So How Much Does A High-Performance Element ICF Home Cost Compared To A Regular Wood-Framed Home?
Every home, homeowner, builder and region are different and there are many variables in play that make it difficult to arrive at a consistently accurate rule of thumb. But here is an example that illustrates the general economics of Element, given typical lumber prices and interest rates.
Below grade, the cost of Element ICF construction should be similar to the cost of a framed-out and well insulated conventional foundation.
Above grade, let’s assume the cost of an unfinished Element ICF wall can cost in the range of of $6 – $9 more per square foot than an ordinary 2×6 stick-framed wall.
And for this example let’s take a bungalow with 2,000 sq ft of living space that has 1,800 sq ft of above grade walls.
- $200/sq ft – Turnkey budget price to build this home conventionally with a framed-out and well insulated conventional foundation.
- $400,000 – Budget price for the turnkey conventional build (assume $200 sq ft x 2,000 sq ft of floor area).
- $14,400 – Additional cost to build the above grade walls with Element ICF (assume $8/sf ft premium x 1,800 sq ft of above grade wall area).
- 3.6% – Cost premium to build with Element ICF ($414,400 – $400,000)/$400,000.
- $90.94 – Additional mortgage payment to finance $14,400
In this case, if your total heating, cooling, insurance and maintenance savings exceed $91/mth, then building with Element ICF will actually save you money every month.
Plus, the cost of framing lumber is FAR more volatile than ICF pricing and when the cost of lumber spikes, as it did in spring 2018, summer 2020 and again in spring 2021, the cost of regular wood-frame walls will actually approach and can exceed the cost of higher-performance Element ICF walls.
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