In my green building business, my mission is affordable housing. As you (and I) make decisions on what kind of foundation, systems, and other considerations for the construction of your home, I always look at the financial figures and think, "Where can I save money?" When I started this quest, often those"great" cost-saving steps instead cost me money.

• Remember when I bought those great windows at Habitat for Humanity's Restore and Craigslist? Great cause, great idea, recycling and all, cost $600, now I can't use them for my modern house kit. (Note to all: I will reuse them, somehow, maybe in a future barn. But in the meantime, they collect dust in the garage...)
• Remember when I spent five thousand dollars on shop drawings for another type of house framing where I would then have to insulate and pay for the labor to do so... and then I discovered SIPs (structural insulated panels- strong, incredibly insulated panels) for the same price quote? Ouch.

Oh well, that was before I founded Green Modern Kits.com so someone else wouldn't have to make those mistakes! ; )

So whenever I find great resources I will add them to my "resource" tab on the site, and whenever I find great tips I will add them to my green building blog under "money saving tips".

And here is my latest money saving tip:

Windows and Doors:

If you have time, know that your local Home Depot/Lowes, etc. have regular sales.

Wait for one. Even better, strike up a conversation with the guy with whom you'll be placing your order and ask him to help keep you informed on special deals.

Our prefab kits come with a window and door schedule. I took that schedule to my local XYZ Hardware Store to get the original price quote for my budget, which ended up being around $9,000.

Well, guess what? Next week my local store is having a 15% off sale.

15% off of $9,000 is... appreciated! You can then ask them to take it a step further: Ask them to send the bid to the buying headquarters. They then go to the manufacturer who will often take off another 5 to 12 PERCENT! Woo!

Hope that helps someone else in a similar situation in this internet ether.

Keep your fingers crossed as I wait for the final price!

(Which will then be posted in my "final costs" post)