Construction
- Thread starter JHDK
- Start date
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
That'll certainly cut down on the mosquitoes and ticks.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
Thanks. The post & beam frame and SIP shell goes up in just a few days, and it's already insulated. It's all pre-made in a factory, while the site work is happening. So the overall time frame should be shorter than a traditional stick-built house.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
My 1st post included a drawing of the post & beam frame, just for you.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
We now have lots of fill on the lot, and a driveway.
This shows the progress on the lot, as viewed from the street access point.
Penny checking out the new driveway.
This shows the progress on the lot, as viewed from the street access point.
Penny checking out the new driveway.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
Exciting times, I just signed-off on the fabrication of the post & beam frame, and the foundation is reportedly starting next week. This weekend we are finalizing (hopefully) the kitchen design. There's a distinct possibility it'll be over budget, in which case we'll have some decisions to make.
JHDK
Release Robin's Bra
We now have lots of fill on the lot, and a driveway.
This shows the progress on the lot, as viewed from the street access point.
Penny checking out the new driveway.
ok. i had a very disturbing experience this afternoon. i thought of you while out in the world. the movie i went to see was set in a nice house in the middle of the woods. so a couple times during the outside shots i thought, "hey that's kinda like scotch's new place." now upon reflection this is an extremely a troubling occurrence that i will not allow to become a trend. so this is a problem. i want to see more of your construction pics because they are awesome but at the same time you're in my head which just feels gross. i'm really struggling here.
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semipenguin
Cheeseburger Connoisseur
I hope HGTV is filming this
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
If this helps, my house is anything but "in the middle of the woods".
This is from the GIS map of the area.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
I was specifically referring to the kitchen budget, but yeah, I had to show the bank that I have reserves to cover a 10% over budget situation.
Now there are some things that won't go over budget:
- the land, which has appreciated since we went into agreement on it, about 2 years ago;
- the post & beam kit, which includes the frame, SIP wall/roof panels, and exterior windows/doors. We pay a fixed contract price, they fabricate and deliver a house shell. This constitutes about 25% of the project.
- the general contractor's labor. Issues aside, he will do (or sub-out) the work for the contract price.
Where we can go over budget is on the "allowances": kitchen/bath cabinets, plumbing fixtures, flooring, fireplace; and also some of the site work has unknowns. Will they hit ledge/water when they dig for the foundation or septic? How deep will they have to go for the well, etc.
Of course, we'd like to make concessions/cut-backs in other areas, to compensate for any overruns, but that's tough to do when you're trying to make a uniformly nice house. However, there are definitely some things we can do ourselves, or put-off until later.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
I thought about that; I think it's too late, but who knows. I hear those shows look as if they're going through the process in real time, but they actually reenact stuff after the fact.
Anyway, being a veteran HGTV viewer, I don't know of a show where they feature building a house from scratch. It's always either a renovation, or a house purchase.
JHDK
Release Robin's Bra
your map tells one story but the pictures tell another. i'm betting that after 2 months in your new place you will be full on woodsman.
something like this:
JHDK
Release Robin's Bra
that is scary since it is out of your control. i have a friend who put in a pool and oh boy did it get WAY more expensive when they hit a slab of ledge during the dig and had to break through and remove it.
but then again, that was a pool that they wanted/needed to have in a very specific spot. idk but with a well can't they just up and move its location if they run into trouble?
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
This reminds me of a funny story. While vacationing in Turks & Caicos, we met this nice, older, well-to-do Jewish couple from Long Island. When we told them how we haul, split, and burn cord-wood in our wood stove during winter, the guy was stunned. He turned to me and said, "What are you, Paul Bunyan?!" The way he said it was just like Jackie Mason would.your map tells one story but the pictures tell another. i'm betting that after 2 months in your new place you will be full on woodsman.
something like this:
HecticArt
Administrator
The undergrounds are usually the biggest wild card in new construction.
No matter how much effort or time you put into trying to figure out what's happening down there, it's tough to know for sure.
I had an addition we were doing where we drilled 7 or 8 core samples to test the soil and see what was underground.
When they were digging the foundation, less than 15 feet away from one of the cores, they found an old oil tank that had been buried back in the 30's or 40's. It wasn't cheap to remove. The contractor was good to work with, and we had a contingency fund to draw from, but it really sucked.
No matter how much effort or time you put into trying to figure out what's happening down there, it's tough to know for sure.
I had an addition we were doing where we drilled 7 or 8 core samples to test the soil and see what was underground.
When they were digging the foundation, less than 15 feet away from one of the cores, they found an old oil tank that had been buried back in the 30's or 40's. It wasn't cheap to remove. The contractor was good to work with, and we had a contingency fund to draw from, but it really sucked.