Our ultimate project

blurrybill · Mar 23, 2002

Hope this is the right forum... I have mentioned in other posts our desire to get going on not only the tractor purchase, but our "final" home, as well. Have been worried about finding a good, reputable builder in whom we have confidence. This week I think we accomplished that considerable project. At first my wife and I thought we would have to seek out someone out of town. But, the person we chose has an absolutely stellar reputation (consulted several folks unknown to one another who have used him and produced absolutely zero negative comments). He constructs one house at a time, has employed a couple of guys for 20 years, and quoted us prices $25-$30 per square foot less than others in this area while being willing to complete upgrade detailing. He appears to be a craftsman who clearly understands structures. He has no experience with geo-thermal which we plan to use, but is willing to investigate those in the area with experience and bring them onboard for that portion of the project.

He met with us today and we were completely comfortable and impressed. Some of you know that I'm cautious in dealing with "dealers" of any kind and the meeting today just took a load off. Not only all of the above, but he can begin construction by Sept 1 (earlier if we finalize our design). This is such good news for us, I felt compelled to share it. At the risk of boring TBNers, I'll post more, including pictures of our dream as it progresses. Have to admit, I'm chaffing at the bit to get my tractor and post picts of "the Land" and the various projects. Would love to get "into" the post on wiring and other more "down the road" details. More to come; wish us luck.

Bill

MossRoad · Mar 23, 2002

Congratulations on a major accomplishment.

Looking forward to your progress. Please do keep us all informed, as many of us are in the same process as you.

blurrybill · Mar 23, 2002

Thanks, MossRoad.

How are you coming with your plans? The 20 acres sounds like a great site for a new home. Any plans in the works? You're a step ahead with that equipment and I was intrigued about your "tractor" from reading earlier posts.

Bill

rancar · Mar 23, 2002

Bill,

This is exciting...no wonder you're so anxious to get your JD4310. It certainly will come in handy.

At the risk of boring TBNers, I'll post more, including pictures of our dream as it progresses. Have to admit, I'm chaffing at the bit to get my tractor and post picts of "the Land" and the various projects.

Don't hesitate to post Bill. As they say, pictures speak a thousand words....as we both learned by observing Spencer's pics of his stump pulling forks. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Those pics convinced me to order my set and I'm looking forward to trying the forks as my 'poor man's' back hoe for removing stumps. Hope we can also learn from the pics you post.

Bob

blurrybill · Mar 23, 2002

Thanks, Bob! I called the fork manufacturer in N. Carolina late Friday afternoon and spoke to an engaging gentleman with a terrific British accent who answered a few questions. They don't have dealers using their products in my area, but he was going to do some research and send me some info.

Is this the system you are going to use. Help me out; does the JD quicktach loader system handle other manufacturers forks, etc? Will the JD bucket be able to use the unihitch or whatever it is called without a special bracket? I know you've ordered recently, is your dealer able to get the tractor setup the way you want? And finally, are you going after the same forks as used on the post or JD? (one more, I lied) Are the JD forks as sturdy as the ones from NC. I hope those picts were real!!!

Bill

njrqs · Mar 23, 2002

Bill

Ever trying to sound out building pricing over there, how much per square foot are houses roughly??

Surely there can't be $25-30/square foot DIFFERENCE between builders??

rancar · Mar 23, 2002

Bill,

I tried to answer in detail to these queries in a couple private replies I sent to your ISP e-mail account. I'll try to be brief here in summary.

Is this the system you are going to use.

No, while I was impressed with Spencer's pics I decided on JD's forks for several reasons that I've enumerated in my replies to your private e-mail acoount.

does the JD quicktach loader system handle other manufacturers forks, etc? Will the JD bucket be able to use the unihitch or whatever it is called without a special bracket?

I just don't know...and my JD dealer himself couldn't be sure all non-JD attachments would hitch up to JD's quicktach system. I don't think he was saying this just to sell me a pair of JD forks. He seemed honest and didn't want to suggest alternatives that may or may not work. This was another reason why I went with JD. Again, there's more on this in my e-mails to your private e-mail account.

I know you've ordered recently, is your dealer able to get the tractor setup the way you want?

Yep, he sure is...and getting it quicker than I or he thought was possible...he's giving me a 4/16 delivery date at the dealership, a couple days of set-up and test runs in the shop, and delivery to me by weekend of 4/20. Only thing he couldn't get was the HD 55amp alternator. He says JD came out with a marketing bulletin on 3/20 saying this was being discontinued. He said I can have it as a dealer install item for $100 more but I decided against this. I'll go with the standard one and if I want the HD one later on I'll get it myself and install.

are you going after the same forks as used on the post or JD? 

I'm going with JD's forks...they appear to be quite sturdy...not as great load capacity as Spencer's 3,000lbs but I felt this was better choice as I tried to explain in my e-mails to your ISP account.

Hope this helps.

Bob

rancar · Mar 23, 2002

Neil,

how much per square foot are houses roughly??

Here, in New York/New England standard houses are generally $100-120 sq. ft.

Surely there can't be $25-30/square foot DIFFERENCE between builders??

Oh, you'd be surprised...quite a big difference, especially with builders in high demand and who insist on using top quality materials. Then, if the customer wants even more optional add-ons to make the house real classy, then these sqft. costs can really go through the roof. It's a battle just to keep the lid on sq ft prices as there's always higher grade material options a customer could have installed in a house if they want it.

blurrybill · Mar 23, 2002

Thanks, Bob. I won't be able to access your detailed responses until I get back to work on Monday. Appreciate the info! BTW, I have been busy tonight; guess I'm trying to reach the gold standard before I have more than my JD LX279!

Bill

blurrybill · Mar 23, 2002

Neil,

We are trying to develop a design for a house based roughly on Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big House" concepts (see notsobighouse.com). My dad was an architect who taught those design priciples (quality over quantity, open floorplans, etc.) long before I read Susanka's books. With this in mind, we have been quoted construction costs of between $100-$200 per square foot, believe it or not, for the same basic design! A university town is only 12 miles away and construction costs vary between that town and mine by around $30-$40 per square foot! I am a true believer in my conservative principles and free enterprise in general, but one needs to shop around - tractors OR houses. Amazing, huh?

Bill

MDNY · Mar 24, 2002

blurrybill: It is exciting for so many of us to be in the process of building or getting ready to begin. My wife and I found some very similar issues as you did. We had started with a smaller family firm but found that they either were too new to the process or unwilling to share the detail I requested. After many months of frustration, I asked a co-worker about the builder he had mentioned months before.

I hadn't contacted him during my current process out of respect for his time (being in sales myself) and now that I was ready to move on and find someone we could work with we met with him. In about 10 days I had pricing on all aspects of the house (the other builder took over 2 months and still nothing in full). He is a craftsman by trade. He actually does custom interior mill and trim work as his primary business. He has been building for over 25 years, and has allot of glowing reviews by clients. He doesn't take on a ton of houses and his upgrades are a simple cost + x% versus the mysterious price. We actually have our house almost totally priced out, and will have a contract by Tuesday.

I guess we chose quality over anything else. He listened to what we wanted talked about the new technologies we have seen and he made his suggestions on what he has found to work.

The biggest thing was he listened, he is local and he builds a quality home. He doesn't look to get rich off of a project, but build a quality home he would live in himself. Nothing like meeting around a kitchen table to discuss your home.

blurrybill · Mar 24, 2002

Michael,

Sounds like things are falling in place for you; that's terrific! There are some commonalities among us, regardless of where we are on the planet. I notice from your profile that you are tractorless, as am I, to date. Shopping for the tractor is fun, isn't it? Now, if we just had unlimited funds....

Best of luck on your venture and hope to hear more about it. We are trying to find an architect now who will be willing to develop the schematic design already created. Getting the builder we trust is huge, though. My wife is beginning to get excited. She's a bit more concrete than me and feels better looking at something on paper. If your builder was nearby, I'd be calling him too.

By the way, I have been amazed at similarities between upstate NY and the midwest in terms of basic values, along with some of the lovely countryside there. Nice to hear from you.

Bill

MossRoad · Mar 24, 2002

Well, thanks for asking. At least the land is paid for. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif We've been through several plans and have probably settled on a two story. LR, DR, K, MBR and 1st floor laundry, 1.5 baths on first floor. Two BR and 1 full bath second floor. Full 10 foot deep (or deeper) walkout basement, maybe a home theatre in one corner. We are designing the floor plan ourselves. The hard part is making it look appealing from the outside. Form follows function, eh?

What I'd really like is a couple of huge picture windows in the walkout where I could put up some bird feeders and a microphone and camera so that we could here the birds from inside and record their calls. They have these at most state park nature centers and they are very relaxing.

Looking forward to your project.

MossRoad · Mar 24, 2002

Hey, my dad was an architect too! And a construction specification writer. He could nail down the cost of anything from a yard barn to a hospital. He's the first one that told us we couldn't afford the house that we wanted /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Then he showed us why. And how to save some costs. And that we didn't really need the monster house that we were thinking of. The longer that we wait to build, the smaller the house gets. A 3600 sq. ft. house sounds great, until you realize that it takes you 20 minutes to vacuum your 1300 sq. ft. house now and 10 minutes to clean the bathroom. Multiply that sq. footage by 3 and your bathrooms by 4 and your vacuuming for an hour and spending 40 minutes cleaning toilets each week. That translates into 2 work weeks a year doing routine cleaning. No thanks /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

Scott_F · Mar 25, 2002

Bill,
My wife and I are getting ready to move into our new house - carpet and hardwood floor finished this week, move on Saturday. We too were very influence by Susanka's ideas - seems to make a lot of sense, and I've always thought those huge "trophy houses" are ugly. We ended up with a farmhouse look with lots of southern windows for solar gain. It also has a very open floor plan. I'll post some pics after the carpet goes in Tues. or Wed. The best advice I can offer at this point is to keep a very close eye on the cost of choices you make after you start building. Your builder will probably be asking you lots of questions in the form of choosing between one option or another. I always asked how much the different things would cost but, 1) I didn't keep very good track of them, and 2) I accepted the "it won't be much" answer too faithfully, too often. The final tally stung a little bit. However, the bottom line is that we have a house that we really like and the process wasn't too painfull all in all (we're still happily married /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif).

Enjoy,
Scott

Golfgar4 · Mar 25, 2002

Good luck on your project. You didn't mention if this is the first house you've built, or you've done it before, so I'm going to assume it's your first. We've built 2 homes, and because of my wife's Interior Design business (she designs complete homes too!), we're always involved in someone who is building a house.

It sounds like you and your wife are going about it the right way. You're taking the time to research good builders and get a quality architect. I can't stress enough the importance of asking questions NOW. It might be too late once the hammers start flying. When we were building, my wife and I carried little notebooks with us wherever we went. You've probably already found out that the house is about all you're talking about with everyone. During those talks, you'll always be getting suggestions from others, or one of their comments will trigger an idea in you. Write it down right then and there. That way you'll have it to refer to. You may never use it, but at least you won't be saying "Boy, I thought about doing that but I forgot all about it!" I know - I've been there.

The other piece of information I'll give you is this. If you want to make any changes as the project goes along, no matter how trivial the change may be, make sure that a change order is completed with the builder. A reputable builder will insist on this anyway, but it keeps everyone clear on what's happening. Change orders can very costly. A good friend of mine was building a new home. One day his wife stops by the job site to look around, and notices all the little scraps of wood laying around. She comments to the carpenter what a shame it was to waste the wood, and wouldn't it be nice if the wood could be used to add some shelves in one of the closets. Yup, that little comment cost them about $300.00 in additional labor costs /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif! If you want to see a funny example of this, rent the movie Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Just remember, it's only a movie that's supposed to be funny! A little planning, and you won't have those problems.

Good luck on your project. It'll be well worth it!

blurrybill · Mar 25, 2002

MossRoad,

Sounds like you're comfortable with plans for the project. Sounds great. We too love the birds (more and more). Although only enjoying our property on the picnic table and tree swing I put up last year, we love just sitting near the feeders and watching the birds. Lots of deer too, although one buck decided to strip the Colorado Blue Spruce I planted last fall -- lots of Cedars to abuse, but NOOOOOOOOO....
I may try to save it, but not sure. Oh, well, we'll have to share the garden too -- to a point. Let's stay in touch on the homes. Best of luck.

Bill

blurrybill · Mar 25, 2002

Scott,

Nice to hear of someone who shares our design interests. As you can see, others do as well. Boy, would we like to be where you are in construction right now! Must be really exciting. Check out my profile and you'll see what I do for a living, but one can't offer therapy to oneself -- weathering the construction/planning ordeal still married in not necessarily a small feat! Congratulations to you both and please post lots of picts after carpet laying. My wife will be excited to see them as well.

Bill

blurrybill · Mar 25, 2002

Golfgar,

Thanks for chiming in... You're right, our first house from the ground up. That said, we have remodeled 2 others extensively, correcting prior mistakes in each case. In one, I put an inverted beam in the ceiling to open the space and moved the kitchen to another part of the house. Also, added windows, a deck, tore up the floor including subfloor and added lots of "cans" for lighting. Also added a Vt. Castings stove with brickwork up a wall and lined with oak. In any event, those experiences helped, but as you appropriately point out, new house construction is a different game altogether. The notebook idea is a good one; we come close to that, but need to have something stapled to our foreheads! We'll keep you posted.

Bill