I want to build a miniature castle home - how expensive would this be?!
January 28, 2022 1:16 PM   Subscribe

I have a fantasy of building a minute castle house on an acreage lot that I found outside the city however my building budget is quite small about 200-250k. (: I have little to no building experience myself... How feasible would a project like this be with that budget? impossible? Here are pictures: https://imgur.com/a/zdY0CcR The lot costs 200k and is already fully zoned and ready to go -- my build budget would be 200-250k. Located in Alberta.
posted by audio to Home & Garden (20 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just for building materials, the average cost of new construction in AB is like $150- $200 per square foot, and that’s taking into consideration “normal” fixtures, siding, framing etc. custom work on the scale you’re describing skyrockets even when you’re doing it yourself. Since your goal is unconventional, finding DIY resources to do the job correctly (quality/long lasting/up to code) is going to be extremely difficult.

This is a superb question for architects and general contractors or design build firms, rather than Internet strangers. This internet stranger would advise against doing a custom project like this without at least four or five times the budget you’ve listed, just based on how renovation and construction projects go.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:25 PM on January 28, 2022 [5 favorites]


If you're planning to hire someone to build this for you, then no, it would not be feasible to build a 1600 square foot castle plus garage for less than $250k. A custom home that would presumably have some significant extra costs for cladding, turret, spiral staircase, custom kitchen counters, complex form and roof, expensive windows and doors, etc. is going to cost a lot more than that. Building costs are not cheap in Alberta either. This is not realistic.
posted by ssg at 1:29 PM on January 28, 2022


You are probably aware that non-standard building projects are much harder to get loans for, and it may take some searching to find a builder who can do what you want. Customized homes are *much* harder to sell, may have unique maintenance or repair issues, so banks are wary.

Your sketches are charming, and it looks like @1600 sq. ft. are planned. Can it be built using conventional building methods and materials, with castle-like cladding? Are you capable of doing a significant amount of the work?

You might be able to find a clever architect who could help you design something feasible that would also suit your goals.
posted by theora55 at 1:34 PM on January 28, 2022 [5 favorites]


If you’re considering actual stone walls, or brick walls with masonry quoins, rather than some other structure with stone-alike cladding around it, such a structure isn’t possible with that budget. Stone masonry is one of the most expensive building techniques, as is this kind of custom brickwork.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 1:55 PM on January 28, 2022 [1 favorite]


A decade ago I built a workshop, with some pretty sweet extra features, in my back yard. Lumber costs were a hell of a lot less than they are now, and I'm not sure I can give you a good price idea, but....

I did all of the drawings myself. The process of doing that, of looking up all of the relevant code so that I knew pretty much exactly where every nail was going to go (What does code say about nail spacing on sistered studs? What's the nailing pattern for that seismic structure sheathing?), was a really good experience. There are things I got wrong, but by the time I got those drawings done and approved I could take my spreadsheet to local lumberyards and get a quote and know pretty much how much it was going to cost.

If you're going to do your own labor, and have a few extra people around to help you stand up walls and set trusses in place, that and the spreadsheet will give you a pretty good idea of what the structure will cost.

I did have to get an engineer to sign off on a few bits, especially because the design roof loading was 120 lbs/sq.ft. (for a living roof), and the wall is a staggered stud assembly (for noise transmission) that my local building department wasn't familiar with.

And I'm the sort of guy who not only likes doing the truss calculations (even if I did buy those as completed assemblies from a vendor and only later learned that you can have trusses delivered to the roof, not just the site), and also swinging a hammer and running electrical. But if that house were my dream, I'd break out the graph paper and start drilling down: What sort of foundation do you need to support the house in your environment? What assumptions about the soil do you need to have verified with someone with an engineering stamp? On top of that, what does the interface between the foundation and the building look like? Assuming stick built with textured stucco to give you that exterior appearance, what stud spacing and wall assembly are you using?

Because this will give you valuable output (house plans!), it will also give you a chance to really be with that project. To understand all of the trade-offs and nuances that are going into the building.

And I suspect that you get to the end of that project, you'll know exactly what it will take to build it, and you'll either say "ZOMG I must dedicate my life to this!", or you'll say "ya know, maybe buying a condo isn't so bad after all."

And as someone who's now committed to doing carved trim in parts of my house. and using my workshop to do that: Having a dream and an aesthetic is awesome, but sometimes it's just a roof and four walls, and being beholden to the house and always feeling like there's something more to tweak is a pain in the ass.
posted by straw at 4:15 PM on January 28, 2022 [15 favorites]


I think you could probably get something satisfyingly castle-like, but it would take a lot of clever thinking and gumption and you'd probably have to make a lot of compromises. Here's an article about a tiny house truck/castle, and here's one about an itty-bitty castle that's basically one turret. Here's a Pinterest page all about backyard castle garden sheds, which might give you some ideas for how you can achieve castle-y-ness without a gazillion bucks. I think the main thing you want for a castle feel is a turret, and maybe if you get a turret built onto an otherwise conventional house structure you can do the rest with decor.

Even if you can't get an actual castle built you can still go crazy with castle-like decor without spending a lot of money. This fellow made a truly amazing Harry Potter bedroom (yt link) using lots of thrift store stuff and repurposed pool noodles for columns. It looks straight out of the films.

I really hope you can make your castle vision come true!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:43 PM on January 28, 2022 [3 favorites]


Is there a design-build firm that works with Rastra (or similar insulated concrete forms) in your city? I have known one who could do amazing artsy things with the material, and the thick walls automatically have a castle-y feel. But it’s warm.

You’d still be building out the inside yourself, I think. But you can live on OSF subfloors for a decade if you want.

I do know of one person who spent his midlife crisis learning enough masonry to build himself a three-bedroom stone house and he only lost one finger.
posted by clew at 4:48 PM on January 28, 2022 [11 favorites]


Your drawings are great! If you were to do this I think the only way to make it fit your budget would be to have your builders do the structure and absolute bare bones for the interior to pass code and then do all of your finishes later over time. Is the 450 sqf lower level your basement?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:18 PM on January 28, 2022 [1 favorite]


I didn't understand those were your drawings. I thought they were just an example of the kind of thing you'd like. In that case I'd approach some architects and see what they tell you. It wouldn't surprise me if they say you'd have to lose some features and move some things around, but a tiny house castle isn't the most outlandish dream. If you built it out of wood and then covered the outside with faux stone that seems like it might save you a lot of money. (She said, not really knowing jack about how tiny houses are built aside from what she's learned in a few episodes of Tiny House Nation.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:32 PM on January 28, 2022


Look into ICF and then stucco or the like (EIFS?) on top. ICF will have a harder time with the circular sections, but otherwise they're probably your best bet for "castle-like" walls in terms of thickness/durability.

Another option would be strawbale. Making curves in strawbale is largely a matter of taking a chainsaw to a bale and rounding it off.

...both systems can look castle-ish while costing a whole lot less than actual stone. Or, in many cases, even CMU.
posted by aramaic at 6:36 PM on January 28, 2022


I have seen Rastra do very nice curved walls! You can orient the giant blocks long-ways-vertical and cut the miters with a handsaw. Ditto for arched and ogive door frames.

You do need a concrete pumper to be able to fill it from the top AFAIK, that’s would be the expensive bit with a tower.
posted by clew at 7:04 PM on January 28, 2022


I don't think you can build this in your budget. I second the idea to consider ICFs if you do want to go ahead. Pumping the concrete isn't much of a problem, a lot of builders use it for conventional formed basements. Heck when I built my shop on essentially level ground within city limits the cement floor was pumped in because it was easier and pretty cheap.

However one big fly in the ointment is I don't think there is a code compliant way to build those stairs in a residence. Canadian building code is super strict on residential stairs and curved stairs are generally a no-no. Also if you do manage to get code approval they would be incredibly expensive. $500-$1000 per tread wouldn't surprise me. IE just the stairs alone, not including the walls they are attached to, could set you back $25-30 thousand dollars with regular 8' ceilings if you abandon the roof access and $45k if you keep it. You could easily blow 25% or more of your budget just building the tower.

Also you have planned a fairly small space and curves require a lot of space and money (a curved anything is easily three times the cost of the equivelant rectilinear object). Your plan looks gorgeous on paper but you'd probably find it a difficult place to live in.
posted by Mitheral at 8:38 PM on January 28, 2022


Best answer: You could do a romantic but rectilinear tower -- pattern 13-1 here, for instance.
posted by clew at 10:50 PM on January 28, 2022


Those drawings are so charming! It could be done (with some modifications) in either straw bale or adobe or cob which some self-build people are working with. But I don't know if you can get good clay and/or old style straw bales where you are. Look here
Rastra is a good option too.
posted by mumimor at 3:46 AM on January 29, 2022


Simple building techniques
posted by mumimor at 4:01 AM on January 29, 2022


Back in 1950, my father took a plan from a magazine to an architect who drew up plans for a house that was bigger,, and better, and cheaper. This is an area where expertise can pay for itself. I'll admit that I also wonder if an architect's realistic drawings would convey the same effect as your intriguing sketches.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:56 AM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]


I've got no input on design or budget (I want you to succeed so I can see it!), But just one note about ICF.
Habitat for humanity (in Edmonton) has gotten way into ICF basements in the past decade, and probably have some good advice about costs and things to watch out for.
posted by Acari at 6:42 AM on January 29, 2022


I've no monetary or building advice, I just came for the pictures... and while I love your design, I seriously hope you're considering a dumbwaiter and/or laundry chute somewhere. Because hauling clothing up and down that staircase, along with groceries, is going to get old REAL fast.

And one more thought - make sure you give yourself space to be able to get whatever furniture you might want on upper floors up there, or a built-in hoist or something to use to the balconies... or something. Things like couches are larger mattresses are an absolute nightmare in some upper floors. (Heck, I'm just in an apartment without a straight shot from the stairs, and such a narrow landing, that anything close to a normal couch is pretty much a not-in-a-snowball's-chance sort of proposition. My mattress is a memory foam one that arrived compressed in a box, and it's going to be interesting to get out of here as it is.)
posted by stormyteal at 11:29 AM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]


Alberta specific, I would check out Charmed Playhouses, they’ve started making cabins that look up your alley, the plain playhouses are starting to get up to your budget though. At the other end of the spectrum there’s a castle house behind the Sunterra by Southgate in Edmonton. It looks…homemade. It might be worth trying to contact the owner/builder for some contacts and experiences?
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 9:07 PM on January 29, 2022


I will second or third the drawings and intent. My father was a bridge building engineer and this reminds me of like sixth grade mad scientist lair. I approve. My grandfather bought land and built his house, he was a wood worker, it's a weird house. I grew up laying stone and building houses enough to make people today go WTF. I don't think 2-3 K (Canadian) is going to make those wonderful drawings happen.

Besides that. living in a 'castle' of stone walls sucks. You probably don't want to do it even if you could. So says someone who's spent some lovely time in a hunting cabin of bespoke nature built out of scrap cut-off wood from the lumber mill.

In the equation of things you have a dream that is TIME and you probably don't have the MONEY to actually build a castle.

Sorry, but that's more like 'won the lottery' hold my beer. And just you wait until my mad scientist lair is complete....
posted by zengargoyle at 10:44 PM on January 29, 2022


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