I think it's really happening ...
After a summer of interviewing lenders, architects, builders and design/build groups, we settled on our crack build/design team in September and had our first official meeting on Oct. 13 (and actually handed over money!). We have ridden a roller-coaster of a learning curve during this process so far, and we haven't even started! Just imagine how knowledgeable we'll be by the time it's all over ...
Although we've owned this land (off and on) since the late 90s, I never grasped what a great lot it is until this summer when we were showing the land to prospective builders and designers. I think I'd just never been there on a day that wasn't severely overcast; most of the time we visited in December, when we were home from Asia for the holidays. As it turns out, our view is awesome: mountains in the distance, a beautiful sunset, a valley laid out below us. Who knew?! It's exactly what I wanted and didn't know I already had. On top of that, the "ridge" part of Pumpkin Ridge is perfect: We have a slope that is apparently ideal for building a daylight basement. This can help us add square footage at the most reasonable possible price. Thank goodness! Given what we're trying to build, we need as many economical advantages as we can get. Because what we're trying to build is a seriously energy-efficient (passivehaus at the most ideal) home, as ecologically friendly as possible, with an open floor plan (for 13 family members at a time), a dedicated office, a dedicated guest room, and space for the boys and their friends/cousins to play. We can fit this into a reasonable-sized home (we're thinking up to 3000 sq ft), with good planning -- but our budget may not allow for that size of home with the kind of building practices that are important to us. And this is why we took such care in choosing a good team that works well together and understands what we're trying to do.
Today, Bryan and I met with one of our architects, Rick (Scott | Edwards Architecture), plus two guys from our building company (Hammer & Hand), Mac and Mike (easy to remember those names!). Our goal today was to figure out exactly what part of the land will be cleared next week. (No trees will be removed for now.) On Friday (Nov. 4), we're meeting with Sam Hagerman, our primary contact and founder of Hammer & Hand, Rick and Sid (Scott, of Scott | Edwards Architecture) to figure out where we want to put the house. We have a general idea, of course, but the house design will depend on knowing more accurately where it will face and what topography we're working with. No doubt this will be fine-tuned as time goes on, but it will give us a good starting point. However, the land is currently thoroughly overgrown with blackberries, poison oak, scotch broom and other shrubbery; it's quite an adventure to try to explore the land right now. (I do like the ferns, though; I hope they grow back!) Today we braved the flora and figured out what area will be cleared on Tuesday and Wednesday. This includes not only the top part of the ridge, the flattest part, where we plan to build, but also the "road" (and I use this term very loosely) down to the main well, which was drilled in 2006 but is currently lost in the wilderness. We tried finding the well today, but the bushes were just too thick and prickly to get through.
A wonderful side effect of clearing the land is that we will no longer have to wash our poison oak-contaminated clothing and any exposed skin the moment we return from a visit up there. (I'm hoping that I managed to avoid contamination today, but only time will tell.)
I'm getting very excited -- and still nervous at the sheer scope of this project.
Although we've owned this land (off and on) since the late 90s, I never grasped what a great lot it is until this summer when we were showing the land to prospective builders and designers. I think I'd just never been there on a day that wasn't severely overcast; most of the time we visited in December, when we were home from Asia for the holidays. As it turns out, our view is awesome: mountains in the distance, a beautiful sunset, a valley laid out below us. Who knew?! It's exactly what I wanted and didn't know I already had. On top of that, the "ridge" part of Pumpkin Ridge is perfect: We have a slope that is apparently ideal for building a daylight basement. This can help us add square footage at the most reasonable possible price. Thank goodness! Given what we're trying to build, we need as many economical advantages as we can get. Because what we're trying to build is a seriously energy-efficient (passivehaus at the most ideal) home, as ecologically friendly as possible, with an open floor plan (for 13 family members at a time), a dedicated office, a dedicated guest room, and space for the boys and their friends/cousins to play. We can fit this into a reasonable-sized home (we're thinking up to 3000 sq ft), with good planning -- but our budget may not allow for that size of home with the kind of building practices that are important to us. And this is why we took such care in choosing a good team that works well together and understands what we're trying to do.
Today, Bryan and I met with one of our architects, Rick (Scott | Edwards Architecture), plus two guys from our building company (Hammer & Hand), Mac and Mike (easy to remember those names!). Our goal today was to figure out exactly what part of the land will be cleared next week. (No trees will be removed for now.) On Friday (Nov. 4), we're meeting with Sam Hagerman, our primary contact and founder of Hammer & Hand, Rick and Sid (Scott, of Scott | Edwards Architecture) to figure out where we want to put the house. We have a general idea, of course, but the house design will depend on knowing more accurately where it will face and what topography we're working with. No doubt this will be fine-tuned as time goes on, but it will give us a good starting point. However, the land is currently thoroughly overgrown with blackberries, poison oak, scotch broom and other shrubbery; it's quite an adventure to try to explore the land right now. (I do like the ferns, though; I hope they grow back!) Today we braved the flora and figured out what area will be cleared on Tuesday and Wednesday. This includes not only the top part of the ridge, the flattest part, where we plan to build, but also the "road" (and I use this term very loosely) down to the main well, which was drilled in 2006 but is currently lost in the wilderness. We tried finding the well today, but the bushes were just too thick and prickly to get through.
A wonderful side effect of clearing the land is that we will no longer have to wash our poison oak-contaminated clothing and any exposed skin the moment we return from a visit up there. (I'm hoping that I managed to avoid contamination today, but only time will tell.)
I'm getting very excited -- and still nervous at the sheer scope of this project.
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