Sometimes it’s the sum of the parts that makes a house special. When Dallas-based MAFFCO General Contractors looks back on the construction of a 13,000-square-foot English country manor, it’s the little things that make it one of the company’s biggest achievements.
The water-retention system, the geothermal heating/cooling system, the steel framing, the self-sufficient generator, the energy-saving insulation — these are all nice features. What makes president Mark Biggs most proud, however, is bringing them all together in “a true high-performance” home. “It’s the aggregate of all the things that are involved,” he says of the home which carried $7 million construction costs. “It has the most technology, the latest materials and is the highest performance. This isn’t the biggest house we’ve done; it’s the most expensive.”
Bringing all the technologies together was no easy task, especially considering that most of the ambitious features in the home were fairly new to MAFFCO. For instance, basements aren’t common in Dallas constructions, but MAFFCO was tasked with digging a 5,100-square-foot basement.
Water retention systems were new to the company, but it built one and linked it to a 20,000-gallon cistern for irrigation. The home marked only the second time MAFFCO included of a geothermal heating/cooling system in a home.
It wasn’t the first time the company used steel construction, but it was the first time the advanced, eco-friendly ThermaSteel products were used in Dallas. It wasn’t the first time it used foam insulation either, but MAFFCO took on ambitious applications of foam that were new to the construction company.
Despite MAFFCO’s relative inexperience working with many of the home’s systems and materials, Biggs says there weren’t any unforeseen delays or mishaps. He credits this to “lots of upfront research,” “talking to lots of people” and some “leeway from the owner.”
The original homeowner (it has since been sold), a longtime acquaintance of Biggs, entered the project with ambitious goals. He wanted energy- efficiency, longevity, quality, luxury and safety, says Eddy Burchell, project manager. “The original homeowner brought lots of ideas to the table, which we were allowed to research and implement in the project.”
Burchell agrees with Biggs that the ability to research was a key to MAFFCO’s success. It allowed the company to incorporate such aspects as the water-retention system, the geothermal system, the ThermaSteel and the digging of the basement and still keep to the schedule “with little interruption,” he says. “The owner was under a cost/plus contract and allowed us to implement these ideas fully aware of the cost and time constraints. This would normally not be the case with the average customer.”
Administrative, Tech and Green Goals
In this case, the customer also made sure he didn’t choose an average builder. According to Burchell, MAFFCO’s history as a specialty contractor provided “the background to bring the aspects together to complete this job.” In a way, the project brought commercial and residential applications together, and MAFFCO’s commercial experience helped with that.
Also, Biggs points out, MAFFCO has always complemented its construction business with remodeling projects. The thought processes required during retrofit jobs probably helped with the company as it planned to incorporate new systems and materials in this new construction.
Trying to convey the quality of construction and the technological advancement of the house, Burchell compares it to a small hotel. “All the commercial aspects were adapted to residential to accomplish the goals the original homeowner wanted,” he says.
One thing the homeowner wanted was energy-efficiency. At 13,000 square feet, conservation of energy was a major concern. Burchell emphasizes, however, that the homeowner wasn’t seeking a “green” house so much as he was seeking an ultra-high-tech house. Meanwhile, the homeowner wanted his technology-laden home not to have “the typical modern look.” Most of the house is what Burchell describes as English manor and most of the walls are Venetian plaster.
In many ways, the home is an embodiment of contrasts, and Burchell says the successful completion of the project allows MAFFCO to demonstrate that it can provide its clients with what they want — whatever they want. “Being the builder of a project like this allows us to showcase our ability and our flexibility to satisfy the homeowner,” he says. “We are extremely proud of this home.”
The company considers the project to be well worth the three-year time investment. Dedicating so much time to a particular project can be risky for an eight-person company like MAFFCO. Burchell points out that the project required a lot of attention from an administrative standpoint. “Our office manager and staff were totally on top of the cost-plus contract, which made billing easier.” For MAFFCO, the project was a success on every level, according to Burchell. It leads one to wonder why the original homeowner sold the home. He explains that there was one simple reason: size. It proved too big for the bachelor homeowner. “While we did build the house to the specs he wanted, it simply became too much for him,” Burchell explains. “He was extremely satisfied with the home, but wanted something smaller. He is currently designing a smaller home, which we hope to build for him.”
Ultra-High-Tech Building 101
If MAFFCO is contracted to build the original homeowner’s next house, it will likely employ some of the experience gained during construction of the 13,000-square-foot English manor. MAFFCO may have been a novice three years ago when the project began, but now it has the benefit of familiarity. Biggs and Burchell share reflections and lessons learned from its high-tech baptism by fire:
BASEMENT — To builders in most parts of the country, basements are no big deal. In Texas, however, where soil is poor, basements provide more of a challenge. Many builders in the Dallas area haven’t done basements, Biggs says. “We’ve done a few, not a lot.”
MAFFCO excavated about 16 feet. First, there was about 4 feet of black clay, Biggs says. “Below that, we had Austin chalk, which is a white, soft rock, not real hard. We had about 10 feet of that.”
The excavators finally hit blue shale, the loadbearing base, at 14 feet. “Essentially, that was the bottom of our home,” he says. “While it’s not granite, it’s good, solid, stable stuff and it literally takes heavy equipment, jackhammers, to get through it. We penetrated about 2 feet to set the house on it and put our 4 feet of gravel on that.”
WATER RETENTION SYSTEM — A natural water retention system wasn’t part of the original plan. It was only when water began seeping through the sides of the new basement that it was adopted. Biggs says when MAFFCO realized that sealing the basement would be an issue, it decided to take all the ground water and direct it through a series of trenches and pipes. “At first, we were just going to pump it out, but as we figured out how much water we really had, we talked to the owner and we went with a 20,000 gallon fiberglass storage tank. We used that to take care of most of the on-site irrigation.”
The basement was getting 800 to 1,100 gallons of water a day, depending on the weather, Burchell adds. “The drain system took about a month to install due to having to jackhammer all the trenches for the pipes because of the blue shale.”
It’s the runoff water that is directed into the cistern, Burchell continues. “We installed the necessary pumps to regulate the water in the cistern and hooked that up to the irrigation system. Once implemented, this allowed the customer not to have to buy water from the city to irrigate the 1.1-acre lot.”
Not having to get irrigation water from the city isn’t just a money saver; logistically, it’s a big deal in Dallas. During construction on this project, there was a water shortage in Dallas. “Texas often has water restrictions due to our dry weather and our growing population,” Burchell explains. “Many surrounding communities have restrictions which go all year.”
GEOTHERMAL HEATING/COOLING — It was only MAFFCO’s second experience providing a geothermal system, but Biggs feels comfortably saying that it’s simply “not prohibitive construction- wise.” He says there were no problems. “Duct work and distribution is basically the same. The only difference is you need a mechanical space, but that’s not uncommon and not bigger than [the space needed for] a typical furnace.”
The big difference, Biggs says, is in energy efficiency. He says the geothermal system allowed MAFFCO to put in 9 tons of air-conditioning, as opposed to the 26 tons that he says is about typical in a 13,000-square-foot home. “That saves a lot of energy.”
The reason all builders aren’t doing geothermal — and the reason all homeowners don’t want it — is the upfront cost, Biggs says. “It’s 2 1⁄2 to 3 times the cost of a conventional system.” He adds that the reluctance is short-sighted. “Homeowners who plan to stay in the house for eight to 10 years will get their money back [due to energy savings].”
Burchell says the geothermal installation didn’t add any extra time to the project, despite some extensive drilling. “One aspect of geothermal is space,” he says. “The shafts must be a certain space apart and you must have access to that area for a drilling rig. We had 13 shafts drilled 260 feet deep. We use only 10 of the shafts with the last three as spares. Obviously, this is an added expense, but geothermal is a long-term investment. The use of the earth’s temperature to heat and cool is a ‘green’ aspect to the home.”
STEEL FRAMING — The original homeowner can remember Texas being hit with a devastating tornado in 1957. That memory is reflected in the construction with a steel frame.
“The product we used to insulate the walls was a structurally insulated panel called ThermaSteel,” Burchell says. “This has steel studs, which are encased in Styrofoam. Each stud is separated from the opposite stud by Styrofoam, which causes a ‘thermal break’ in the metal and doesn’t allow heat transference. The panels are 5 to 7 inches thick and have an R value of at least R-30 and a Dade County rating of a Category 5 hurricane.”
Again, the steel framing didn’t cause any construction delays, according to Biggs, who adds that MAFFCO opted not to run electrical wires through the ThermaSteel, although it could have.
The house also has safe rooms, which offer security protection and weather safe havens. “I’d be happy to be anywhere in this house during a tornado,” Biggs says.
SPRAY FOAM — Adding spray foam is every bit as easy as it sounds, according to Biggs, but it paid big dividends in terms of energy savings.
MAFFCO sprayed foam in several areas “to accomplish a sealed house,” Burchell explains. One such area was the attic, which resulted in tremendous cost-savings.
Biggs says, in Dallas, attic temperatures can rise to 160 degrees. The need for cooling it down to a reasonable 65 degrees requires a lot of heat transfer and abundant energy. “By insulating the underside of the roof where the ceiling is, we essentially have air conditioned space in the attic,” he says.
LIGHTING CONTROL SYSTEM — Another energy-saver is the lighting control system, which Burchell describes as “quite elaborate.” It’s based on Lutron’s Radio RA system. “Basically, it allows the homeowner to control lighting by radio wave.”
Also, LED lighting was used, plus incandescent lights.
WINDOWS — Double-pained windows with exterior laminate by Dynamic were used. The laminated glass creates durability similar to that of car windows, Biggs says. In the event of a hurricane or tornado, broken glass should become less hazardous because it will crumble as opposed to breaking into jagged shards.
BACKUP GENERATOR — Since extreme weather conditions were front-of-mind during the design of the home, a generator makes sense. MAFFCO included a dual-fuel 100-KW unit that can run all the systems in the house, according to Biggs. “It’s powered on natural gas, with a propane backup system in case we have some interruption with natural gas for some reason,” he says.
About a week before speaking with TecHome Builder, Biggs says he was visiting the house when there was a power failure. As planned, the generator “kicked in,” he reports.
The unit is scheduled to run for 20 minutes every Tuesday for testing and cleanout purposes, Burchell says.
MEDIA SYSTEM — MAFFCO partnered with Audience Inc., a Dallas-based integrator, to offer an extensive audio/media system, according to Burchell. There’s a Sony projector with a 120-inch Vutec screen, an Elan control system, a 55-inch Fujitsu plasma TV with a Chief motorized wall mount, a Panasonic phone system, closed-circuit cameras that can be viewed through a digital video recorder network, cell phone repeaters throughout the home and wireless Internet and DirecTV access with eight receivers.
With all the technology, this home combines the best of the old (with English Tudor style) and the best of the new.