…)

Free Email Newsletter

Want to be among the first to know what’s happening at Monolithic? Our free, email newsletter is the best source for that information. It links you to new and updated articles on our website that tell you about new products, techniques, projects and events – in short, anything and everything of interest to domers. (Continued…)

Calendar of Events

What’s happening in the dome community? (Continued…)

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News

Las Vegas dome owners plan to persevere

David and Su-Z Allen can relate to the old phrase that even the best-laid plans often go awry. In the process of building their new Monolithic Dome home, “emergencies keep cropping up,” Su-Z told a reporter for The View newspaper in Las Vegas. But even though it is not yet finished, the Fenix Dome is an “impressive and eye-catching structure,” according to the article. “There is literally nothing like it in town.” (Continued…)

Iowa Family Explains Why There’s No Place Like Dome

Jay and Jeanne Hansen say they like to be different, and that’s one of the reasons why they opted to build a Monolithic Dome home. “We don’t like to copy what other people do; we like to do things that stand out,” Jay Hansen told Iowa television news station KWWL. (Continued…)

To Every American in favor of Green Housing

For thirty plus years America’s leaders have been wanting more energy efficient, more hazard resistant, more cost efficient green structures for houses, churches, schools, etc. To those leaders and citizens we now say: We have such structures! Please implement the rules to allow them to happen. (Continued…)

Cabin Special - Model 15

We are offering a financing option for our Model 15 Monolithic Cabin. (Continued…)

What It Costs, November 2009

Construction costs have stayed stable throughout October and November, 2009. (Continued…)

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