showing
Overall
points
102,400
cost
$258,656
kWh/day
11.33
scan
0%

Section Gr-8 Housing

Eleven senior engineers designed an off-grid house for a family of five in Cass County, Illinois. What you are looking at is our Revit model, sampled into 102,400 points. Drag it to turn it.

The client was the DOE and HUD. The rules: no grid, no water main, no sewer, no gas, no fiber. A one acre lot in Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Park.

Space
1,200 sq ft

The minimum, on purpose. Less house to heat.

Money
$258,656 of $260,000

$1,344 left in the buffer.

Power
11.33 of 12 kWh a day

An average American home uses 29.

Water
7,050 gal of rain

Stored in two cisterns inside the berm.

Josiah Falde led the consortium: picked the teams, held both budgets, and handled the county and the state. Who did what

Structural

A passive-solar ranch, dug into a 7 ft berm.

$152,912structure, envelope and site
7 ftnorth earth berm
17triple-pane Phius windows
R-49roof insulation
  • Spencer Elwart lead
  • Justin Hibpshman
  • Owen Newell
Inside structural

Mechanical

Heat from one wood fire. Water from the roof.

7,050 galof rain stored in the berm
3 x 9kBtu/h mini-split zones
1,005 galprecast septic tank
7.11kWh a day for all of it
  • Daniel Boyce lead
  • Noah Hatcher
  • Erick Lund
  • Ethan Patterson
Inside mechanical

Power

Six panels, one battery, and a plan for the worst week.

6 x 550 Wbifacial panels, 3s2p
4.8 kWhLiFePO4 battery
3 daysof autonomy in critical mode
$33,887of a $60,000 budget
  • Sebastien Pruneau lead
  • Keith Snead
  • Drew Bryant
Inside power

$240,000 went out to the teams and $20,000 stayed back. Structural ran $17,912 over and mechanical $26,856 over. Power came in $26,113 under, and the buffer caught the rest.

Money, allotted and used
$0k$40k$80k$120k$160kStructural$152,912Mechanical$71,856Power$33,887
Table
TeamAllotted (USD)Used (USD)
Structural$135,000$152,912
Mechanical$45,000$71,856
Power$60,000$33,887
Power, kWh a day
02468Structural0Mechanical7.11Power4.22
Table
TeamAllotted (kWh/day)Used (kWh/day)
Structural00
Mechanical67.111
Power64.2216

AllottedUsed

Sixty feet long, twenty deep, every bedroom on the sun side.

Bathrooms sit in the corners, away from the kitchen and living room. All the plumbing runs along the north wall, the short side of the pipes. The airlock catches the snow before it gets inside. Those ribbed lines under every room are the hydronic loops.

Sheet A101, Architectural Floor Plans. Drawn by Noah Hatcher.

Ten weeks, start to finish.

  1. Community formedWhatsApp community and team chats set up. Eleven engineers, three teams.
  2. Down to 1,200 sq ftMechanical asks for the minimum. Less house to heat.
  3. Slab, not crawl spaceFirst action-item sheet. Panels go on the ground.
  4. ICF everywhereCinder block tops out at R-2.5.
  5. PDR all-nighterInverter idle draw caught. Heat loss corrected.
  6. PDR presentationWhite shirts, black coats.
  7. County says yesCass County Health approves the cisterns by phone.
  8. Budgets rebalanced6 kWh each to mechanical and power.
  9. In writingWritten cistern approval. Park wells only run 50 to 150 ft.
  10. Turbine cutAn AWEA-certified unit costs $20,000. Two more panels instead.
  11. Model wipedMechanical Revit model deleted. Rolled back by morning.
  12. Budgets locked11.33 kWh a day. $1,344.37 left over.
  13. Paper and drawingsFinal report and Revit sheets submitted.
  14. Final presentationPrinted model on the table, QR code on the screen.
Members of Section Gr-8 Housing in suits holding framed certificates, with the GR8 logo on both projector screens

Josiah Falde, consortium lead

Split the eleven into three teams and set both budgets: $135k structural, $45k mechanical, $60k power, $20k held back, and 6 kWh a day each to mechanical and power.

Got the rainwater cisterns approved: a phone call with the Cass County Health Department, then the Illinois Department of Public Health on Erick's behalf. Pushed for the DC critical mode and the hand pump. Merged every member's numbers into the final budget the night before it was due.

Ran the whole thing from a WhatsApp community: one chat for everyone, one for the leads, one per team.

Josiah presenting the financial and power budget allocation slide
Structural
  • Spencer ElwartStructural lead. Floor plan, walls, windows, slab
  • Justin HibpshmanEnvelope heat loss, materials, roof support
  • Owen NewellLoads, orientation, roof, driveway, shed
Mechanical
  • Daniel BoyceMechanical lead. Heating and hot water
  • Noah HatcherWaste removal and septic
  • Erick LundWater supply and distribution
  • Ethan PattersonHVAC and exhaust
Power
  • Sebastien PruneauPower lead. System design and the mechanical room
  • Keith SneadArray and battery sizing, wind study, quotes
  • Drew BryantArray siting, lighting, receptacles and wiring