Mark already gave you some good advice and covered some of these, but let me add what I know from 2 counties away in Okeechobee. Many of the same rules may be operative in Polk County.
<font color="blue"> 1) I need to get the parcel tied to paved road, bring in electricity, have septic tank installed, well drilled, barn built, fence installed, the whole 9 yards. Do some need to be done before others? </font>
I did it in this order (so far): Cleared the fence line. Installed the fence. Cleared the rest of the property. Decided where my driveway would be, talked to the County road department about the culvert, and installed the culvert to their specs. Made a temporary gate in the fence with wire fencing I fold back to open. I needed lots of fill, so I had a pond dug and used the spoil to raise an area for my house, for the barn, and primarily for the driveway road (about 800').
I wanted to build a barn before I built the house, but my zoning is Rural Residential, not Agricultural, and Okeechobee won't let me build a barn until the house permit is pulled, and I'm not ready to build the house yet. Also, I cannot get a temporary electric meter until I pull the house permit.
Fortunately, my daughter lives next door, so I buried an electric feed off of their garage meter about 150' to a good place for my well, and had the well installed. I could also have installed the well anywhere and powered it with a generator, or even gone for a solar setup if I wanted to spend the bucks.
Next, I'll get the permits for the house and barn, start the house first to get the inspectors out of my hair (I have to get at least one inspection, such as the foundation, within each 6 month period), then build the barn, then get back to the house. Now that the hurricanes are over and I no longer need my old motor home in front of my Port St. Lucie house to provide power from the generator, I'm taking it over to Okeechobee to serve as my housing when I'm there.
<font color="blue"> 2) I plan to rent a dozer to clear the palmetto palms that are about waist height. (no tall trees will be felled. I have read enough horror stories here. tall trees are sporadic anyhow) It will take a few days. What would be an inexpensive temporary shelter? </font>
What do you want to shelter, yourself or the dozer? Are you planning to stay there overnight, or just want shelter from the sunshine, both the hot and the liquid kind? (rain is liquid sunshine in Florida /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif ) If the shelter is for yourself during the day and to keep things dry overnight, I'd look at the 10' x 20' canopies that are available for a reasonable price at Sam's Club or similar outlets. $150 or less, and you have a temporary shelter you can use over and over through your entire project. I have 3 of them, and have used them for everything from shelter to temporary garages to race track pit shelters.
<font color="blue"> 3) Where do I buy off-road diesel fuel? How do I store it?</font>
Check to see if there is a wholesale oil supplier near you. There should be. They will likely have tank trucks who deliver fuel to farms and ranches in your area. If they are like the oil company I use in Okeechobee (Gilbert Oil), they also have a pump station at their home base. I drive there with my fuel can(s) and have them filled at the pump with off-road diesel. At Gilbert, the only difference between off-road and on-road fuel is the color and the price, because you save the taxes on the off-road. Since you are planning to have a farm, ask them what it takes to qualify as farm use of the fuel, so you also won't have to pay sales tax. My use is not legitimately for a farm, so I pay the sales tax, even though they think I'm nuts.
You can get your fuel in 5 gallon cans, or ask the oil company what other options they have. Since I have a tractor with a FEL, I get mine in a 55 gallon drum, which I strap upright in the back of my pickup to have filled, and then lift horizontally to the top of a 5' high platform so I can gravity feed. I bought a filter, hose and inexpensive fuel nozzle from the oil company, and use ball valves and plumbing fittings to connect the hose and a vent to the drum. But, that is probably too elaborate a setup for you until you get a tractor.
If you want to spend the bucks, you can also consider a tank that fits in the back of your pickup and uses and electric pump to refuel your equipment; they have them at Tractor Supply Company. They usually hold around 50 gallons, and are handy if your equipment will someday be spread out all over your farm.
<font color="blue"> 4) 20 acre fencing scares me. Is there a machine I can rent that will take care of posts, at least? Can one person do high tension fencing? It looked simple on internet. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif </font>
That depends on the fencing. I haven't used T posts and barb wire, but Soundguy described it real well
here . I used 4" mesh "hog wire" from Tractor Supply to fence 7.5 acres (around $80 for each 330' roll), because I have to keep in clever dogs as well as keep out ATV's, and my son-in-law's pit bull goes through barb wire like it isn't even there. I mounted mine on corner posts made from 6" - 7" posts and intermediate 3" - 4" posts, all round wood posts from Tractor Supply. We did it with 2 people, but it could be done with one person and a lot of patience. First, construct your braced corners. Then, put in your intermediate posts with a post hole digger -- we rented one from the local hardware store. Then, fasten your wire fence to one end, pull and stretch, and stand it up, and staple it to the intermediates. There's a little more detail about splicing and fastening and bracing, but this is already too long.
<font color="blue"> 5) The parcel is located away from home and I cannot quite ask my friends to drive an hour to come and help me. Is there a way to hire a helper locally? Where do I find such information?</font>
My son-in-law is a fireman in Okeechobee, and has odd shifts with up to 4 days off at a time. Through him, I've met several firemen who do odd jobs on their days off, and can usually find one or two who have the time. In most cases, these guys also have considerable skills in other areas -- some are good fence builders, some have worked with concrete, some have run machinery, and, being a rural area, almost all have done some farming. I don't think you can march into a local fire station and treat them like a cattle market to see who's for hire, but you might drop by, get to talking, feel them out a little, and see who would be willing to rent their expertise for a day or two at a time.
