Introduce yourself

LHBA member since 2006

People are HUNGRY.

I put an add on CL to peel all of my logs, a straight rate of 500. I got 30 replies. I put an add to haul all my stuff to my land (7 hrs one way) $500 + gas. I got 20 replies. People need money. If you have some, and can arrange to let the MH sit for a while, you can arrange help for CHEAP.

I'd say if you have to move it a short distance (50 miles or less) put an add on CL in the "Gigs" section for $100 plus gas. Remember, gas will be ~2.75$/gal/6mpg or ~46 cents/mile.

Good luck. Remember, many ppl have rigs that they would rather make 100 for a day's work than let sit and earn nothing.

-Peter

My wife stumbled across this website this evening and it has changed our outlook on our future, but I feel that a little explanation is required.

We got married in 2006 and wanted to buy a house. Not having money for a house we rented in Philadelphia for a few years. The only places that we could afford to rent were terrible houses in worse neighborhoods. (Three weeks in a row one of us couldn't get home from work because there had been a murder on our block and it was barricaded with police tape.) Not only did we live in the ghetto, but I didn't want to put any money into our rental to make it more livable. Why should I give my landlord more free money? We both wanted a house, but weren't able to save anything. Having had enough of our less-than-perfect life in Philly, we decided to teach English in Japan for a year in order to save some money. We've sacrificed all year and have been able to save enough for a modest down payment, but even with housing prices falling all around the country we still won't be able to afford much in an area that's commutable to NYC.

I have read 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad', and I have the same views that have been taken on LHBA. Investing in real estate is great, but you have to have that initial investment, and then the market has to rise. After a frustrating year of searching real estate web sites and having real estate agents basically laugh at our budget. We were getting pretty down. With one month to go before the big move back to the states we had resigned ourselves to the idea of renting and saving for a few more years.

Then my wife found the LHBA website, and lucky me, she was more excited at the prospect of building our own log house than I was. I've been perusing the site all night and I am very excited to take the workshop and start looking for land to build our first home.

LHBA member since 2006
Glad to have you on board. Building your own home is not for the faint of heart. Realize too that you aren't going to find land "commutable" to NYC, either. For instance, my land is 6.5 hrs away. It is beautiful, remote, and off-the-grid. It was also affordable. None of these were available closer (especially the affordable part).

Anyway, good luck in your jorney. Maybe you guys can score a layover from japan during a class weekend. If your stars align.


-Peter

How long has it been since you've been to the suburban NYC area? If a two hour commute is what you consider normal, then you may find something up to the northwest of NYC in a reasonable price. That is, a 'NY' reasonable price. However, if you look even further north and west toward the Monroe County, Herkimer, Montgomery and Fulton Counties, land prices become a little more exciting. I looked at some beautiful and cheap land in Monroe County. Ended up buying 23.5 acres in Fulton County 3 miles from the blue line. Of course you can't commute to the big city for jobs but working and living near Manhattan is totally overrated anyway. It's much better to live out in the country between smaller cities like Utica and Albany where you can actually get tickets to stuff you want to see. Did you ever try to buy tickets in the Metro area? You gotta have plenty of first born sons to give away just to see a concert or something.

Frances

Thanks for the advice Spiralsands. The only problem is that I'm and actor, and I need to go into the city daily for auditions. Eventually my wife and I would like to live in the country, preferably hidden in the woods somewhere, but right now we both want to focus on our careers, before we have kids, and that means we need to be near the city.

I am hoping that we will learn enough land grabbing tricks that we will be able to find something that will suit us.

~Chris

Greetings!

Pete & Joyce from Phoenix, AZ (better known as Valley of the Sun) checking in. Pete is signed up, tickets bought, Lodge reservations made & countdown has started! After 25+ years - we are tired of the heat, traffic, crowds, & crime. The plan - prior to the financial/housing meltdown of '08 - was to sell our Phx home & use the equity to build a log 'kit' home (hey - we didn't know better) on our lot in the beautiful Sacramento mountains of south-central NM in early 2010. Last year we put in the septic, water, driveway & built the garage. This summer we will build the loft - so that with the RV we have- we should be pretty comfortable while we build the house! However, with plummeting house values, we were looking at pushing those plans our 2-3 year or more :( Then we found this site :) Since we have already renovated both bathrooms & the kitchen & have several other projects on the list before we put this house on the market - we are pretty confident that we can build our own place- & hope that when Pete has completed the class - that we will KNOW that we can & get our retirement plans back on schedule!

We look forward to getting to know all of you & share our adventures!

"When you know what you want, and want it badly enough, you'll find a way to get it!"
Jim Rohn

Joyce, why aren't you going to class? My wife and I went together months before we were married (twenty years ago) and neither of us regrets it a bit. I don't think I could get away with being such a "purist" to the style and the lifestyle if the woman I love were not sharing the entire experience. More than once she has caught a problem or caught me when my thoughts weren't clear. You need to go too and see if you can both take some time and check out the local scenery around the school. Call it a second honeymoon if you want but there's a bit to see and you'll be amazed at how many log homes you'll see.

I am not going for several reasons.........first - I convinced him that he should take the class & do it NOW. second - he is the builder & I am his very willing assistant -go-for - etc. third- we each have our strengths.....his is more physical - mine is more research ( long before we get to NM this summer to work on the loft - I will have read every post in the member's forum & probably 'bugged' you all to death with questions. I am known to friends & family as the super shopper & have found fantastic bargains that have allowed us to do thousands of dollars worth of renovations in this house for hundreds........so now the hunt really begins for a whole new set of things to find for a 'song'. fourth - we have a family of furred, finned & feathered friends that make it difficult for both of us to be gone. We will have just returned
from a trip the Sunday before Pete leaves on Friday. So it would be tough to leave again.

We were in Seattle (have wonderful friends in Port Townsend) just this last Aug. Wish I had found this site prior to that trip :) Don't take me wrong - your question is completely valid & if we were not doing this mostly on the spur of the moment - I would have found a way to go also. But since classes are not on any kind of regular schedule & the post I read somewhere that there was dry spell of NO classes for 5 years - everytime I went to the LBHA soite I was afraid I would see "class full" - I just had this really strong feeling that we needed to do it now. We can hardly wait as it is - don't know what we would
do - if we had to wait months or more to have access to Skip's wisdom! I am so sorry that he is gone! He most have been an incredible person!


"When you know what you want, and want it badly enough, you'll find a way to get it!"
Jim Rohn

I am from Canada, in North Delta, half an hour from the western US border. I have an American boyfriend who is in Seattle and I own a trailer on Black Mountain Ranch (near Mount Baker) so I am in the US a lot. I attended the class last weekend (Jan. 24/25 2009) with my daughter. I thought that building log homes might be something that we could do together. She has already helped on a cob building last spring.

As I said in another forum, I don't have the land yet and haven't decided on the US or Canadian side. There are pros and cons for each. I was interested to read about ideally needing five acres of land. That will be killer expensive and most likely pretty remote. I was hoping to buy something close to me so I can build on weekends only as I still have to work to support my family. My goal is to build and sell, build and sell a few times and then retire. This surprised me as I have never in my life wanted to be my own boss. I hate uncertainly and am obsessive about having money in the bank and knowing where my next pay cheque will be coming from - not a good personality for speculating. I think that my dream has been helped along by not liking my job/boss right now. I have worked in the same job for almost eight years now and am in a rut so big that I am almost wedged in.

I noticed that there is a new member who is a 'fisherman'. I am sure that he actually fishes. I don't fish and am a vegetarian. I only became the Fisher Woman when I married Mr. Fisher. Even though we divorced and he died, I remain the Fisher Woman.

Thank you all for the wonderful welcoming community that there is here. I am sure that I will be using this site a lot as the years go by. First to ask a million questions and then, as time goes by, to be the 'wise voice of experience' (hey, a girl can dream).

Jill - the Fisher Woman

All the more reason to go as a couple, my wife Linda has no "Regrets" about all that she gained during our class, in fact at one point during the class she had a clearer understanding of what was going on at that moment.... it's an incredible amount of information to absorb alone and it was worth every penny for both of us to be there!

Tom

Hi everybody. I'll make this brief so as not to bore any body on my first posting. I am resurrecting an old dream of long ago. In the early eighties I took the class from Skip and felt that I had found my calling. I used to go to the monthly meetings. I was the one that brought the large Gai's Bakery cookies. Skip seemed quite fond of them. As my wife and I were young and quite busy raising a new family, the many details of life allowed me to take the bitter choice to put the dream on the back of the highest shelf to collect dust. All these years me and my property (SW corner at the base of Mt. Rainier) have been waiting. Cabin site cleared, holes dug, and many beams (3 by 12's, scored on a deal, years ago) stacked under tarps. I should be committed for what I've done.
Any way as I became tired of waiting for time and money to work my way I decided to recommit to my dream before my head explodes. About 8 months ago I stumbled on this site and have been a devoted side-line observer. I'm presently trying to put the details together to take the Feb/March class, as I believe it would be good for me to check out anything new and to help with motivation. I look forward to the experience of doing my first log home more than any thing else I can imagine. Also, connecting with people with similar goals. Thanks LHBA for the opportunity to get that out publically.
YogaMike.

I have built several log structures over the years but am just now starting our dream house. You'll get er done and remember, they don't give you extra points for a good time in this event.

The words of encouragement are greatly appreciated, LHN. If there's ever a chance to see pics of your
log work I would love to see them. As far as extra points...those just might have to be self-rewarded.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NM bound

I am not going for several reasons....fourth - we have a family of furred, finned & feathered friends that make it difficult for both of us to be gone. We will have just returned from a trip the Sunday before Pete leaves on Friday. So it would be tough to leave again.

---

I TOTALLY relate to the pet babysitter issue. I'm chomping at the bit to go up to my land in NY this spring and am obsessing about how I'm going to farm out the care of two dogs, four cats, six birds, four giant goldfish and a over grown pleco. I'll be bringing two dogs with us and have been juggling in my mind which ones get the two coveted spots in the back seat of the truck.

Frances

[quote=spiralsands]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NM bound

I am not going for several reasons....fourth - we have a family of furred, finned & feathered friends that make it difficult for both of us to be gone. We will have just returned from a trip the Sunday before Pete leaves on Friday. So it would be tough to leave again.

---

I TOTALLY relate to the pet babysitter issue. I'm chomping at the bit to go up to my land in NY this spring and am obsessing about how I'm going to farm out the care of two dogs, four cats, six birds, four giant goldfish and a over grown pleco. I'll be bringing two dogs with us and have been juggling in my mind which ones get the two coveted spots in the back seat of the truck. )


HI:
If you were a tad closer - I would be happy to help. At the moment I have two happy Bichons sleeping on my desk as I type- my own, Bear, & his little sister, who is spending the night while her mom is out of town.
There are 6 family & friend members in our Bichon pack........so on any given day I have had 1 - 10 white fluff balls playing! oh boy ~ taking 2 & leaving 2 at home - you are going to be in the dog house! What kind of feathered friends do you have? We have the same 'mix' of kids - you just have a bigger family!

We are so excited about this whole new saga in our lives...........can't wait for Pete to get back from the class. If he thinks it would be beneficial & if there is another class before we actually start the building process, then I will combine a trip to our friends in Prt Townsend & take the class, too.

Joyce


"When you know what you want, and want it badly enough, you'll find a way to get it!"
Jim Rohn

[quote=NM bound]
HI:
If you were a tad closer - I would be happy to help. At the moment I have two happy Bichons sleeping on my desk as I type- my own, Bear, & his little sister, who is spending the night while her mom is out of town.
There are 6 family & friend members in our Bichon pack........so on any given day I have had 1 - 10 white fluff balls playing! oh boy ~ taking 2 & leaving 2 at home - you are going to be in the dog house! What kind of feathered friends do you have? We have the same 'mix' of kids - you just have a bigger family!

We are so excited about this whole new saga in our lives...........can't wait for Pete to get back from the class. If he thinks it would be beneficial & if there is another class before we actually start the building process, then I will combine a trip to our friends in Prt Townsend & take the class, too.

Joyce

My birds consist of 4 white ring neck doves and two cockatiels. I can take the cockatiels to someone's house but the doves are in two large outdoor flycages. I do have a local cousin who I am going to recruit to take care of those that stay at home, the cats and the birds...but the dogs are a different story. It's like picking between children with different emotional and physical needs. Who to go, who to stay. My bearded collie can actually stay home at the house but he loves to crash through the underbrush at Winterwood looking for imaginary sheep. So I hate to deny him. The dobie absolutely has to go with us because she's elderly and I fear kenneling her. The last two are high strung and young female pibbles who both would benefit from a change of scenery and a chance to run flat out in the front pasture. And both of them would be devastated to be kenneled.

I ended up taking the class alone last January after my daughter decided she couldn't go because of her college studies. I had already paid for the two of us and had to get a refund for her. Despite that, I really enjoyed myself. Before I came back to the LHBA website, we had gone to a 'log home show' and came away disgusted and confused. My daughter said it perfectly as we drove home, "I don't want a 'log-look' home." There were log modulars, log facades, log timber frames, springs, jacks, techno house leveling systems, yadda, yadda....
That night I went beck to the web site and got signed up for the e-mail alert for class. Since the class, I've done the same thing you're doing now. I fixed up this existing house to make it attractive for resale. I wasn't going to sink any more money into it but it keeps chewing through my income with necessary repairs. This week it's the air handler that needs to be replaced. It feels like fixing the car transmission a week before you trade the car in.

Frances

This comment has been moved <a href="http://www.loghomebuilders.org/node/5989">here</a>.

Frances - I have to ask. What is a pibble? I thought I knew most dogs-but I guess not all. Is there some way to put a platform over the floorboard area of the back seat - so that there would be room for 4?? Is it a long drive?



Yikes- airhandler - not good!): We are spending the weekend working on the sunscreen &amp; it's support system in the backyard. It covers about 3/4 of back over the Koi ponds,?stream &amp; fountain. Not fun - but MUST be done before temps hit 90+.? When does Spring - spring?at your farm?



Our?Amazon?parrots (Lilac Crowned &amp; Double yellow nape)?live in an L aviary that goes around the corner of the house under the fig tree. It is covered &amp;? has heaters in the winter &amp; has misters &amp; fans in the summer.



Later:



Joyce?

Hi steve I need some advice, My spouse and I are trying to attend the next open class he is a Marine so to try and schedule it is difficult. I am a nurse and we REALLY want to start the process to building our home but we have no idea how or were to start. Can you please help us? I know we need to attend the class should we both attend or just one of us? should we start looking for logs tools etc...? or wait till after class. Honestly our intention is to ask former class members for help i was reading about the volunteers comming to help and honestly we need the help i am ambitous and would like to build the house fast, proper but fast. we have a 14 year old would like to give her a home before she leaves for college. can u help us. Thank you Shirley shirleyella1@aol.com

Kelley hi can you help me my name is Shirley and I am going to attend the next class. I wanted to talk to someone who has gone to the class. Do you really think it is worth it? See i am a nurse and my fiance is a Marine we r on a real tight budget and want to know that we are paying this good amount for something worth it i am scared but I really want to buid my home. I have a 14 year old and want to give her a home before she goes off to college you know? So i really want to know that I will not be wasting my time and money i guess i am just scared. if you can help can you e-mail me? shirleyella1@aol.com Thank you for your time.
Greatfully and hopeful
Shirley

Shirley, Save your money and try to get into a lifestyle that will allow you the time and money to build a house for/with your daughter. Your perception of what you want in a home will probably change during the first day of class. If you want to get a head start, keep your eyes open at yard sales and flea markets for the tools you'll be needing and investigate land that is log home friendly. Definately know that the class is worth every penny and you should both go together.

I did not take my wife. I regret it. I have spent days explaining topics that S&E cover in just a few minutes. I would say that in addition to finding land, etc (if only to know your market to know when you come across a good deal), you should read these forums. There is a whole lot of very valuable info on here, from log peeling info to building info. Much of it is on the non-member side.

Anyway, the help you get from members in the members area and the physical help is great. I have a couple of members who will be at my project for weeks on end, and a couple more that will be out for a weekend or two. This combined with the cheap hired help available where I am building makes for an inexpensive and quick build. I am currently budgeting 6 weeks of on-site work to get the foundation in, walls up, roof on and insulated. I don't believe you could make much faster progress with a team of 10 full time guys. Once you start the interior, manpower will become more effective timewise. Basically, you can only lift one log at a time, but you can sheetrock one area, plumb another, and do electrical in yet another.

Also, the help that members can do will be best suited for the log work anyway (unless you get one of the many skilled tradesmen-members to help). They will all know how to stack the logs, procedure for fixing them in place, etc.

In short, depending on where you are, you could possibly get a livable home built in a summer. with the economy the way it is, you can get help AMAZINGLY cheap. I have people committed to a weeks hard labor for $500 cash and food/lodging at my place. Pretty good. So save up your cash, take the class, read the forums, research the real estate market, and pull the trigger when you and your family are ready.

The cost of the class is what most of us see first. Once you read through this entire list. (which I have) the cost starts to seem a real bargain. It was a leap of faith when we paid for our class coming up in two weeks. Now, we are so excited and having my wife there to listen and not expect me to be able to reproduce the class for her will be a major help in this process. She won't understand everything but together we'll be the team we need.

I hope you both can get to a class soon. The excitement is huge.

Way back a thousand years ago, when they had just invented sand, I thought $35 was a big investment. Then on the other hand when called my Dad and told him I was going he said "What kinda school can it be for only $35?". I tend to think that if the class cost $400 or $1200 the discussion would be the same. Just bear in mind that nearly everyone you talk to that has been to the class will testify that it changed their perception of housing and most would say that it changed their life and was worth every nickel. Glad I went.

My name is Guru. I live in San Francisco bay area.

I am a regular reader of this forum. I like the idea of building my own log home.

My dream is to build a log home (my primary home) in Los Gatos Mountains. As of now I am just gathering information.
I would definitely take the class in the next 2-3 years just to learn and appreciate the art of building your own home. There is a voice in the back of my mind that keeps telling me that I cannot do it and it is not as easy. I am just being practical and not getting too carried away by dreams.

It is do able. You can build your own home in a year or two. They will tell you in the class: "this is hard work, no doubt. But is it harder than working for 30 years?"

You need to decide what your priorities are. I know one member who spent a winter in an 8x8 garden shed. I'm guessing that if you are living in SF, you make some decent (for the rest of us) money. Save some. I saw a news story of a lady who built an 8x8 "mobile home" on the back of a trailer, and parked it at a friend's house. She showered there, but other than that, lived in the home. You can build one of these for 500-1000 bucks, have next to no utilities, and save your salary (I'm guessing ~100K?) for a building project. Take the class, network with other members, buy your land and in 3-5 years, you could be debt free. Sell the first one and in 5-10 years you can retire.

Oh, one of the biggest issues with building your own place is the codes you have to jump through. They were never written for owner builders of log homes, but are applicable none the less, just ask your local code enforcer. In washington, they can't do much to you, save not giving you a Certificate of Occupancy. But if you ever want to sell, you will be hard pressed without a CO (banks don't like to loan money wihtout one). Anyway, you will be able to balance the issues and bounce ideas off other members in the member's area.

Anyway, you CAN do it, get as much money as you can saved (I might recommend changing it to gold--paper has no backing) and take the class. You'll learn more than you will in a 3 credit class without the cost or time.

-Peter

Guru,

We're from just outside Sacratomato. Temporary home of the Govenator. The wife and I will be going to the Feb 14th class and are very excited about what we're going to learn. It'll be one of those 3 day weekends stuffed into two days. A huge amount of helpful information and tricks of the trade. Gaining new friends. But probably the best thing that comes with the weekend is access to the members only areas. I've read every single post here, now I want the rest. Access to new future friends and a lot more helpful details.

We got our land and we hope to start the process of collecting supplies and materials. From our own trees/logs to the type of lighting is all up to us. To be able to live there without the cost of buying our power. Pretty cool dream/plan this late in life. A new type of excitement.

I've been on this site for a few months now, but I dont think I made a formal introduction. I'm Suzanne, searching for land in Western North Carolina. I live at the coast now, havent liked it since I got here, and anxiously waiting the move home. Actually I'm going up this weekend to look at some land and I hope its what I'm looking for. Southern exposure, perfect for a passive solar log cabin. I'm looking forward to taking the class too. I've always been handy, remodeled with my dad and build a few things as well. Sounds like this method is exactly what a single person (with occasional help) could use to build a beautiful structurally sound home. I have a ton of questions that I'm sure will be answered in the class. That's the next step!

Thanks for such an informative group.

Suzanne

Searching for land, gleaning all the info I can get
Suzanne