My Industrial Cabin Build

[zoedog2012]

Use the money that you would spend on a RV or rent and hire some help and get the interior finished and move in. Lots of building work left on the exterior can be done later if you can get a certificate of occupancy prior to completion.

 

[Patrick Herd]

Sorry to hear about the temporary housing issues, I've been lurking on your thread for a long time, learned a lot.
I agree with Eddie, I would get the place survivable and move in. If I wasn't on the other side of the planet, I'd head over and help. Our place had no internet, generator and solar power with 12V lights when we moved in. You can do it!

 

[Solitary Man]

A Certificate of Occupancy may be hard to get without the home completely finished. Been there, done that.

 

[deezler]

Yeah, you probably wont get a temporary c of o without a functional and sanitary kitchen and bathroom, with all house utilities working. Living in the house without any c of o can tick off your inspector.
But you guys are actually really close! Sorry for the new hassle. Just another step to conquer and feel good about!

My wife and I also got kicked our of our rental house right after starting our new home build. But our landlord’s reason was far stupider, he turned the cute little rental house into a marijuana grow operation. 5 new exhaust stacks out the roof, stinking up the neighborhood. But it was before legal weed in Michigan, and he didn’t have a medicinal permit. Busted, shut down, and roof put back to normal just 6 months after he kicked us out; what a waste.
In our case we were super fortunate that my father-in-law had a big 4-bedroom house all to himself, and took us in for 10 months.

We busted our butts to get the bare minimums of “habitable” for a temp c of o, and then promptly moved in. Kinda stunned our contractor that it was even possible, but my wife could NOT handle sharing a kitchen with her father for another week LOL.

Call your inspector and ask, with specifics, exactly what they would accept for a temp c of o. You might be a lot closer than you think.
I can imagine waking up to sunshine streaming in, after the first winter snowfall, with warm embers in the woodstove from last night, ready to re-light. Cozy and warm with a million dollar view for the morning coffee.

 

[dstig1]

Eddie lives in one of the last remaining free states in America where the inspection requirements are fairly limited, so he can get away with that. You couldn't here, and David most likely would be in the same boat, I suspect. To move in we had to have 1 fully functioning bathroom - toilet, tub, sink (shower was not enough), plus a kitchen sink, and an installed and working fridge and range. Safety stuff had to be covered too like stair railings, etc. And a heating source was required. Prob missing a few things from that list. I got by with fully finishing one bathroom and then pulled together a temporary sink in the kitchen, and bought the fridge, oven and cooktop and got them all connected for the CO. I also did final plumbing, electric and a few other things at the same inspection so i never saw the inspector again after that, which is good as he was one of the jerk/power-tripping types of inspectors.

It is a question worth asking, but I am suspecting the answer won't be positive, and David may already know that...

Of the options, either getting some short term help (maybe that crane guy?) to push through it quicker or renting elsewhere seems to make the most sense to me, unless you want to keep the camper long term. But that is just my opinion... Finding someone to help who is both capable and available NOW would be the hardest issue, I'd think.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

So first things first. Buckeye came by which was fun. I was a terrible host. Didn’t do any work, just talked and walked around which was much needed by me and my wife. For us, it was well timed and encouraging because they have been thru this. Thanks Dennis. We shot just a little bit of video and plugged TBN so we will put that in an upcoming vlog.
Putting a camper on the place, I could get away with. It is frowned upon. But Because of how remote we are it would be doable. Moving in is not.
C of O here requires a finished house. Finished. That is all bathrooms and plumbing, functional kitchen, siding, hvac, permanent porches, steps decks and landscaping. Temp or conditional C of O are almost unheard of here. There is also someone new running the inspectors office. They do not like DIY builders. They have been pushing to terminate permits if you take too long. As long as I stay within the rules I am good. If I tried to move in they would take action and there would be a court order to move out. And I suspect they would find a way to pull my permit. I don’t want to start fighting with the county, especially when I have so many things planned in the future that require their cooperation.
We got a text from the place we loved and after talking with us she said we could do a pet fee so we submitted an application this morning. It all sounds very positive and I am hopeful that we can sign a lease. If it works as I expect, we will start moving next week. My landlord was up here today and said to just hold off on Nov rent till I move out and prorate it to whatever the day is. That means the sooner I am out the less I pay. Helps him. helps me. I have some overlap to move. Don’t have to double up rent a whole month and the sooner I am out the sooner he can get someone in here to start fixing any contingencies for the sale. The new place would have good cell signal and high speed internet available. It is in a weird spot on the very edge of the building boom. View from the kitchen is a half mile of field and mountain. But 1/4 mile to the side is a new townhome development. It’s private, convenient, and affordable. And it is available right away.
I should be signing the lease early this week anf probably start moving in Nov1. Should this somehow not work out, I am still keeping my eyes open for other properties and for campers.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

My wife's aunt and uncle hired outside help to finish remodeling, and the contractors brought in Covid, and my wife's aunt died, and her uncle nearly died....

 

[WoodChuckDad]

My wife's aunt and uncle hired outside help to finish remodeling, and the contractors brought in Covid, and my wife's aunt died, and her uncle nearly died....

I’m really sorry to hear that. The world sure has gone crazy.

 

[s219]

My dad was a builder and I remember one house he built for us in CT, we moved in kind of early because of a similar situation losing our temp rental. The building inspector was always doing a Sergeant Shultz "I see nothing, I know nothing!" impression when he'd come by to sign off on work and would notice sleeping bags and cooking items. As kids we thought it was a great adventure but I know we were really skirting the rules. Back then they were tolerant I guess. I'd never get away with it in our county in VA now. They are control freaks.

I remember when we built our current house, the inspector held up the C.O. for a couple hours because I was still in the process of putting down mulch around the foundation. There was a condition in there requiring final grading and complete erosion/sedimentation mitigation, which means no bare soil anywhere. I had planted grass on the septic field that was just starting to come in, and we had to throw straw down over that -- too much dirt visible. What a pain. I am pretty sure there is more bare soil now, 8 years later!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

A Certificate of Occupancy may be hard to get without the home completely finished. Been there, done that.

In my area COO requires kitchen and 1 bathroom., maybe a bedroom.