The Plan

While squirrels, woodpeckers, and carpenter ants were running me out of my all-cedar bachelor pad I started looking at stock plans online. I probably looked through THOUSANDS of plans, and started to get a bit jaded until I came across Alternative home plans. http://www.alternativehomeplans.com

The design above is what sparked our desire to build. There was only one house in Knoxville that came close to it that we had found (We will hopefully be doing a feature on it soon!) and it had never been on the market. If it had, it would probably be selling in the $900k-$1 million range. We loved the open plan, the flat roof, and all of the detail. Reality sat in pretty quick when we realized the lot we owned would not allow us to build anything close to that. On the same website, though, we found this:

While it didn’t have the flat roof, or chunky windows, it had a decidedly contemporary feel and a wonderfully open floor plan with an open play area on the second floor. We purchased the plans, with very few changes, and started getting bids. During this process the feet were starting to get cold. The houses going up around our lot were inexpensive, generic designs, many with vinyl cladding. We were concerned if our plan, and area, would “comp out” to what we needed to borrow. The BIGGEST concern was a newly announced “Orange Route” interstate system that would bypass I-40 and connect I-75 to I-140. The proposed path was less than 2,000 feet from our lot! We sold the lot, losing money in the process, and abandoned the plan. A few years later, the “Orange Route” project was killed/shelved.

Eureka!

After our sell of the McMansion, and subsequent failure to find an existing home to purchase, the plan search was back on. This time, though, our criteria was very different. We wanted a simple, open, plan – single story if possible. Research into “ranch” plans led us to some pretty pathetic designs until we finally discovered pictures on the internet of homes built by Joseph Eichler. The light bulbs went off. The clouds parted. A truly “EUREKA” moment! Simple designs, clean lines, open plans, Eichlers had it all! We wanted to build an Eichler! But wait, Joseph Eichler had passed away many, many years ago and most of his homes were built in Northern California where the climate is MUCH different than East Tennessee. Would it be possible to build an Eichler in Tennessee? Where would I find the plans to purchase? Do they HAVE to be built on slab? If so, were could I find a level lot here? If I found a level lot would the subdivision restrictions allow me to build an Eichler? Would the bank laugh if I tried to get a construction loan with the plan?

Which Plan?

Ok, so now we KNOW we want an Eichler, or at least a design INSPIRED by an Eichler.  Houseplans.com just happened to have a collection of Eichler plans so we started there first:

http://www.houseplans.com/exclusive/joseph-eichler

My favorite of the collection was the 5BR “Double A-frame” model with the Atrium in the middle.

As much as we LOVE this plan there were some issues. #1 The lot we purchased was not suitable for slab. The plan would not be suitable for crawl or basement, especially with the Atrium. #2 The plan was very old and would not comply with modern building codes. All of that would have to be updated.

I performed another search, this time for “single story home” and “energy-efficient”. Voila! The perfect home that ticked all the boxes. #1 Open floor plan #2 MCM feel #3 Adjustable to basement or crawlspace #4 Updated codes #5 Energy efficient, etc. The renders are what got me. I instantly imagined myself sitting on the living room couch and looking out at the wall of glass and seeing the immense, private forest behind. Pure magic! This was the one!

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