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One of the other advantages of a dome is the speed with which the basic shell can be erected. Pat and Norm Miller built their 32-foot-diameter dome as a weekend retreat near Canyon City, Colorado. With the help of a few friends, the Millers put the dome together, including installing the windows and doors, in one day. "Our friends didn't believe that it would be possible, but it was," says Pat. "The pieces were color-coded and numbered, and they all fit together beautifully."

The dome went up quickly, but the finishing work was more time-consuming. The roof shingling and much of the interior work proved to be a challenge. "There's a lot of geometry involved, and if you are going to do the work yourself, be prepared to have the proper tools to cut all the angles," she says. "Every shingle had an angle cut in order for the roofing to work properly."

Although the Millers had some remodeling experience, they had not previously built a home from scratch. They did subcontract the foundation and insulation work. Despite the challenge presented by some of the finish work, the Millers love their dome. "It's a very open and flexible structure, and the finishing techniques that you can apply can be very different from a conventional home," Pat says.

Panelized Homes

Panelized-home kits all depend on a similar "systems-built" strategy, in which the main components are manufactured in a factory. A panelized home can use an open panel — a frame component with sheathing on the outside that is not insulated or finished on the inside, or a closed panel — a more finished version of an open panel, or a structural insulated panel (SIP). A SIP is a piece of high-performance rigid foam insulation sandwiched between two sheets of oriented strand board. SIPS can be used for floors, walls and roofs, resulting in very energy-efficient structures.

In addition to the SIPS, a wide assortment of miscellaneous subassemblies can be included in a panelized house. Roof trusses usually are part of the package as well (some packages include virtually everything needed to finish the home). After manufacture, the house components are trucked to the building site for assembly.

Floor plans of panelized homes generally are very flexible: Hundreds of configurations are available, and some manufacturers will create a custom panel kit from any blueprints you choose.

Most panelized house shells can be assembled in a few days by a small crew of experienced carpenters with the help of a light crane. This saves quite a bit of labor expense and reduces materials waste compared to traditional stick-frame construction.

But because everything arrives at the job site at once, it's extremely important for the framing crew to be ready and waiting when the materials are delivered. The speed and complexity of the shell erection process makes most panelized homes particularly challenging for owner-builders.

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