It is officially AUGUST! I can't believe how FAST this year is going by! We were hoping to be in our house by Christmas, but looks like we will have to wait until late Spring/early Summer 2015...but at least we are making PROGRESS!
The financing process has been the hold up and has taken WAY longer than we expected. Since we have a family plot and quite a bit of land, it has proven to be a little trickier to divide up the property so the banks will approve us for a loan. But we feel like we have a found a good local bank who will work with us and give us a good appraisal both now and in the future.
This Summer's Building Progress (June/July):
And now for some fun pictures with my new camera!
The financing process has been the hold up and has taken WAY longer than we expected. Since we have a family plot and quite a bit of land, it has proven to be a little trickier to divide up the property so the banks will approve us for a loan. But we feel like we have a found a good local bank who will work with us and give us a good appraisal both now and in the future.
This Summer's Building Progress (June/July):
- Signed contract with local Builder - Bill Dacchille Construction
- Our neighbor's cows were removed from the land until construction finishes
- Josh celebrated his 32nd birthday
- Carefully dismantled old wormy chestnut barn/shed and salvaged wood to use later in our home
- Bonfire for unusable wood = yummy local beef steaks and organic smores for dessert
- Thanked God for the freedom to camp on our very own property for July 4th weekend
- Our new driveway was graded/graveled (will be shown on next update)
- A giant rectangle was dug to show placement & compass orientation of our home
- 1 dead oak was cut down to make room for our house - Hours/days of chainsawing ensued, resulting in a nice stack of firewood, curing for next winter
- Septic permits achieved and septic field/tank installed
And now for some fun pictures with my new camera!
Entry to our Land - BEFORE - June 2014
Dismantling the old wormy chestnut barn/shed
Cooking over the Fire
Happy Birthday, Josh!
The most exciting part of the summer though, has been the finalization of our house plans. I can't believe we have been working with our architect over a year! Through much trial and error and several estimates that exceeded our budget, we have finally nailed down a plan we love (and can afford)!
The key was moving our homesite. With 38 acres, one would think that there would be ample places in which to build two homes (one for Josh & I and one for his brother, Chris). But alas, homesites are tough to come by when you have specific orientation and goals in mind.
Though we would have loved to have a view and be on the cozy back portion of our property, we realized that the higher/farther away from the main road we were, the more expensive our house was going to be. In our original spot, on the ridge, we were looking at a 1500 sq ft home that cost well over 500K! Seeing as this was way outside of our price range, we were forced to reevaluate and rethink our goals.
After walking the property for hours, we decided on a flatter area, hugged by a forest, situated Southeast and much closer to the front of the property. Sacrificing the view, didn't seem so bad, when we realized that we could have a
slightly bigger house with more upgrades and easier access in the winter.
Surprisingly, this new site wasn't much cheaper than our first one, but it was at least closer to our budget. Apparently, it just costs more to build your home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Though our house is significantly smaller than the standard American suburban dwelling, we are happy with the design and amenities we have managed to squeeze into our less than 2000 sq ft footprint. So without further ado...
The key was moving our homesite. With 38 acres, one would think that there would be ample places in which to build two homes (one for Josh & I and one for his brother, Chris). But alas, homesites are tough to come by when you have specific orientation and goals in mind.
Though we would have loved to have a view and be on the cozy back portion of our property, we realized that the higher/farther away from the main road we were, the more expensive our house was going to be. In our original spot, on the ridge, we were looking at a 1500 sq ft home that cost well over 500K! Seeing as this was way outside of our price range, we were forced to reevaluate and rethink our goals.
After walking the property for hours, we decided on a flatter area, hugged by a forest, situated Southeast and much closer to the front of the property. Sacrificing the view, didn't seem so bad, when we realized that we could have a
slightly bigger house with more upgrades and easier access in the winter.
Surprisingly, this new site wasn't much cheaper than our first one, but it was at least closer to our budget. Apparently, it just costs more to build your home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Though our house is significantly smaller than the standard American suburban dwelling, we are happy with the design and amenities we have managed to squeeze into our less than 2000 sq ft footprint. So without further ado...