DUVAL STREET:

 Zaman and Rich: 

Giving thanks at this time of year, must include thanking you both for giving us 850 sq feet of wonderful house.  Mack and Prine have been living there for a few months now and we continue to marvel at the magic you pulled off in creating a living space that somehow lifts the spirits as soon as you enter.  I have spent time lying on Mack’s couch and looking up at the elegant lofty space…and Zaman’s beautiful craftsman. It’s so much more than I had a right to expect.  Mack and Prine are continually remarking on the ease and comfort of living there.  Everyone who visits is immediately wide eyed and enthusiastic about the house.  You guys created so much more than a building.  You have enriched the lives of Mack and Prine (and me by extention) and all that will inhabit it after us. And as far as a construction project, I want you to know that in every way, from the  inspired design, the quality of the workmanship, and the practical functioning of everything, we could not be happier. The only thing that was less than we expected was the cost. I still don’t know how we got such quality windows and fixtures for the price, not to mention the rest of it.  I will be ever grateful for Zaman’s ingenuity in finding the most reasonable ways to do things and his integrity in billing. We truly got more than we paid for. From a business standpoint you get four stars in my book.  The Alley Flat project has proved to be one of the best moves I ever made. We would love to have you guys stop by anytime to see how the house is being lived in.

 Happy holidays to you and yours and may the new year be a great one for you, your families, everyone at Zworks and everyone at the Alley Flat Project.

Thanks again,David, Mack and Prine. 
 

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GATESVILLE:

Dear Zaman,

Where do I start? That is the question I asked myself about a year ago as Trey and I looked at the view from a very rocky hilltop! Fortunately for us you answered that question and many many more during a building process that was fun, calm, collaborative and worry-free. We are very grateful that you agreed to take on a project two hours away from Austin and all of the complexities that the situation involved.

You are an artful project manager with a strong sense of responsibility for detail, in addition to being creative and hands-on! Thank you for making our vision of a cozy, multifunctional, relaxing space a reality.

Sincerely,

Trey and Stormy

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LAMPASAS:

Zaman,

I got my electric bill for the hot month of June.  I used 624 Kwh with a cost of $79.46. That’s up about 65% in kwh and $22 from the May bill and about 2/3 less than my house in Houston.  It’ll be hot for months to come of course but its hard to see how it could get significantly hotter than this.

My average daily use was about 21 kwh but with peak days up to 26 kwh. I don’t think a 4 Kw array will do the job – maybe 5 Kw.

With the cold winter we had and this hot, dry summer, I’m really getting a good look at the house electrical performance and rainwater margin.

Looking good boss!

Just thought you’d like to hear,

Bill

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LAMPASAS:

From: Bill
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 1:12 PM
To: Laverne
Re: new house

LaVerne,
I had contacted you about two years ago regarding your architectural help to me in designing and building my energy efficient and “green” retirement home.  For whatever reason(s) our schedules didn’t merge and I pursued my project using Zaman at ZWorks, Design/Build out of Dripping Springs.  With Zaman’s help and expertise we have designed and built an ICF house with SIP roofing.  The house is just outside Lampasas on a hilltop and a plot of about 60 acres which I am trying to restore from the centuries of overgrazing.  I have roughly 3500 Sq ft of roof space, counting the steel building/garage, feeding into a 20,000 gallon cistern.  While I have “city” water along the county road I have elected to stay with rainwater.  Even in this horrible drought of today, my cistern is roughly 2/3 full.  Imagine if everyone did this!  What would the aquifers contain after a few years?

While I am tied to Hamilton County Electric Co-op for power, I am taking electrical energy consumption measurements daily to establish my energy consumption needs.  When I have that data, I plan to cost a PV system that will allow me to put Hamilton on “backup” status.  I could feed extra power back into the co-op system but that does me no good when there are rolling blackouts or area wide disruption of public services.  Plus my electric bill is so low anyway I’m not getting a real return if I “cash in” that renewed energy.  In the future I think power is like water in that it will only get more expensive and with less reliability for its availability.

Based on what I am learning here in Lampasas, maybe its time for us to take care of ourselves and be less dependent on “municipal” organizations.  It certainly will be more environmentally friendly and recuperative for future natural resources.

Keep up your good work,

Bill