One easy thing to add besides the outside hot water is a RV dump. Having built a lot of lower end homes, some of the cheapest additions are: stereo wiring and extra phone and cable jacks, outside plugs, extra hose bibs, and inside insulation on select walls. We put in the outside christmas light plugs and people seem to love them. You will also find that adding to sq ft to rooms is fairly cheap compared to other additions. When you take out the costs of permits, utilities, the kitchen and baths, doors, lighting,windows, etc, the cost of pushing out 2 or 4 feet can be quite cheap. Be carefull on your window additions as they can cause a lot of engineering problems if they are too close to the exterior walls and if you end up with too much glazing overall. Lots of designers and architech will just draw up what you want and not advise on cost. Before you finalize your plans be sure you run them by your builder and see what he can do to help maximize savings and utility.
I would also rethink the idea of not having the higher ceilings. Overall, the higher ceilings seem to make a home feel much more roomy adn cozy. When you to into a home lots of homes, the ones with the higher ceilings generally have a better overall feeling.
Edited by Krijack (11/30/11 05:19 PM)