Our house in the woods build

Oh I love big cranes. It was nerve wracking, I bet. When we moved ours onto the foundation it now sits on, many people showed up to see if it would all roll down hill. Mainly because we built it ourselves and others didn't think it would move.

It is looking great.

 

Awesome stuff DaveGunter I didn't watch all the vid's yet, but will.

So cool to watch something happen like that, seemingly so quickly.

 

Oh my I felt bad for those guys, was 92 and wicked humid...they crawled to their truck at the end of the day, all 5 of them in a crew cab and they had a two hour drive home...this was their 4th house set this week!

They had no fear, I was watching one guy putting on the bath vents and vent stack flashing, he was literally standing on the edge of the back roof, one false step or trip

The thought crossed my mind

The crane operator was quite the character....full of jokes...he was the only one there when I got there, I had no idea who he was, he says "you the crane operator?...you're late, the cops were just here they want to see your permit...no house sets on Friday", I'm like wait...what, "told me this was his first house set...yep never set a house on this day and time before. It was quite an impressive rig...and yes very nerve wracking to see your house swinging over your head.

 

DaveGunter How soon before you will be able to move in? At least it wasn't raining during the setting

 

Pretty cool!
Love the giant boulders for the retaining wall by the house.

 

They have that modular home thing down to a science! Very ingenious way to raise the roof in the second video above!

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Looks great!

Out of curiosity, about how much would you say the site work cost you? It's so easy to window shop modular and log homes, but that is the unknown?

 

6-8 weeks, the GC has 60 days by the contract, I'm not sure what happens if he doesn't meet the 60 days, he says he has never failed to meet it. There is a fair bit of finish work inside, the marriage wall, some flooring etc, some stuff just can't be done at the factory some of which depends on the floor layout. The septic is not in yet, power poles need to be set and power and water connections to the house, the GC is also building a wrap around porch and they have to finish the walk out wall.

Those came out of the hole we had to blast in the ledge...some expensive boulders

Holy chit...I was tearing my hair out when we were shopping , some dealers include everything in the price some itemize and give you "estimates", some don't include anything to make their price look really good. Our price "included" the modules, delivered and set on the foundation and the interior and exterior finish work. The itemized Add ons are, site work, foundation, walk out basement wall, porch, electric hook up and interior electric connections, water line from the well and pressure tank (there was already a well), heating and plumbing connections, chimney, insulate the basement walls, (code for our town), trash removal and a porta John.

But to answer your question, site work for our particular build site included, tree clearing, brush removal, 600 ft driveway with a culvert, digging for the foundation, drain work for the foundation, backfilling and grading, digging the water line and underground power up to 150 ft, 1000G septic tank with a 20 x 45 pipe and stone leach field is $36.5K. Dirt/gravel driveways are $10-15/ft, there was already an old driveway in place, overgrown and neglected, but our site guy would not agree to re-habing it. He said he wasn't sure how it was constructed, so he excavated the old drive and brought in all new fill and gravel and used the old driveway material as fill around the house.

I have a strong vision of what I want. I was adamant about getting the house "down in the ground". I think houses with a bunch of the foundation sticking out of the ground or with a bunch of back fill look terrible. I don't want a house sticking out of the ground in the middle of the woods. I want the house to blend with the natural grade of the land and I don't want steps into the house or railings on our porch. We picked this piece of land and this particular spot on the land because I thought we could accomplish this and still have a walk out basement but that meant blasting because we hit ledge...tack on another $15K.

Then add in the concrete, that depends on your house size and a little bit on the grade, $18K for us. Then add in power poles at $2K a piece, each pole gets you about 200 ft, we are going underground for the last 100-150 feet.

In the end for us the "included" price from the dealer is just about half the total, and we had very few upgrades from the factory...not including the price of the land. We looked briefly at "log homes", but that's awholenuther can of worms depending on what type of log construction you are talking about. Log homes can be very labor intensive to build. Banks hate log home building projects.

 

That's a lot of things that you would just never think of expense wise! Thanks for that onsite. I've seen on some of the sites that they say to expect it to be another 50% in site work, but a real world experience in a similar geographic area is eye opening.

I've read about the added work with a log home, but theres just something about them that keeps drawing me back.

 

I hear ya, I would have loved a log home, my wife was just ok with them. She prefers the neat, clean orderliness of a sheet rock wall. I hate that our new house will be wrapped in vinyl and if I get my way I will eventually rip it all off and replace it with either clapboard or shingles, maybe even made from the cedar off our land.

 

I figured that.
To make them part of your dream makes them that much more valuable.

….maybe not that expensive.
What would you have used for a wall there if those boulders were not available?
Maybe one of those.....gee, never saw that coming moments.

From what I see, money well spent.
They make a center piece for the yet to be patio.
How many times will you sit next to those boulders
and tell the story of where they came from?

Pretty cool! Thanks! for letting use ride along.

 

I dislike the look too, but my current house is like that. I have found a major advantage - I have never had a mouse in the house, despite this thing being a 1960's build that wasn't very tight and the basement didn't' have interior finished walls. My last place, a 1985 build, was close to the ground on 3 sides and we had mice running everywhere; up inside the walls, thru the ceiling of the basement etc. - even with 3 cats patrolling and catching them inside and out. And when you live next to a swamp, water doesn't pour into the basement - very important in this location (sure, it gets damp, but wet would be a whole 'nother story - and that is very site location specific anyway so not your concern).

However, this house is in-town, so doesn't look out of place. And your site isn't on fill over a swamp, and I'm sure it will be a lot tighter for critter control than either of my houses have been.

 

Now that is progress. Looks nice.

 

That's a great way to think about it!

Critter invasions are definitely a downside and a concern, those buggers can seemingly get through anything if they are determined enough.

 

Hmmm... where's the line item for a wood stove and hearth?

Aside from wood, what's your source of heat? There's no NG lines there. So, fuel oil or propane?

 

you know, as you age, and I mean really get older, things like that vinyl siding will be much less offending. Income becomes fixed, and you ability to do maintenance is impacted. If you intend to retire and stay there as long as you can, anything that isn't a money sink or require upkeep is regarded as an asset. I really like your location. I hope you continue to like it and pamper it to be your own oasis. Will you be able to let the hounds loose without being tethered? I liked the picture of the one who had the knee surgery. He looks like he has recovered well. Now to keep him from running.

 

Looking good DaveGunter ... !

 

Dave, you got a good deal on the excavation! I have almost the same lot statistics for my build in New Hampshire. 3.7 acres, 450' driveway, 24" culvert, 125' to the leach field, heavily forested. Includes clearing for just driveway, leach field and house with all foundation prep (no concrete). Installation of septic tank & leach field included.

I got 3 quotes; $74k to $82k. The difference being, I'm on the side of a mountain in the White Mountains. When I bought the beautiful mountain lot in the middle of nowhere, I had no idea how much if would cost me to just get to the point of starting the actual house!

Enjoy the new homestead Dave!

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Up here, insurance companies also hate log home building projects. It cost a lot more to insure a log home.