I am getting close to the final years of owner-building, its been ten, thanks...keep up the great site. Mike in Hopkinton, MA

Finally Dug-in

Posted to CastleHeims by douglas in cedar rapids, IA on 5/12/2008 5:54:47 AM

We have a basement!  After all the delays on the money end and 3 weeks of weather delay clearing timber we've got it done - a full basement.  The deal with our excavator did not include hauling fill away - anyone need some good quality fill?  The developer actually has a stash up in the timber and is allowing us to dump and fill in a ravine area, we can only get a 5-tonner up there so it will take some time to get it moved (probably 50-60 loads).  We had another 2" rainfall the other night so here we sit again waiting for it to dry up - a sprinkle can ruin any activity up there for hours.  It just gets too wet to move around.  The driveway is slowly taking shape and is not as steep as we feared - kudos to the excavator for a fine dig and placement.  Aside from moving the mud mountain, we have two soft spots on the floor that need de-watered and some trenches to dig for the walk-out and garage before moving on to the footings.  With more rain forecast for mid-week we'll probably be sitting wet all week twiddling our thumbs again. 

Photos

Timber clearing	Driveway taking shape	Basement getting there

Delays, delays, delays

Posted to CastleHeims by douglas in cedar rapids, IA on 3/8/2008 7:06:05 AM

I'm generally quite patient with most issues, but this is getting to a point of frustration.  It would appear that the appraisor ordered by the bank (3 weeks ago) has been hampered by the weather.  This seems odd to me since he is working from a print.  So here we sit again.  The latest word is that we'll close on the 15th for the construction loan, but the appraisor is to contact me to walk the lot and this has not happened yet and knowing several appraisors I would say we'll be lucky to get going by the 21st.  The general attitude I'm hearing is "what's the hurry?  There's still snow on the ground, anyway - you wont be able to do anything".  Excuse me but snow means nothing and can be removed, and there is plenty of prep work that can be done in advance of an impending thaw.  Besides, a determined excavator can break through the frost line and get it done. 

Design complete

Posted to CastleHeims by douglas in cedar rapids, IA on 2/9/2008

We took the advice of the OB book and hired a designer instead of an architect.  We have an established builder and former city inspector as a building consultant and with his referral the designer inked our plans for minimal fees.  With the plans complete we are now awaiting the pre-build appraisal.  Pending a satisfactory appraisal we'll start taking out trees on March 1.  Ok, pending the weather too.  If the current trend continues (14" of snow the other day and below zero cold this weekend) we'll be lucky to dig in by April! 

Finally moving forward

Posted to CastleHeims by douglas in cedar rapids, IA on 1/6/2008 6:09:48 AM

As the housing market crumbled and our ability to obtain an O-B construction loan in 2007 severely dwindled we finally struck paydirt with a private investor.  We will close mid February on the construction loan and start digging March 1 - "only" 15 months since our first thoughts of building were inked.  Looking back over the past 12 months is a bit painful, however, each set-back had it's embedded lessons - most importantly never give up.  So here we are ready to close and begin the building process.  Three major hurdles already cleared are 1) Sold our old house (FSBO) slightly above it's market value, 2) Got the developement/covenant approval, 3) Financial approval.  Financial approval came at the cost of re-working our floor plan - mainly to contend with the cliff leading down to street level.  Our initial plan simply did not work within budget.  So heed the blogs that suggest not designing your home until you have your lot, it would have saved us a lot of time and anguish re-working the floor plans.  And we go forward with a new "L" ranch design that sets the garage 64' off the street and a mild 1% grade on the driveway - which is still 50' shorter that the old plan.  We have also changed to ICF for the basement foundation, reducing that budget by about $5,000 (mostly labor). 

Photos

The latest rendering...

douglas in cedar rapids, IA 1 forum post and 8 journal entries and 4 interview answers Send Private Message 1/9/2008

3-D Home Architect Deluxe version 8, along with Landscape Design Deluxe 8.  The program provided a very nice working model of our vision, and eliminated the need for an architect.  We took the drawings to a draftsman/designer and he is working them into full scale plans for under 40 cents sf.  The program can be very time consuming to get the look you want (especially when you start adding trims, elevation contours, finer details) and there are limitations, but I use it regularly for remodeling work and landscape ideas.  You won't get any cross sections or engineering details but for colors, materials, and design ideas its a good program (the newer version looks even better).  I have not tried any other 'brands' so I wouldn't know how they compare, but I've heard the newer "Punch" softwares are the way to go for speed and versatility.  Most of the latest versions for home design are using punch now.  Thanks for the comments!

Rich in Charleston, SC 6 forum posts and 1 journal entry and 66 interview answers Send Private Message 1/8/2008

How did you create the graphic above?  Did you use Professional Home Design?  It's a program I've been looking at lately and was interested if anyone on here has had any success with it. Either way, that is a nice way to 'envision' your home!

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Site work, kind of...

Posted to CastleHeims by douglas in cedar rapids, IA on 7/15/2007

I went in and cleared a lot of debris and small tree growth from the front of the lot and it was not as bad as first thought.  No Poison Ivy so far... and the issue of the steep driveway is looking better - the brush and undergrowth visually added height to the slope and with that gone the picture is not so bad.  The frontage of the lot will allow for the driveway to sweep across with a landing.  Picked up some good landscaping ideas just driving through the neigborhood.  Check out the view from our front yard...

Photos

Land Ho!

Posted to CastleHeims by douglas in cedar rapids, IA on 7/7/2007

We secured our building lot - 100' wide, 130' deep, great neigborhood, all newer homes (less than 10 years).  The area is hilly and there is sufficient slope for a side walk-out without a lot of excavation, but the main area sits 10' above the street which will cause quite a difficult driveway.  I'm searching other posts to find a good solution, if you know of any point me to it!  The house across the street has marks on the driveway where cars bottom out.  Any ideas?  We'll be about 35' from street to garage and final grade will put the garage about 6 feet above street level. 

Photos

John in Lake City, FL 0 forum posts and 2 journal entries Send Private Message 7/9/2007

As far as the difficult slope goes, do you have room to go sideways across the lot at a easier angle, then have a turn and go up again across the lot to the garage?  Kind of like a stairway with a landing.  Either that or a large circular drive, in one corner of the lot, out the other.  The longer you can make the driveway, the easier the slope.

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Planning update - month#4

Posted to CastleHeims by douglas in cedar rapids, IA on 4/21/2007

We've done a lot since January...

Lots.  Searching lots has been enlightening.  Most of the lots within our early budget were engineering nightmares - filled in, very small, pie shaped, or steeply sloped (advertised as "gentle rolling" hills).  We've found one now that fits the budget and is workable with little engineering. The lot is 100 x 140 and the house footprint sits nicely in just about any orientation, plus it slopes a nice 8' across the front for a nice side-walk-out.  The driveway will be a bit steep, but the house would be the last on a dead-end street and at the top of the hill overlooking a vast timbered area along the Cedar River.  Adjoining the back yard is another few hundred acres of timber. There are 3 empty lots left on the street with about a dozen homes already there - all similar (but each one unique) to our size and design.  That gives us a very good resource for valuations and what to expect from our pre-build appraisal. 

Floor Plan. We are building a ranchish style single-story frame, wide open Kitchen, breakfast bar, 4-seasons, formal dining, and living area w/fireplace.  12" wide stub-wall and arch leading to the dining room w/columns, 2 BR's, 2 1/2 bath  main level + office and mud room, 1 BR, 1 bath  lower level plus woodshop, mechanical, laundry w/ cabinets and drying racks, storm shelter (under stoop), home theatre, fireplace, and wet bar w/cabinets and cooler.  Outside we have a 3-stall attached garage, 2 decks flanking the 4-seasons room, and a paver patio at the walk-out level. 

Estimates.  We originally started out with President Homes in mind - they do have a nice support program, unlimited architectual,  and we know the local rep.  However, as a carpenter I do have a lot of excellent resources and as building estimates started to trickle in we found that our budget was better off without using the President program!  (We're under that estimate by at least $20,000 already).  Unless we find an architect that upcharges us by 20 grand I think we're better in the long run  to use that money in upgrades or savings. 

The O-B book has been a great help for us so far, and we're just getting started with the fun stuff.  We're in month #4 of planning and devoting at least 2-3 hours per day to that. 

intro

Posted to CastleHeims by douglas in cedar rapids, IA on 1/14/2007

Our new house is just in the planning stage, looking at floor plans, checking on available building sites and budgeting tools.  Our main goal is to have more space than our current house and get away from the busy street we're on. 

Our timeline is to have all the pre-planning done by summer and start building early in the fall (2007).