Bye bye big city!

[Texas82GP]

Wow. Pretty amazing amount of effort there.

Thanks Mike. We're trying to be as informed as we can and get the most for our dollars. I have the benefit of having some experience in land development and that's helping. There is a lot of work to planning a clean sheet build. Hopefully it will pay off by minimizing regret and "wish we hads" when it's done.

saving money on the interest, value of current property keeps increasing, = a good thing

regarding swimming pool.....
unless you've had one you don't know how expensive they can be.

costs: cost to fill it up with 14k gallons of fresh water (your neighborhood water supplier is saying 'CHA-CHING!'), the continuous need to keep refilling due to evaporation, the continuous chemical purchases to keep it in balance (just as long as you're aware of those issues)
you may want to look at alternative options such as saltwater, or using a UV sanitizer to keep it germ free. also think about having a pool cover to keep evaporation down.
IIRC your property was on the downhill side of the street, wondering if the water table will affect the swimming pool?

Yeah we have more homework to do on the pool equipment between now and then and a cover is well worth looking into. Fortunately we have City water so I'm not super concerned about the cost of keeping it filled. I don't think the water table will be an issue because the drainage is so good (about 7' of drop across the lot) and we're around 60 feet above the flowline of the creek. We'll know for sure once we get the Geotech report as it will note what they see in the 20' they drill. Thanks for the reply and the suggestions. I could personally do without the pool but much of the family really wants it so it's part of the deal. They don't care about having a shop so it's a two way street.

 

[86LK]

Thanks Mike. We're trying to be as informed as we can and get the most for our dollars. I have the benefit of having some experience in land development and that's helping. There is a lot of work to planning a clean sheet build. Hopefully it will pay off by minimizing regret and "wish we hads" when it's done.

Yeah we have more homework to do on the pool equipment between now and then and a cover is well worth looking into. Fortunately we have City water so I'm not super concerned about the cost of keeping it filled. I don't think the water table will be an issue because the drainage is so good (about 7' of drop across the lot) and we're around 60 feet above the flowline of the creek. We'll know for sure once we get the Geotech report as it will note what they see in the 20' they drill. Thanks for the reply and the suggestions. I could personally do without the pool but much of the family really wants it so it's part of the deal. They don't care about having a shop so it's a two way street.

in Austin we have the tiered water rates so to fill up my pool would be $$$$ (about $15-20k). UV rays eat up the chlorine and hot Texas summers evaporate water (200-500 gals/week). Make sure your pvc pipes for the water circulation are fully inserted or you may experience leaks caused by shifting soils that pop them apart. monthly maintenance which includes water and chems will run you minimum $100-200. if you're paying someone to do it, then double it.
you may want to consider drilling a well for things like filling the pool, watering the landscape. you've already got the property and it would be a lot easier now than later.

 

[Texas82GP]

Almost two months since the last update. The slog of just keeping your head down and saving money is tough. It will be late this year before we seriously look at moving forward with the construction loan but we're still working on getting smarter. Hopefully market conditions will help us some by then. Inflation and rising interest rates are working against us right now. The house we're in has substantially appreciated though.

Our Owner's association has a Neighbor Network where Owners chat with each other on things like, "who did you use to build your fence?" or "where do you get your dogs groomed?", etc. On it, there was a report a few weeks ago that the approaches to the bridge had been paved. This prompted us to go out for a look on Sunday 3/20. To our mild disappointment, the asphalt paving had not been done but it looked like almost everything but that had been.

This picture is from the west (far side from our house) of the creek at the end of the existing asphalt paving. What you are looking at is the compacted, finish graded roadbed. You can see the temporary crossing adjacent to the bridge has been removed and excavated....

A little closer to the bridge, you can see the roadside ditch on the south side (right hand) of the road has been stabilized and seeded. If you look closely, you can see the pink whiskers on the right hand side of the roadbed which are marking the edge of the proposed asphalt paving....

They still have some dirt work left around this E-Inlet and need to hydromulch (seed) around it, but the construction on it, itself and the line coming out of it is done....

Here at the west end of the bridge you can see the extensive excavation that has taken place to remove the temporary access road/crossing and to regrade the creek banks. They've got more finish grading to do here and then they'll hydromulch to stabilize it, and may even do some planting...

We drove across the bridge for the first time. Here, I'm looking south (downstream) where the temporary crossing used to be....

This is taken from the east (our side) end of the bridge looking east towards our section of the neighborhood. It looks like they are going to put that steel pipe in on this side for stormwater running down the hill. I presume this is to limit erosion. After the pipe is in, they'll need to finish grade and hydromulch.....

And this is taken from the top of the hill on the east side of the creek, looking east. They're pretty close to finished up here, with the exception of the asphalt paving......

As of yesterday, according to the neighbor network, the asphalt paving still wasn't down. We have a weather front coming through on Wednesday so I'm hoping they are doing the asphalt today and tomorrow but who knows. It's not holding us up anyway. We just like seeing the progress.

On our end, Sean and I have been diving into how best to insulate a Pole Barn and whether or not to put a ceiling in. We likely won't make a final decision on that until we have a discussion with the builder we select but we're getting better informed. If interested, check out the RR Buildings channel on YouTube. The guy has great attention to detail. He's up in Illinois so he's no expert on how to build here but after seeing his work, I still wish he was building our shop.

I completed the Tree Removal Plan. Of the 178 trees that we tied while doing the survey (trees 4" in diameter and above), 101 will remain and 77 will be removed. I have a quote to remove the trees and truck them away. The quote also includes setting the culvert for the driveway and building the construction entrance. The construction entrance is basically the foundation of the first section of our driveway. They place crushed stone where the driveway apron and approach will go and compact it. After most of the construction is done, that section will get cleaned up and paved over, so there is little to no waste there.

I had a colleague of mine help me determine some dirt quantities to build the pads for the house, the shop, and to level the area for the pool. Here is a screen shot of the model. You can see the ranch road crossing the lot from northeast to southwest and can see the pad for the shop behind it and the pad for the house and pool in the foreground. This is not the end all be-all. The Civil Engineer will tighten this up quite a bit but it's close enough to budget the site work....

We calculate that close to 1,000 cubic yards of fill are going to be needed. I have pricing the delivered cost of the material and the labor to build the pads/do the site work on my to-do list. Speaking of, I might as well memorialize it:

To-do list:

• Get a quote for delivered cost of 1,000 cubic yards of select fill and quote for site work to build the pads for the building and pool
• Get a quotes for 1,100 feet of linear fencing
• Update/Revise the site plan to add information required by the City
• Take a first stab at Grading plan?
• Contact an old friend and twist her arm to be our Civil Engineer on this project. Then outsource completing the Site Plan and Grading Plan to her.
• Research City permitting fees
• Get another pole barn quote
• Research City requirements for permitting a Pole Barn
• Work on internal shop layout
• Work on outside Patio/Bar layout
• Start list of features we want in and around the house (outlets in eves for Christmas lights, water softener, hose bibs, stub outs for propane and electric for pool equipment, etc.)
• Save! Save! Save!

As you can see, there is still a ton of work to be done. I believe the better we plan, the happier we'll be in the end. I guess that's it for now friends. Thanks for the interest.

 

[motorheadmike]

Definitely pay very close attention to drainage. You may want to find a means of storing water for future crops given the state of the world. Maybe provisions for solar too.

 

[86LK]

Definitely pay very close attention to drainage. You may want to find a means of storing water for future crops given the state of the world. Maybe provisions for solar too.

the problem he's going to have with solar is house orientation and trees. that part of Texas is all tall trees and brush, whereas here in Austin where I live it's all rock, caliche, cedar, and oak trees. don't know if he has enough space for a stock pond

 

[ck80]

the problem he's going to have with solar is house orientation and trees. that part of Texas is all tall trees and brush, whereas here in Austin where I live it's all rock, caliche, cedar, and oak trees. don't know if he has enough space for a stock pond

One thing I was mulling over, dam liability aside, was you can see a saddle where the old road passed through middle of the lot in that geometric topo relief.

Depending how many feet that dip is, you could get a 4 or 5 foot deep by nearly width of lot small pond without much of any excavation.

Or, sink a separate well at the back of property to service crops and the workshop.

 

[Texas82GP]

Roughly six months since the last update. Not a ton to report. Sean and I did go out there three or four weeks ago and mow the Kudzu again....

It probably took two hours to cut it all. That's the second time we've mowed it since last October. That's not too bad to keep on top of it. The big news is that they are finally paving the approaches to the bridge...

That picture was posted on our neighbor network site a few days ago so both sides should be paved by now. In the picture above our neighborhood side of the crossing has been paved. It's nice to see that wrapping up. There are a few houses in our section under construction. I'm jealous. We're just keeping our heads down and saving for now. We'll re-assess at the end of the year. I haven't really made any progress on the punch list I previously posted. I've just been too busy at work and too busy with other projects like switching my storage. Now that I have a PC with CADD at home, I hope to make more progress. I guess that's it for now friends. Just a small update.

 

[CopperNick]

CADD? You planning on drafting your own blueprints? The county or jurisdiction allow that? Actually a good way to get what you want by way of materials and finishes. Would, though, give some major consideration to going 2X6 for any stud walls. 2X4 is usually the minimum by code and the key word here is "minimum". You can't go smaller, but there is nothing but $$$ to prevent you from going heavier. With the present quality of the average 2 X being lousier that it used to be and inventory being poor and expensive in many areas, going heavy can make better sense. Heavy also lets you stuff in more insulation which can keep the house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Also consider pre engineered joists for the floor and roof trusses. Know of a few guys who stockpiled the bits and pieces they wanted for their build. Took them a while/few years but as materials came on sale, they would hit the lumber yard or hardware store and stock up/stash it. Wouldn't work with cement or concrete in the bag as they get stiff if exposed to moisture like rain or prolonged humidity.



Nick

 

[86LK]

I've seen some really cool building materials shown on a Youtube channel by a builder in Austin

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCTrfb1JUJjs3Im8OZDtBw

he tours other builders homes they are building with unique materials, like insulated framing lumber, and talks about the pros/cons of each technique as well as cost and difficulty

 

[Supercharged111]

Definitely pay very close attention to drainage. You may want to find a means of storing water for future crops given the state of the world. Maybe provisions for solar too.

If he has a well, how big of a deal is storage?