Any been there done thats on cabin...er house building??

[TractorLegend]

I have 5 acres with 4 br septic, 5 gpm well, and power. I am thinking a 1800ish sq ft prow style up/down style house w/ deck and covered porch off the side. It is recreation property 108 miles from home and I don't have a lot of time to go visit sub contractors. Plus I have a tractor that needs me :~}

Some think a pre fabbed/ constructed type house where they pre build walls, etc and erected on your site type deal is the way to go.
Maybe too cookie cutter?

Some think hire a local builder...in this rural area most don't want to be in charge of subs either due to delays, non performance, etc- or quote several months to completion likely just to cover their butt time wise...can't blame them.

Other thought is have somebody like a local to the rec property area builder OR a branch of Lumbermans (Allied Homes) in our area that builds a "shell"--- walls, roof, siding, windows, subfloor...and you either pay to finish complete or do a little as money permits.
Allied Homes would charge travel for subs such as river rock chimney builder, electrician- but me thinks they would have better luck with known subs than a one-timer like me. They are about anywhere from 70-100 miles away.
They would use local sub whom we know well for tractor work/ excavator/ site prep.

 

[jimainiac]

That's a cute house in the picture. You could do a lot worse than choosing something like that, but how to get it built? We're in a similar situation, our property is three hours away, hard to supervise the progress, and how to find someone you can trust. We had a local builder put up our barn/camp, and some mistakes were made that could've been caught. Now it's getting close to retirement time and we're again wondering who we'll get to do the additions, or at least the heavy lifting, to make it ready for full time use. Need to talk to local guys and try to get a feel for who knows what they're doing, maybe talk to some satisfied customers if possible. I don't mind finishing it off, but need someone with a crew to do the rough work in a timely manner. It's hard - in every community there's someone out there who really knows his stuff, and a lot of flubberdubs. It's just a matter of figuring out who's who ahead of time!

 

[Steve_Miller]

That's a cute house in the picture. You could do a lot worse than choosing something like that, but how to get it built? We're in a similar situation, our property is three hours away, hard to supervise the progress, and how to find someone you can trust. We had a local builder put up our barn/camp, and some mistakes were made that could've been caught. Now it's getting close to retirement time and we're again wondering who we'll get to do the additions, or at least the heavy lifting, to make it ready for full time use. Need to talk to local guys and try to get a feel for who knows what they're doing, maybe talk to some satisfied customers if possible. I don't mind finishing it off, but need someone with a crew to do the rough work in a timely manner. It's hard - in every community there's someone out there who really knows his stuff, and a lot of flubberdubs. It's just a matter of figuring out who's who ahead of time!

I'll agree with Jim, take some time and talk to locals to find a respectable contractor. That's what I did for things I contracted out when I built our cottage several years ago and it worked out pretty fine for me. Most times you win, sometimes it doesn't.

Steve

 

[TractorLegend]

Its almost overwhelming getting started---builder looked a site and since its on a bit of a slope it will need to have at least a partial basement. Then its "a nickel more" for a full basement considering work needed to make a half basement/wall foundation setup plus as a bonus with a full basement then you can move the stairs to the back corner and out of the great room space in the front.
We had to narrow down to a plan we like after looking at thousands---having a basement needed narrows available designs considerably plus figuring in the overall dimension helps---I hear over 28 wide you get more costly with trusses, roof pitch etc.

I think overall it will be good to have more (unfinished at first) basement storage, freezer space and a place for teens to hide "down there".
The building would look roughly like my pict shown but have "wings" up on the back instead of dormers for ceiling heigth upstairs and a basement underneath with posts holding up deck. So now it becomes 3 stories, 28X40 roughly plus 10X16 0r 18 feet of porch overhang on the one side
The site has some rock at ground level to what depth is still unknown or how far it fans out underground. Its relatively "soft" rock but who knows if an excavator with jackhammer tip or blasting will be needed. It breaks when striken with a hammer.
So do we start digging to see how the rock goes first?
Or run and get permits first? (probably 3 grand in permits I'd guess)
Seems if site prep becomes abhorently costly maybe plan would change.