I have been diligently reading The O-B Book.  I'm about halfway through, and it helps me gain the confidence to become an owner-builder. Sandra in Apache Junction, AZ

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After 10 years we begin

Posted to Littlewoods by Mike & Carolyn in Amite, LA on 12/1/2008 6:47:46 PM

We bought our property 10 years ago in August with intentions of building our dream home out in the country. Our daughters didn't really like it because we were so far away from everything they thought was so important. Ten years really changes things! We bought an old camper and put out in the woods to have a weekend escape from the city. My youngest daughter hated coming out here and prior to 2005 only stayed maybe 3 times. Hurricane Katrina changed things for all of us. We temporarily relocated out here and enrolled my youngest in school--she was a junior, bought a new camper where we all lived for the year. After the year, my husband and I moved back to the city to renovate our house. We spent the past two years redoing just about everything on the house, new siding, tile floors, bathrooms, new kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, carpet, garage doors, etc. As all of you know the housing market is overwhelmed, but all of our hard work and updating paid off. The house was sold in 53 days from listing to close, Sept. 30, 2008! Now it was finally time to start on our dream home!

Planning Littlewoods Retreat

Posted to Littlewoods by Mike & Carolyn in Amite, LA on 12/1/2008

I've looked at millions of plans, drawn, sketched and changed several of my own, and thought we finally had our master plan. But then when you start calculating the amount things cost, you realize that you have to make your dream home affordable, so you start scaling things back some. No more curved stairs to lead up to the game room/bar. We'll go with a one story home.

The plans are with the designer with some minor changes. We'll have a large master bedroom and nice-size master bath with my corner jacuzzi tub. The kitchen will be open into the great room and breakfast room. A fireplace in the great room and possibly one in the master bedroom. Two additional bedrooms, one that will also be an office. A large utility room with a doggie shower--a tiled shower that will be raised so it will be easier on my back. The best part will be the porches. An 8-ft. front porch and a 10.5-ft back porch all the way across the back of the house, with 18 feet of it screened outside the master bedroom.

I've been checking into several different things. The permit process will be changing Jan. 1, 2009 so we are trying to get the plans finished and get the permit before the end of the year. We are hoping to be able to use steel studded sips from Transcom steel for the exterior walls and roof. I've talked to an energy consultant and will schedule an appointment with him once the plans are finalized. Due to where we live and the use of the sips, I want an expert opinion on our HVAC system. After going to the health dept. today to get the permit for sewer I passed by a house in the foundation stages, and talked with the sub doing the foundation. A good start, and he knows a framer. Our designer and his wife owner-built a few years ago and she gave me the names of all of her good subs. I've been overwhelmed with a lot of this and kind of scared to get things going, but I guess eventually I'll have to take the first step and call some of the subs and send out bids.

Hopefully our plans will be ready for review by Friday.