Time & Cost Questions - For those of you who've done it and know

[trev72w]

We're signed up to attend the Feb. class. But...in waiting, I have a few questions that answers to would really help me out as I do my planning.

Background
We really need to get out of our current housing situation in town and get the kids in the country. So, we need to make a move this spring. (Our kids are ages 9 girl, 7 girl, and 2 boy). We can camp for the spring/summer/fall if necessary. We'll be building this on our own and be working full-time on it.

We're wanting to do this bank-loan free so we'll only have about $60,000-$70,000 cash to work with for starters (including buying 5-10 acres in NE WA state).

For financial reasons, we can do without a sewer for a while. But we'll probably need power and a well to start off.

Our Questions.

1. What is a reasonable amount of time we could figure for first-time home builders putting up the entire shell of a house (walls, exterior wall wiring, roof, doors, some windows, and a floor) so that we could at least camp in the house? We're hoping to buy land with trees, so we'll have to factor in time for felling the trees and moving them.

2. What cost should we expect to see for putting up the house shell? We're budget conscious, so don't need anything fancy, but don't want to build a junk heap either. We're happy to build our own doors, shop craigslist deals for what we can given the short amount of time we have, etc.

[rocklock]

I live on Camano Island about 6 months a year. I would suggest several things.
Get land.
Live on your land as soon as possible.
Insure that your entire family is behind you.
Get a trailer or something quick. Camping sucks for more than two weeks.
Find others that are building and help them. Get experience.
Plant berries, trees, garden when you get tired of building - or run out of money (that just me).
Build a small log structure to make sure you have a clue what is happening. Look at my well house.
If you build on a slope, build a walk out basement.
Use ICF's.
Build small.
Build as low as possible. Heating big is expensive every year!
Have fun - enjoy the trip.
Make Craig's list your home.
Find every lumber yard bone yard in your area.
Become a member and use the search feature to get all the goodies in the member area.
Good luck

[loghousenut]

You are the perfect candidate for this class. I'm not much help on the time or money budget but I can reassure you that if you don't do fine on this project, it'll be your own fault. By the same token you'll deserve what you and your family earn.

I can say from experience that our family is doing it the easy, relaxing way. We live in an ugly old trailerhouse that keeps us very comfortable and are able to build the new place here on the property to fit our income and inclination. Running out of money is not much of an inconvenience to us. I heartily endorse the idea of finding a place that has an existing dwelling if at all possible. It can be pretty rundown and still be a big headstart.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/loghousenut/8thcourse11-5-09030.jpg

[ChainsawGrandpa]

As was previously mentioned, get a trailer!
I couldn't get a trailer because my wife would probably kill me in my sleep, or at least do her best Lorena Bobbett impersonation.

I built a storage shed. BIG MISTAKE! I met some of my new neighbors. They asked about my plans and I mentioned I was going to move in two storage containers and start to work on the house. They asked that I not use shipping containers as, "they didn't want to look at them." I didn't know they could see that far, and now the neighbor has moved! I have spent my time on a good looking shed when I could have been building my house.

How's the search for land coming along?

-Rick

[StressMan79]

[name redacted by member's request]?and myself and a few other members are building in NE washington. I am up by Curlew and I don't exactly remember where [name redacted by member's request] is.? Anyway, there will be ample excuse to come by visit and pound some rebar and lift some logs. Glad to hear you are taking the class.



Find a Realator who listens to your needs and works with you. 70k with water and power might be tough. That is b/c most parcels in NE washington are:? a. remote b. 20+ acres You are basically looking at a small town lot. You might be able to swing that.



Here is my thoughts so far: 1. I bought 20 acres with a seasonal shallow well with southern exposure and a great view and trees for ~40k. 2. I bought all my logs for under 5k, delivered to the top of my mountain. 3. I bought a truck for 6k (worth 7500, so I'll be able to sell it when I am done) 4. I bought a trailer for 1500. it is old, but everything works. Has 3 bunks. 5. I bought all the roofing/joists/materials/studs/insulation for (my original plan) 18x18 for 8500 delivered (not to the top of the moutain, but to my nieghbor's field on the main road). I'll need another 3k worth for my new expanded plan. 6. I had an excavator come out twice, cost me 1000 total, but if I could swing it, I would buy a good old one--you can resell for less than the cost to rent one 7. rocks are a big deal in the area. I had to get one blasted out. that cost me 600 bucks. 8. I moved a 20' shipping container up to the property. Man that was a pain. It cost 1600 for the container and another 1400 to get it from seattle to curlew. Not too bad considering the 300 miles and the 3000 ft of elevation and the 8000 pounds. 9. The cement for the stem wall and footer will run 120 bucks /yd. My new design will use about 12 yds (big footer). Anyway, that is 1440 give or take 10. all of the tools required to build off grid are substantial. I accumulated the bulk of them over 2-3 years. I estimate that they cost a total of 10k, but I got them all at a good price, so it is not really an expense, as I can probably sell them all for 15k (the dollar goes down in value, but a good chainsaw retains its value).



Anyway, that sums up to right around 80k. if you can get less land for 2k/acre with a southern exposure/trees/view, etc, you will save a bunch (say 10 acres for 20k, you can start soon. If you have friends with backhoes/trucks/tools, you can save a bunch. I would use a factor of 120% on the estimate above, since I missed some things, like gas, log peeling hiring, etc. so that comes to 96k to be finished. There's my ballpark.

[trev72w]

Thanks for the ideas so far. I'm hoping more of you "been-there, done that's" will be able to give me some ideas from your own experience as well. These comments are very helpful!

[thenicholsfam]

We're in the same boat with 4 kids & excited to take the class.
But for $96k I could buy a decent suburban house here in NC. I'm sure yours will be beautiful & Wa is a different real estate world.

But was hoping for $30-50k ballpark.
Still great info!

[ramblinman502]

vern street built for that amount..and so am i. ( sans labor ) dont give up. LHBA is a family, a discfuntional one at times..stressman is the kid we like to keep locked in the basement..like the crazy aunt with a bunch of cats. hes useful but..

loghousenut is right....youre perfect for this...dig a little deeper...it might change your life...( take the class..it will blow you away )

[fossten]

Yeah you could buy a decent house for 96K, but could you resell it for triple that amount?

[panderson03]

Yeah you could buy a decent house for 96K, but could you resell it for triple that amount?

REALLY good point!!

[StressMan79]

We're in the same boat with 4 kids & excited to take the class.
But for $96k I could buy a decent suburban house here in NC. I'm sure yours will be beautiful & Wa is a different real estate world.

But was hoping for $30-50k ballpark.
Still great info!

Keep in mind 40k of that was land, 16k was tools, 6k was for a truck, 16k was for un-accounted for expenses. Very little was spent on the actual "house."

If you could get a little plot for next to nothing and you either had or could borrow tools, you'd be well under that amount.