Comments on: FirstDay Cottage

By: Kristin

Kristin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:33:58 +0000

Ours is larger than tiny — a 1400+ sq ft upside-down house (all open upstairs, bedrooms and bath down) bermed into a southfacing hillside in upstate NY. While we do have radiant floors downstairs, our propane bill doesn’t go up in the winter as we cook on the woodstove upstairs and the passive solar is incredible (we open windows a crack when it is sunny outside, even when 15 degrees!) I’d say the insulation is plenty (someone said it is like a styrofoam coffee cup — does stacking two together make that much of a difference?). As for Steelpony’s experience, I am sad there was such a mismatch there. We had zero building experience, and we did fine, though we had some help from builder friends. This is not a “kit” for just anyone, certainly not needy types — you have to be rather adventurous and independent to tackle housebuilding. It took us a year, and there are still some doors that need framing downstairs. We have been in 2.5 yrs now, and we are so happy with this house!

By: Ric Cedergren

Ric Cedergren — Thu, 26 May 2011 17:27:36 +0000

I am currently, building a custom firstday house. David helped me to design a house to meet my family’s lifestyle. He even came to our housesite.

I have a family of five and both my wife and I work full time. Being a teacher in the mountains of NC, I have a short 6 week summer of which I can devote most of my time. We are not the “no children” couple that is the ideal for this type of project. I am in my third summer of construction. We expect to be in our house by next summer mainly due to my addition of a mudroom and two porches to the plan.

My first comment is that a Firstday house is not a kit. It is materials with a hand sketched plan. This has been a running joke in my community.
The materials have been excellant for the price. The boards have been far better than the wood I have found at Lowes or Home Depot. The problem has been keeping it relatively dry. Three years of wind, rain, and snow equals a lot of plastic and stress. One of my cabinates was a casualty of humidity. I simply was not prepared to store all of the materials for so long.

Additionally, one of my windows was cracked. I noticed this two years after the materials arrived as I began to put in the windows. I was too overwhelmed to notice this earlier as each window is wrapped and it is advised not to unwrap until installation.

Anything other than the most basic firstday house is not for beginners (I have four roof lines, valeys etc). While David has been amazingly supportive, I am building in an area with no cell phone coverage.

The two other families building firstday houses in our area both had relatives that were builders helping.

I was also fortunate that a neighbor/guardian angel with some experience working on houses(has volunteered regularly.

Initially, he was a polite critic of this house. After a year of volunteering, he has become very supportive of this firstday house, particularly the insulation and method. He helped me to learn solid building skills early in the process.

Recently, after I once again strayed from the plan and custom built my stairs, my friend said, “I don’t think you need me anymore, these stairs turned out great.” This statement from a NASA engineer who is a bit of a perfectionist, meant a lot to me. Money can not buy this.

That said, I love my house. I have learned a lot about building, electric, plumbing, roofing, insulation, heating, etc. I love that this design is unique in our area. I could not be more proud. My seven year old son just helped framed the walls of his room. My wife and daughters are picking out the house colors and staining the siding. Nothing worth anything is easy.

Thank you First Day

By: Steelpony

Steelpony — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 16:26:00 +0000

I have some carpentry skills and grew up with an Architect father. Firstday cottage in a gimmick. They misrepresent the product and themselves. First of all David Howard is NOT an architect. Second you will get very crude drawings most of them generic details not of your house. Third, the quality of the materials, wood, etc is nothing special. All in all there are much better options out there, that will cost less and be easier to build. I would not recommend FirstDay to anyone, these are not nice people.

By: Fran

Fran — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:18:25 +0000

Steelpony, Just wondering had you done any contruction work previously?? Our first home(log cabin), though NOT a kit home, took us 6 years of weekends and holidays and we had no previous construction experience. As for the materials… I would need to see them firsthand to comment. And believe me, your basic building materials anywhere are not as good as they were 30 years ago.

By: steelpony

steelpony — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:36:48 +0000

I am in the process of building one of the small first day cottages. The process in very difficult, most of their customers admit to taking a year or longer to build. Customer service is nonexistant. The quality of the materials has slipped in the last year. I am much less than satisfied with the company and the kit. It has been very expensive to find help as no one understands the system. There were long delays in getting the kit delivered

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:01:13 +0000

I have a 2000 sq ft “FirstDay” and last winters highest gas and electric was $244 (northern IL.) the 2 inch polyiso insulation when sealed properly is plenty!!!!!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 03:53:57 +0000

I really like the look of these as well. I have been looking for a cabin plan and this kit might suit my needs perfectly. I am curious about the ability to insulate this better than the 2″ foam- perhaps with spray foam.

By: Kerri

Kerri — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:25:16 +0000

These look great. I really recommend going with an open ceiling floor plan in a small house, especially if it is going to be all one open area. We did the tall ceiling in my office, but not in the house and although the office is smaller, it feels bigger with the open ceiling.

By: Little House

Little House — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:36:58 +0000

This is great. I’ll have to check them out and see if they ship to the west coast. This could be a great alternative for my husband and I. I love the low cost and the interior looks beautiful and spacious.

thanks for the info-
Little House

By: Andy in Germany

Andy in Germany — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:30:09 +0000

At last a tiny house that I could imagine a family in. Thanks for the heads up…