Cool... Gabe B., Coraopolis, PA

Mike's Forum Posts: 6
Journal Entries: 14
Interview Answers: 58
Average Forum Rating: 3.67



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Finding Subs

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 1/24/2008

The Owner-Builder Book, Chapter 7, page 87, has "Suggestions for Finding Subs".

Where we will be building*, some of those suggestions will be impossible for us…

3. Attend home and garden shows where you may meet subs...

No such thing anywhere nearby.

6. Join the local Home Builders Association...

That is almost 70 miles away, and that town is high-end, very expensive, and definitely not the type of home we want.

7. Seek out the subs who did work on "Parade of Homes"...

No such thing anywhere near by.

I will need to make sure and ask the subs about any additional charges for mileage and/or driving time.

UPDATE: I talked to Mark and he suggested putting the subs up at the local motel that is only 9 miles from my build site. Duh, slaps self, what a great idea!

* The estimated population (July, 2006) for Eureka, MT is 1,028: Males = 488, Females = 529

   The nearest city with population of 50,000+ is Missoula, MT (157 miles, pop. 57,053).

Posted by Brian in Dexter, MI on 1/24/2008 Brian's Forum Posts: 22 Journal Entries: 29 Interview Answers: 50 Average Forum Rating: 3.78 My Construction Website Image from Brian's blog 1/24/2008

check craigslist.org

The Owner-Builder Book

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 1/22/2008

My The Owner-Builder Book arrived today! :-)))))

Actually, I ordered it for my local library, but I may have to buy another copy so I can make notes in it.

UPDATE: Yup, I ordered a bunch of stuff from the bookstore.

First design changes

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 1/18/2008

We had a very productive meeting at the Heartwood offices with the designer and owner of Heartwood changing the second floor and other very minor tweaks. We strongly understand it is much more cost effective to get this early part of the process correct.

Received first set of drawings

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 1/4/2008

We received the first set of drawings (27 pages via email) from Heartwood, and they are 99.9% exactly what we originally gave them. But, we found a problem with our original sketches… the bottom of the second-floor bedroom windows are 5’ 8” above the floor! When I was working on our plans, I had a very hard time visualizing if the second-floor windows would or would not work. (I do not have any construction building experience.) So, I changed the second floor from a long rectangle to more of a square. And as a result, we will have a better south-facing roof for solar collectors to heat water for domestic use and radiant underfloor heating.

Posted by Ben on 9/20/2010 Ben's Forum Posts: 0 Randomly Selected Image 9/20/2010

We are so disappointed in the extreme additional costs caused by Timbercraft, both in the initial stages of design and then throughout the construction process. I highly suggest you have a very-experienced general contractor look over all their plans before signing any contracts. Our contractor spent an exorbitant amount of time correcting mistakes that should have been caught by the design team at Timbercraft. Our architect, who works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was astounded by the problems created by the Timbercraft design team. Due to all the errors, our design costs were 40% higher that planned. I felt sorry for the erection team who had to fight these problems at every turn with little to no support from the design and manufacturing team. When all was said and done, we received absolutely no response from the owner, or the factory, when we requested financial assistance for these costs.  They just ignored us then, and are still ignoring us now. Obviously I would never recommend Timbercraft and suggest you all keep your eyes open. We will most likely commence legal action, something we have never done in any previous project. Ben

Heartwood Timbercraft Homes

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 11/19/2007

After five years of log & timberframe shows, many log and timberframe magazines/books, Googling, and a few trips to timberframe companies, we decided we wanted Heartwood Timbercraft Homes (heartwoodtimber.com) to design and build our hybrid timberframe home, and we have placed a $2,000 deposit to start the design work. We gave them three 11”x17” graph-paper drawings.

Why Heartwood, you ask?

1)      It is very important to us to have the timber-frame company erect the timber frame and install the SIP panels.  The new town we will be living near has a low population (1,028) and it will be very hard to get bids.

2)      Heartwood has two production/design sites: West coast (Port Townsend, WA) and Midwest (Tecumseh, MI). It is only a 100-mile drive to have face-to-face meetings with the Michigan design staff, and we will save on shipping the timberframe and SIPs by using the Washington site.

3)      The Director of Sales (Dave)

a.       He is not the typical bright-white starched monogrammed shirt wearing 40 gallons of stinky cologne salesman... he is a real down-to-earth get-his-hands-dirty builder!

b.      He listens very well to what we think we want, and sometimes provides suggestions (and the reasons why) to some of our ideas.

c.       His suggestions are from OUR viewpoint, and not pushing to make a few extra dollars.

2007 Trip

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 6/15/2007

4,500-mile round trip from Michigan to Montana to work our land.

We hired a different road-building company to gravel the new 1/3-mile-long road.  Since we are buddies with Billy and Roy, we got a deal on the gravel… only $2/cu. yd. instead of $4/cu. yd.  It took 383 cu. yds. of pit-run gravel!  So, gravel and equipment time came to $6,952.

Photos

New 1/3-mile-long "driveway" to new house site.

View from new house site looking straight west.

2006 Trip

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 6/15/2006

4,500-mile round trip from Michigan to Montana to work our land.

Where we will be living, there is no such thing as a “driveway”… they call them “roads”.  Since we did not have a four-wheel vehicle, we have not been able to use our old road to the new house site.  We hired a local guy to cut in a new road that is not as steep as the existing road (8% grade vs. 12% grade)!  The new road is 1/3 of a mile long and cost $1,670 just to cut it in (no gravel).

2005 Trip

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 6/15/2005

4,500-mile round trip from Michigan to Montana to work our land.

We have become very good friends with two local brothers (Billy and Roy) that have been in the logging business all their lives.  We asked Billy to find someone to thin our land because we are scared to death of forest fires.  Only one logging company came out, but they declined because about 95% of our trees are Douglas Fir and not worth their time.  (Our property was a Christmas-tree farm.)   We asked Roy if he would be interested in working for us.  Since the sawmills closed and he was out of work, he jumped at the chance.  He is clearing/thinning just using a chainsaw and no other power equipment!  I have never met anyone that works as hard as Roy!  Due to fire restrictions, Roy can only work thinning in the fall and burning the slash piles in the winter.

2004 Trip

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 6/15/2004

4,500-mile round trip from Michigan to Montana to work our land.

2003 Trip

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 6/15/2003

4,500-mile round trip from Michigan to Montana to work our land.

Closing

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 9/9/2002

Closing… we own our Montana land FREE and CLEAR!

Photos

A double rainbow over our land has to been a very good sign!

Took out mortgage

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 8/30/2002

Took out 1^st mortgage on our current house in Michigan.

Our offer was accepted!

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 7/24/2002

Our offer was accepted!

Found Our Dream Land!

Posted to EurekaMT-Timberframe by Mike in Augusta, MI on 7/19/2002

After traveling 2,000 miles all over the Northern Rockies (Idaho and Montana), we finally found our dream land! We made an offer, put down earnest money, and drove 2,000 miles one way back to Michigan. (A total of 6,000 miles in three weeks while living/camping out of our minivan looking for land!)