It feels like a longsighted while since we closed on our property , and the interrogation has come up on whether we ’ve made any progress this summer . Despite it being placid on the blog front , I ’m well-chosen to say we ’ve madea lotof advance , albeit on the back end of thing .
Here ’s what materialize behind - the - scene on our land . If you involve to get up to speed , read abouthow we see our land(andwhat to look for if you require to buy land to build ontoo ) .
We completed our septic feasibility study
We ’ll start up with where I left off in June , whenwe bought our new propertyand applied for a infected feasibility work .
Though there ’s an be infected system on the attribute , the county has no record of it . Or any record of the structures on web site , for that issue .
I ’ve been told it ’s due to the old age of the mobile dwelling ( before the county kept track of such things — the quirk of living in a rural residential district ) , and I ’ve also been told it ’s because a fire long ago put down the county construction and all of its files ( before they were digitalize ) .
Whatever the compositor’s case may be , we have only a vague estimation of where the septic scheme is situated but no clue as to when it was put in , when it was last serviced , or where the leach lines are .
We were advised to start over with a new infected system , and that involves digging a few test holes on the property and having an environmental examiner study the filth for proper drain .
The old - schooltime elbow room of testing the soil ’s ability to drain was to do a “ perc test”—just fill a trap with water and see how long it take for the water to absorb ( this measured its charge per unit of percolation ) .
These days in Central Oregon , an examiner comes out and appraise each layer of soil ( down 4 to 5 feet deep ) to regulate how well it will drain . His last account ( the septic feasibility study ) admit a soil psychoanalysis with diagrams on which areas are okay for septic installation .
These area more or less determine where your sign can be site , as the anatomical structure ( along with any prominent yard features like ponds , gardens , and outdoor kitchen ) has to keep a certain distance from the septic tankful and not be build up over the leach field of battle .
So , before we could even contrive the house and landscape , we had to know where our future infected organisation will be sink .
We had an excavator dig our trial run holes the day after we closed on the dimension , and he was amazed at how easy it was to jab down .
The city of Bend fundamentally sits on top of a large lava flow , and our soil is notoriously rocky and guileful to build on . ( newfangled building often involves blast the rock’n’roll out before the soil can be point . )
Where we are , however , is surprisingly subdued and loamy . Just count at all that productive , friable soil !
We feel very fortunate as not only will construction be easier and less expensive , but as you might suppose , it ’s a unspoilt sign for our future farmette !
We designed our house
While waiting for infected approval , we interview several detergent builder and designers and knew precisely who our dreaming team would be within five minutes of meet them . They sustain our vision , were uncoerced to exploit with our budget , and had creative ideas on designing and building a habitation around that budget .
We ’d already sketched out our own house plans ( since we first position eye on the property ) , so the design came together quickly after a handful of meetings . We had preliminary plans by July , building drawings by August , and this month ( September ) , we ’ve nearly completed the bidding stage and finalized our building budget .
Our feeler to this build is a scrap unconventional . so as to economise money , we ’re acting as our own general contractile organ by call out the job ourselves to all the subcontractors involved with the structure of a raw domicile ( over 15 in all — and that ’s on the depressed end , as we ’ll be doing some of the work ourselves ) .
With 3 to 5 bids from each trade , that means we ’re managing more than 60 bids ! We ’re also see so , so much in the outgrowth and now I ca n’t imagine leaving sure determination to a builder — like creating a firing and electric plan — when so much of it is dependent on our menage ’s life style and personal preferences .
Though it ’s likely bestow several weeks to our timeline , we take account having a direct line of communicating with the pigboat , learning why they do the things they do , and see how a construction labor come together . We desire this home to function dead for our phratry now and into the hereafter , because who have it off when and if we ’ll have the opportunity and energy to do all of this again !
We ’ve also started the fun task of selecting all of our internal finishes , like countertops , floor , cabinet , faucets , doors … down to the most minute point like door hinges and threshold stops . It ’s mind - boggling how much goes into the building of a newfangled home !
We ’re endeavor to stay put under budget by making most of these decisions upfront so we know their exact cost , rather than set aside allowances in our building contract .
Most of the finishing work ( like installing cabinets and repose flooring ) will be complete by Will and me ( and perhaps a few handy friends ) , which will save us ten-spot of M — money that we hope to put toward beefing up our insulating material or vest in beaming story heat in the bathrooms .
Related : Why We Decided to construct a Custom home base
After all of this , you might be wondering what role our detergent builder has if he ’s not our ecumenical declarer . Well , he actually is — on paper .
Our bank requires us to have a GC in ordination to open up a grammatical construction loan . ( Owner - builders are n’t allowed unless one of us is a licensed contractor with a portfolio of past projects . ) Our builder will satisfy this requisite by help us ordinate the sub , handle our construction schedule , and oversee the work performed .
He ’s also handling a pregnant component part of our shape ( such as framing , sidetrack , and dress work ) , but by relieving him of the grunt work of sound calls , declaration negotiation , and license applications , we ’ll be capable to make unnecessary a nice glob on general contractor fee .
This intercrossed arrangement allows us to have terminal say over all of the pigboat involved while still birth the steering of an experient GC . It also hand us the freedom to source all of our own materials and fixtures without being tied down to whichever vendors the GC has accounts with .
We demolished the old wood sheds
While most of my days orbit around setting engagement , direct paperwork , and following up with submarine sandwich , Will has start the process of shoot down the old woods throw off behind the nomadic plate and salve some of the good wood .
The home itself will also be demolish in the next calendar month or so . Earlier examination found asbestos in the vinyl floor throughout the kitchen and dining area , but as luck would have it , only in that floor . We ’ve hear revulsion story of these old seventies homes being occupy with asbestos from level to ceiling , and while it ’s not the most exciting elbow room to spend money , we ’re grateful we only need a small section of the home abated .
I ’ll be sharing more about our physical process once we move past dictation and have a construction declaration in place . Here ’s hop-skip everything will go down into place before winter !
