Geodesic Dome Homes are kit homes with advanced alternative housing technology. Our concrete dome house plans have flexible exterior design and the latest flexible interior design. 

GEODESIC DOME HOMES ADVANCED HOUSING TECHNOLOGY

Housing technology has changed very little since framing replaced the log cabin. Modifications that have been made to improve the efficiency and strength, also increased cost. We applied some American Ingenuity to the geodesic dome home, designed an all new component building system utilizing advanced kit home construction technology and developed a superior modular home plan without increasing the kit home's prices.

Dome Building Kit Contents:  American Ingenuity's Building Kit contains one entryway and all of the component panels (four foot tall risers and triangles) you need to assemble the basic dome shell.  The floor plan you select will determine how many more entryways and dormers will be included with your building kit.

 The component panel includes the seven inch thick R-28 insulation.  On the exterior of the insulation is ½” to ¾” thick steel reinforced concrete and on the interior of the insulation is ¼” Georgia-Pacific wall board.  Onsite the kit is assembled by concreting the entryways, dormers, cupola, link and seams between the panels.  You do not concrete over the entire dome.  For the interior shell finish, fill the seams between the wall board with tape and joint compound; then paint.   

The component panels do not come with any paint on them.  We do not add any color to the concrete.  On site you concrete the seams between the panels so if we painted the panels or added color to the concrete, the panel concrete would not match your painted seam concrete.  The concrete shell is painted after the entire kit is assembled.  The paint should include a concrete primer and two coats of good quality latex paint.  The dome can be painted any color, tan, green, blue, etc. preferably a light to medium color to reflect the sunlight. 

Our dome building kit does not include doors and windows. There is such a variety and varying price points, we leave that up to each client to purchase locally.  The floor plan you select will determine how many entryways or dormers you will have.  Within the entryways and dormers {eye brows}, you or your framing subcontractor installs a 2x4 wall to frame in what ever standard doors or windows you have purchased locally.

No interior items are included in the building kit other than the shell wall board.  We believe you should not pay shipping on items you can purchase locally such as:  plumbing, electrical, framing, flooring, kitchen cabinets, bathroom fixtures, lighting fixtures, etc. 

Dome Finished Costs:  The finished costs on the domes depends so much on where you live, what the labor costs are in your area and what price points you select for your windows, doors, cabinetry, flooring, lighting fixtures, etc.   You can ask at your local hardware store or ask a local contractor what the finished price per square foot is running for a conventional house in the neighborhood you plan to build in.  That is what it will cost to finish the domes (if you do no labor yourselves), because everything in the interior is standard whether it is a conventional or dome house....plumbing, electrical, lighting fixtures, bathroom fixtures, flooring, kitchen cabinets, windows and doors, etc. is the same.  Basically you end up with a super-energy efficient, super-strong home for about the same price as a conventional house.

SIMPLE DOME HOME CONSTRUCTION

An American Ingenuity dome is purchased in kit form, home owners without prior construction experience can assemble their dome shell.  The simplified building process consists of placing a row of preconcreted panels, overlapping the steel mesh from adjacent panels and filling the seams with concrete.  To complete the dome shell interior use joint compound and tape to finish the wall board seams and then paint the wall board.

If you do not have the time or do not want to assemble the dome shell kit we know of a working consultant that will supervise your or your contractor’s laborers and assemble the shell.  The working consultant’s daily cost is $275 plus room and travel expenses.  Rooms can be $50 a day plus travel expenses from Texas or Tennessee.  Using four good laborers and depending upon the size dome and type of hoisting mechanism you use, shell assembly can take from 8 to 25 days.  Once you decide on your floor plan, we can estimate the number of days needed to assemble the shell (entryways and dormers take longer to install than triangles).  

You or your contractor hire conventional subcontractors to do the normal jobs like forming and pouring the slab, plumbing, electrical, framing, etc.  We figure you should not pay someone to come in from out of state to do work that your local subs can perform. 

A few years ago prior to the working consultant that supervises the shell assembly, some of our dome owners had to hire contractors or individuals that had never assembled one of our dome shell kits.  As a result the contractor had to overcharge the dome owner because they did not know what problems they would run in to.  Many times they would charge as much as the cost of the building kit for the labor cost to assemble the kit.

Sorry we do not give out the name of the assembly consultants.  They are on job sites and cannot be disturbed. So we answer all the assembly questions, etc.   It has been our experience due to delays with building departments and slab subcontractors, no project ever starts on time.  As a result, at the point when you have the building permit and the slab is formed up and ready to be poured within a few days, we will determine which consultant is available. 

A helpful web site is rsmeans.com   It has construction manuals, construction estimating CD's, etc.

CONCRETE DOME HOMES EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH

A dome shape has inherent strength that exceeds all other home designs as proven by Buckminster Fuller. Our reinforced concrete dome homes shell is virtually indestructible, able to withstand enormous wind and snow loads and capable of supporting earth berming. As home manufacturers we are confident of our housing kits and offer a structural guarantee it will withstand hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes.

American Ingenuity warranties their concrete domes against hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes.  Since our dome kit manufacturing business started we have sold over 500 kits into 46 states and seven foreign areas.  Since then we have not had any of our clients have any damage due to hurricanes, earthquakes or tornadoes except for one dome during Hurricane Andrew.   During Andrew a 45’ American Ingenuity Dome was impelled by a two wide metal horse trailer.  A riser wall of the dome ended up with a hairline crack and a missing chunk of concrete.  The dome owner caulked the crack and mixed up some fiber concrete and filled the chunk.

During the 2004 Hurricane system, Florida experienced four hurricanes. None of our concrete domes suffered any damage, even though some were in the direct path of Charley, Ivan, Frances and Jeanne.

ENERGY EFFICIENT KIT HOUSING DESIGNS

A reduced surface area, uninterrupted insulation, lower air infiltration and EPS insulation that is over four times the thickness used in refrigerators, provide savings in heating and air conditioning cost that often exceed 50%. This model received the Aurora Award for Residential Energy Efficiency, the Grand Award for The Most Energy Efficient Home in the southeast and was featured on the Cover of Popular Science. Our concrete and foam dome homes have received the EPA's Energy Star rating.

By the way it is even easier to heat the dome than to cool it.  We have domes in such cold climates as VT, ME, NY, MI, IL, WI, NE, Canada, etc.  When heating you can use the heat generated by light bulbs, refrigerator, dishwasher, clothes dryer, etc.  When air conditioning you have to overcome all these heat sources.

Our offices consist of a 45’ dome linked to a 34’ dome with about 3,300 sq.ft under air-conditioning.  The average monthly air conditioning cost to maintain an interior temperature of 76 degrees during the middle of summer is $71.00.  That is better than most Floridians with half the square footage and this is a commercial building with ten computers in operation and nine office staff and guests.  Our air conditioner is a 4 ton water cooled heat pump.

MODERN SPACIOUS MODULAR HOME INTERIORS

High vaulted ceilings are a natural for domes. The strength of the dome is sufficient to suspend the second floor, reducing the need for load bearing walls and allowing for large open floor areas. Floor plan designs become much more interesting and practical when you break away from square rooms. Single domes range from 500 to over 5,000 square feet or you can link domes together, maybe add a garage or screen dome.

Because of the shape of the dome a second floor is a natural. To access the second and third floors instead of an elevator, install an electric winch powered lift in a 4’x4’ area for $1,000 -$2000 in parts versus an elevator to get to the second floor.   You could design all your living space and master bedroom and bath on the first floor and put a guest bedroom and bath on the second floor and use those second floor rooms for guests or for storage.

FLEXIBILITY OF OUR MODULAR HOME FLOOR PLANS

You can select standard entry ways, high profile entry ways, add window dormers to either the first or second floor and top it off with a cupola with a modular home kit. Entryways can also function as a balcony for the second floor. A patio or screen dome will add new dimension to your home. This balcony, serving the second floor Master Bedroom , provides a romantic seating area or your personal space.

We only put a few of the stock plans on our web site.  In the Planning Kit is a 60 page Stock Plan Booklet that contains stock plans for the 22' thru 48' domes.  If you do not see a plan that fits your lifestyle we can modify our stock plans or we design custom plans for a reasonable fee. 

 What we have found works best is for you to sketch out your ideas on a stock plan or on the blue floor planner pages in the stock floor plan booklet and email them to us at [email protected] or fax them to us at 321-639-8778.  Please include your name, address, telephone number and best time(s) to contact you.  Either Michael or the plans designer will review your sketch and call you with questions and a price quote.  Once we receive payment in full for the Building Plans, we schedule them for production.  We will fax you rough drafts that you review and make changes on and fax them back to us.  After you approve the final draft, we design your structural blue prints and complete your plans.