Project Checklist

Take it step-by-step for success! A comprehensive checklist for planning your construction project, using am‑cor Ferrocement Prefab Building Kits

Step-by-Step

It's important to know the steps involved in constructing your project.

The following checklists will help you manage construction of your am-cor Kit, from start to finish.

Preparation pays!
Preparation pays!

De­tail Check­list

This is a de­tailed step-by-step ver­sion of the Pro­ject Check­list. We can help at each stage of your pro­ject; please contact us with ques­tions/com­ments.

  1. Ba­sic Pro­ject Plan­ning Se­quence
    • De­term­ine your Needs
      • Write a list of pri­or­it­ies, a sample might be:
        1. Dis­as­ter res­ist­ance: Hur­ricane, earth­quake, tor­nado, flood, and fire res­ist­ance
        2. Size of fam­ily, who will be liv­ing in the dwell­ing
        3. Pri­vacy is­sues: where are sep­ar­a­tions made, Moth­er-in-Law suite, rent­al unit, teen­ager or col­lege room, etc.
        4. Long term in­vest­ment strategy: How long will you keep the house? How much can you af­ford to heat/cool & main­tain the struc­ture?
      • De­vise a con­struc­tion pro­gram based on needs
        1. Num­ber of rooms and types of rooms
          • Bed­rooms
          • Baths
          • Closets
          • Liv­ing room / kit­chen / fam­ily (sep­ar­ate or to­geth­er)
          • Din­ing (sep­ar­ate or open to kit­chen)
        2. Over­all size of house
          • long term liv­ing & budget plans
          • fu­ture ex­pan­sion (the am-cor Sys­tem makes out­wards/up­wards ex­pan­sion easy!)
      • House type based on size
        • Single or double story
        • Base­ment
        • Live-in at­tic / loft
        • Porches, ver­an­das, gar­ages
      • Choose your land, or where to build on your land
        • Land re­stric­tions
          • Set­backs
          • Loc­al laws / or­din­ances
          • Cov­en­ants (HOA re­stric­tions on ma­ter­i­als, style, or size)
        • Land fea­tures & val­ues
          • Sloped site
          • Wooded areas
          • Views
          • Sol­ar aper­ture
          • Ac­cess
          • Util­ity loc­a­tions
      • Based on these needs:
        • Choose a standard Kit
        • Cus­tom­ize:
          • one of our stand­ard plans
          • a plan based on your sketches
          • a plan from your ar­chi­tect / de­sign­er
    • Con­struc­tion Budget
      • How big is your con­struc­tion in­vest­ment?
        • Di­vide your budget by the area of your sketch or stand­ard plan to ob­tain a unit con­struc­tion rate
        • Ex­ample:
          • Your budget = US $90,000
          • Your Kit = 1000 sq.ft.
          • $90,000 / 1000 sq.ft. = $90/sq.ft.
        • Com­pare this rate with stand­ard con­struc­tion cost in your re­gion
          • “Hit the ground”, and con­tact some loc­al build­ers / con­tract­ors
          • Need a baseline fig­ure? We can help!
        • Con­sult the am-cor Kit QuickBudget for com­par­is­on
      • DIY sweat equity will lower out of pock­et ex­penses
        • There are 3 im­port­ant ques­tions to ask your­self:
          1. How much are you cap­able of do­ing? Please con­sider your health and loved-ones as well. If you run in­to any road­b­locks, we have qual­i­fied & ex­per­i­en­ced ar­chi­tects & build­ers who can give ad­vice.
          2. How much time do you have? Put­ting up a Kit is fast, es­pe­cially when you have a few help­ing hands. But de­pend­ing on the level of fin­ish you want (e.g.: fancy coun­ter­tops), de­tail work can be time-con­sum­ing.
          3. How much are you will­ing to learn? Like above, in­cluded in your Kit is not only a cus­tom­ized Field Manu­al, but also on-site & tele­phone/in­ter­net sup­port. But to learn to in­stall those coun­ter­tops, you'll need some ad­vice/re­search!
        • And we see 3 levels of DIY con­struc­tion by an own­er-build­er:
          1. Man­aged con­struc­tion: Here you take the role of a stand­ard con­tract­or but don't do much/any phys­ic­al work. You'll be re­spons­ible for get­ting per­mits, or­gan­iz­ing bids, schedul­ing & ap­prov­ing work from your sub­con­tract­ors, etc. If you're new, this is prob­ably the easi­est way to get in­volved in home build­ing.
          2. Hands-on Kit As­sembly: In this case, you (and some help­ing hands) go for the easi­est, low­est-hanging fruit and as­sembly your am-cor Kit on your own—a great way to save money & time. Since our pre­fab Fer­ro­ce­ment pan­els can be quickly & eas­ily tilted up and fastened to­geth­er, you don't need any con­struc­tion ex­per­i­en­ce to put up the struc­tur­al frame of your build­ing, and can avoid hir­ing pro­fes­sion­al sub­con­tract­ors, like a fram­ing crew, car­penters, ma­sons, etc. You'll prob­ably still want to hire pro­fes­sion­als for de­tail work and fin­ishes, like dry­wall, roof­ing, etc.
          3. Total DIY, aka the full monty: Dive on in, and build & man­age the whole thing your­self! It can be daunt­ing and po­ten­tially time-con­sum­ing but it's a great feel­ing and learn­ing ex­per­i­en­ce, to com­plete your own build. Also, if you're con­cerned about safety, se­cur­ity, and health for you & your fam­ily, you can be ab­so­lutely cer­tain about the qual­ity of your own con­struc­tion. Fi­nally, if it's your first time it's a good idea to do some re­search up­front and be aware of what you're get­ting in to. We're al­ways happy to dis­cuss DIY pro­jects with com­mit­ted own­er-build­ers! Since each pro­ject is dif­fer­ent contact us for sug­ges­tions or ad­vice on good books or oth­er re­sources, or see our DIY section for more info on how to get star­ted.
      • If you plan to man­age your own con­struc­tion:
        • Pro­ject man­age­ment can be a full time job
          • Will you be able to make time?
          • Will you have help?
          • Can you find a source of pro­fes­sion­al ad­vice? Feel free to contact us with ques­tions.
        • What will sub­con­tract­ors cost?
          • Show them your sketch or stand­ard plan to get es­tim­ates
          • Al­ways get mul­tiple es­tim­ates!
          • We can es­tim­ate on shell con­struc­tion, if you’re in the con­tin­ent­al USA/CA
        • Al­ways al­low for con­tin­gen­cies & un­fore­seen cir­cum­stances
    • Con­struc­tion Sched­ule
      • Gantt charts
        • On a com­puter or writ­ten by hand
        • A really, really good idea!
      • When do you want to start con­struc­tion?
      • What is your goal com­ple­tion date?
      • How much time will you al­low for con­struc­tion?
  2. Or­der your am-cor Kit
    1. Choose your a Kit
      1. Contact am-cor inc. and speak to an am-cor Kit rep­res­ent­at­ive
        1. Dis­cuss your plans and needs
        2. De­vel­op your budget & sched­ule
        3. Standard Kit or Custom?
        4. Easy design changes
          1. ex­tern­al style
          2. lay­out
          3. doors / win­dows, etc.
      2. Site plan & site plan­ning as­sist­ance
        1. Ask about our Design Op­tions (see be­low)
    2. Kit Op­tions
      1. Con­tact us to dis­cuss the best for your pro­ject
      2. Re­new­able En­ergy Op­tions
        1. Sol­ar Elec­tric/Photo­vol­ta­ic Pan­els
        2. Sol­ar Hot Wa­ter Pan­els
        3. Sol­ar Ra­di­ant Floor Heat­ing
      3. In­su­la­tion Op­tions
        1. Thermal break ma­ter­i­al
        2. In­su­la­tion board
        3. Spray Foam Kits
      4. Open­ing Op­tions
        1. Fiber­glass low-e doors and win­dows
        2. Hur­ricane res­ist­ant glass
        3. Be sure to dis­cuss the type & size of doors and win­dows you plan to use with your am-cor Kit rep­res­ent­at­ive
      5. Design Op­tions
        1. Site plan­ning & site design
        2. Build­ing design
          1. from scratch
          2. modi­fic­a­tion of ex­ist­ing designs
        3. Ar­chi­tec­tur­al & en­gin­eer­ing ser­vices
        4. Pro­ject Man­age­ment
      6. As­sembly Op­tions
        1. am-cor Kit as­sembly es­tim­ate (de­pends on pro­ject size/loc­a­tion)
        2. You can use this to help with your budget­ing or build­er ne­go­ti­ation
    3. Kit Pur­chase
      1. Over­view
        1. The Fee Sched­ule be­low is ap­plic­able for the ma­jor­ity of cases
        2. If your pro­ject has spe­cial con­sid­er­a­tions or is large (mul­tiple build­ings, apart­ment com­plexes, etc.), contact us to work out the best sched­ule for you
      2. Kit Price
        1. Kit Price Total = Base Kit + Kit Op­tions
      3. Sched­ule of Fees
        1. Draw #1
          1. 15% de­pos­it of Kit Price
          2. Ar­chi­tec­tur­al & En­gin­eer­ing draw­ings for your Build­ing Per­mit
          3. Mo­bil­iz­a­tion Fee
          4. Locks in steel & oth­er ma­ter­i­al prices
        2. Draw #2
          1. 85% bal­ance of Kit Price
          2. am-cor Kit man­u­fac­ture
          3. am-cor Field Manu­al
        3. Ship­ping
          1. Please con­tact us for an es­tim­ate of ship­ping to your site
          2. We ar­range ship­ping as a cour­tesy to our cli­ents, but we are not re­spons­ible for ship­ping! 
  3. Plan­ning
    1. Pro­ject Plan­ning
      1. vi­tal to suc­cess for both DIY & con­trac­ted pro­jects
      2. See Pro­ject Plan­ning de­tails un­der “Pre­par­a­tion to Build” be­low
    2. Use the am-cor QuickBudget as a start­ing point
    3. Place a value on each por­tion of con­struc­tion:
      1. Site pre­par­a­tion
      2. Found­a­tions
      3. am-cor Kit pur­chase
      4. am-cor Kit de­liv­ery
      5. am-cor Kit as­sembly
      6. Open­ings (Doors & Win­dows)
      7. Dry-in (ex­ter­i­or fin­ishes & roof­ing)
      8. In­su­la­tion
      9. Ser­vices (plumb­ing, elec­tric­al, heat­ing & vent­il­at­ing)
      10. In­teri­ors (dry­wall, trim, fin­ish floor, cab­in­ets & fit­tings)
    4. Check if each of these val­ues is reas­on­able and in-line with costs in your area
      1. Al­ways get mul­tiple es­tim­ates
      2. We can help you de­term­ine com­pet­it­ive rates
    5. Prob­able Cost
      1. Cre­ate an es­tim­ate for the total value of your pro­ject
      2. Be sure to add for over­heads:
        1. Taxes / fees dur­ing con­struc­tion
        2. Cost of loan
        3. Leg­al and pro­fes­sion­al fees
        4. Per­mit ap­plic­a­tion fees
      3. This Prob­able Cost will act as a valu­able budget guide, and as jus­ti­fic­a­tion for the loan amount if you plan to seek ex­tern­al fin­an­cing
    6. Sched­ule each phase of your pro­ject
      1. So you have a mon­et­ary pic­ture of your ex­pense amounts, and when they will oc­cur
      2. Gantt charts re­com­men­ded!
  4. Schedul­ing
    1. Pre­par­a­tion = $$$
      1. Ad­just both sched­ule and budget if there are un­fore­seen cir­cum­stances
      2. Be pre­pared for & flex­ible to ne­ces­sary changes
      3. Oth­er­wise res­ist chan­ging the plan or oth­er items un­less really ne­ces­sary
      4. Changes dur­ing con­struc­tion are the primary cause of cost over­runs
      5. Make sure you write con­tracts for all labor tasks as much as pos­sible
      6. Avoid hourly con­tracts un­less the sub­con­tract­or gives you a writ­ten time es­tim­ate
      7. Re­mem­ber: if you change the the pro­gram (design, tasks, etc.) dur­ing con­struc­tion, you are in­vit­ing a cost in­crease in both ma­ter­i­al and labor
    2. Keep Re­cords
      1. Reg­u­larly up­date a budget spread­sheet for your Pro­ject
      2. Keep re­cords of all meet­ings with laborers and sub­con­tract­ors
      3. Keep all way­bills for ma­ter­i­al de­liv­er­ies
      4. Take pho­tos!
  5. Re­quire­ments
    1. In­spec­tions
      1. In most areas of the USA & CA, the loc­al build­ing de­part­ment will in­spect your job at cer­tain junc­tures
        1. Ob­tain their in­spec­tion sched­ule and in­form them when you are ready for in­spec­tion of each build­ing stage
        2. Find out what they will want to see on site dur­ing in­spec­tion
        3. Be­fore mov­ing in­to your new home, you will need to ob­tain a Cer­ti­fic­ate of Oc­cu­pancy from the loc­al au­thor­ity; get the list of com­ple­tion items they check for
        4. Main­tain a good re­la­tion­ship with in­spect­ors by be­ing ready for each in­spec­tion, keep­ing the site clean, hav­ing the plans on hand, and show­ing good work­man­ship
    2. In­sur­ances
      1. Ob­tain and keep cur­rent: Own­er-Build­er in­sur­ance for li­ab­il­ity and to pro­tect against loss or dam­age
    3. Con­struc­tion
      1. Site se­cur­ity
      2. Elec­tri­city/wa­ter on site
      3. Ad­equate site ac­cess for de­liv­ery vehicles
        1. gravel or paved road
        2. turn around space for large trucks
        3. no tight corners
      4. San­it­ary fa­cil­it­ies for work­ers

Sum­mary Check­list

This is a sum­mar­ized ver­sion of the Pro­ject Check­list, show­ing the most im­port­ant items. See be­low for a de­tailed, step-by-step list­ing.

  1. Get some land
    • Buy it
    • Sur­vey it
    • Get ap­provals (zon­ing, health, etc.)
  2. Get your Kit
  3. Pre­pare your site
    • Found­a­tions & Grad­ing
  4. As­semble your Kit
    • As­semble am-cor Kit: wall, floor, & roof pan­els
    • Ap­ply am­cor­ite Struc­tur­al Stucco
  5. Fin­ish out kit
    1. Ex­ter­i­or
      • Roof­ing
      • Fin­ish coat
    2. In­teri­or
      • Ser­vices
      • Fin­ishes
  6. Move in!
    • Oc­cu­pancy per­mit

Ready to be­gin?

Ready for your am-cor Pro­ject? Contact us and we'll get star­ted!