My Property, Looking for info and comments.

[nrc17gto]

I am a new member. Have been looking around finding great information on this site for a while now. So to start with, hello everybody!

My wife and I were looking for a home with acreage where we grew up and currently live, Mt. Juliet, TN. We looked for a while but could not find anything we could afford with the acreage we wanted.

I did not really want to buy raw land because of the stress and money involved with a new home. But, on a whim, I went to an auction one morning back in May and ended up leaving with nearly 19 acres!

The land was about 90% wooded. We have put some serious work into it since purchasing and have made some real progress. I have the driveway nearly completely prepped and half of it has gravel on it. We are getting to the point where we are going to have to start spending the money.

The property has an entrance that is 50 feet wide and 1100 feet long. Obviously this is adding some costs to my estimates.

We have decided to build a pole barn/garage that we will live in for an undetermined amount of time until we can get started on the house. It is going to be 40' x 50' x12'. I am a bit of a gear head and love working on my own stuff, so this will be converted to an awesome shop one day. I have a pretty good idea where I am going to get all of the material and my dad and me are going to build it.

There are several things I am new to and am trying to figure out so any comments or information you have are greatly valued.

1. Electric. This is going to need to run ~1600 feet back to the building location. The electric company says it needs 20' on each side of the pole. I am going to have them come out so I can confirm the initial persons rules but here is what I have been told. First 300' free including one pole. Next 1000' is $7/ft. Anything more is $5/ft. If they go under ground, we have to cut the trench and they charge more per ft than overhead (don't have the exact $ in front of me). I hate to cut a '40 foot path through my property but don't see much of an option.

2. Water supply. The meter altitude and the building altitude are going to be close to the same, I'd say withing 20'. It will go down hill and then back up before reaching the building site. Any suggestions on running this length of water line? I do have a creek about 10' wide I have to cross that is solid rock on the bottom. It is more of a wet weather creek and has less than an inch in it most of the time. Water company said should run at least 2" pipe and 24" deep, any thoughts?

3. Septic. I have not started looking into this area yet. I am a bit scared honestly with so many other big costs. Anyone have thoughts or ideas of costs for a 3 br house?

Crossing the creek is another issue but I believe we are going to build a header wall over the upstream end of the 3' pipe we have to keep all in place.

Remember, I am going to be hooking all up to the garage initially and living there for a while. I am on a VERY tight budget and love the satisfaction of hard work. Bought a bobcat 753 last year after reading on here the bad opinions of a Farmpro tractor I was looking at. The bobcat is great, just wish I had pto options.

I will try to get some pictures up soon, I have taken a TON.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[crash325]

Hi & Welcome,

Here is my 2c. If you don't have a back hoe for you cat, get one. The septic, leach line and water line trench will cost more than the BH.

Build a bridge across the creek and you should be able to run an insulated water line across under or beside the bridge.

If you want under ground electric it may be possible to put in the water line ditch. Check the required seperation that electric co requires. Find out about crossing the bridge with it at the same time.

Just something to think about. Hope it helps.

 

[ustmd]

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you kumped into the deep end, but in a good way.

The price from your co-op doesn't sound bad. In 2001, we paid $5/foot with no charge for the polls, so 300 feet free and $7 per foot afterwards is not bad.

The other other piece of advice is that you might want to investigate #3 first, especially concerning a septic permit. You might have trouble getting a residential power account or water account without a septic permit. Also, I would hate run everything to where I wanted the buildings, only to find out that the area won"t qualify for a septic permit from the county.

Good luck

 

[nrc17gto]

Thanks for the welcomes!

Crash325: From what a quick call told me, the water company wanted the line under the creek. I am going to have the person come out to give me more detail and hopefully more options.

I was thinking I could rent a trencher or rock saw to dig the water line ditch. It that ignorant of me?

Ustmd: I am going to find out more about the septic before breaking ground. The property had two perk sites when I bought it. One for a 3br and one for a 4br. There are probably other places as well but these are the two on the plat. Is this enough for the septic company, or what else is needed?

Thanks!
Nick

 

[boggen]

for the creek. you will most likely need a backhoe. a larger size one. that can at very min reach 2/3rds across the creek. a trencher will more likely end up stuck and sunk in a creak bed. due to the chain saw on them on go out so far.

not sure how the inspector for water will want things. but the pipe under creek might need to be encased in concrete or plastic pipe then another metal pipe around it. there concern is if a pipe leaks, you not getting sick because creek water got into your water line. ((and it doesn't mater how the pipe got a leak, it is if the pipe leaks))

as far as a zoning map. duh... duh... what is the websites. do a search for maps. like google earth. for "aerial view" there is a few other websites besides google earth and regular google maps for driving directions. that give pretty good pictures. along with *mind blank again* showing the hills of your land. being able to have a print out. and then taking markers of different colors to show were this and that will be. ((even if it looks like a 2yr old chicken scratches)) can really aid you and inspectors, and things that get contracted out. IE the electrical line or part of it.

septic systems. can be a real pain to build. due to most likely multi inspections need to be done as it gets dug out, and multi steps of installation and pressure testing.

=============
to be honest, if you have background of doing these things or helping someone else do them. i would honestly invest in a backhoe. either for a skid steer, or a tractor that has a backhoe. pay up front. save yourself labor charges for someone else doing it. this also helps ya avoid rental costs of renting a backhoe as well.

for me. by the time i would of rented a backhoe. done everything i needed to do with it. vs going out and buying a tractor with a backhoe. i spent a couple thousand dollars more for the tractor with a backhoe. and i would have to say now. it has been paying for itself pretty good with some minor little projects that have came up. problem is. the little smaller backhoes for a skid steer vs a larger size backhoe and tractor. the little skid steer backhoes. sometimes don't have the reach / digging depth. that is some times needed. for building sheds, and a home, and putting in trenchs, and picking things up and moving them about. you can get around things but. just saying *shrugs*

 

[ultrarunner]

New a couple that did something similar in TN...

They ended up putting in well and went Solar... it's been a couple of years and they still say it was the right decision for them.

Just a thought.

 

[nrc17gto]

Not much chance of getting stuck in this creek. This picture was during the summer so it was completely dry but usually doesn't have but a few inches unless a flood comes through. The bottom is solid bed rock.

0924101540 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Here is a pic of the creek with the pipe temporarily in place.

1113101601 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

As for the maps. I have made a good number of them with different overlays. I am an IT pro so I enjoy using the computer to do a multitude of things to plan and model. Every heard of google skethup? I have the house and garage completely designed. Lots of fun and costs nothing!

Thanks for your comments. I wish I could afford a backhoe right now, the bobcat was my choice of machinery at the time and cannot currently afford another piece of machinery.

 

[nrc17gto]

New a couple that did something similar in TN...

They ended up putting in well and went Solar... it's been a couple of years and they still say it was the right decision for them.

Just a thought.

Gosh, I wish I could go solar. I have heard that it is extremely expensive. I am not trying to be a cheap skate, just trying to get out there as soon as possible.

Thanks!

 

[grsthegreat]

er..before id allocate a 40 foot swath thru my property, id go underground. Here in Idaho they charge $10.foot if they install, allot less if i provide the trench (depends on allot of variables). i HATE overhead especially in a treed area.

Id bring in a 400 amp main service if i was you, set on a pedestal half way between proposed shop and future house. then feed odd 200 amps to each structure. this gives you allot of future possibilities. i use a 400 amp meter section that included 2-200 amp breakers and a small 30 space panel here myself. (I'm an electrical contractor). have set allot of these over the last 30 years.

the small panel allows for outbuildings, wells, landscape work, etc.

I'm not sure what kind of soil conditions you encounter out there, but here we have decomposed granite. I have to set my water down 5 feet, fill 2 feet of dirt, then place elect, phone,catv or gas. then cover. nothing less than 24" below surface. i always rent an excavator when digging, and i can dig 5 foot deep tranches x 100 feet long in less than 1 hour. when doing 2 foot deep tranches, we generally progress at 200-300 feet per hour with a mini excavator.

i never go that fast with a loader mounted backhoe. the excavator is just soooooo much faster. at $150.00 per day rental here, it never has made any sense to buy a backhoe attachment for me.

as for water, for those distances stick to 2" pipes. You will get too much of a restriction in flow with 1" pips...like only 1/4 the flow rates.

solar....pleeeeease. Ive played around with this. too expensive and too much work . OK for a small house on 1 acre. but if you want a shop, air compressors,welders,etc....i don't ever see how it would work.

here in Idaho, my septic tank, install and permit was less than $1,200.00
complete.

one further thing with my situation. when digging the trenches, we brought up the decomposed granite (DG), and refilled the trenches with sand mixture. then used the DG for all the roads on the property. i have 30 acres here, with lots of paths and roads.

 

[ultrarunner]

Here's the link to the couple in TN that went off-grid... and no, they didn't have a shop to power.

Going Off Grid in East Tennessee (motorhome, design, install) - (TN) - City-Data Forum