Long Nasty Winter – Temporary Power

Ok, so I started this blog with the best intentions and instead of blogging about how frustrated I was with the weather, I figured I would just put it on hold. Now that the spring has arrived and the rain and freezing temps went away, I’ve been busy out there getting my temporary power set up, getting my footers dug out, and pouring concrete.

Temporary Power – Owner Builder

You need power at your home site and luckily there was an old mobile home on my property, so the power was already ran out to where I need to hook up. Otherwise, I would have had to have the electric company out to install poles and power 350′ out to where I am building my house on my property.

I had a meter there without an actual meter in the meter casing. There was a plastic cover over where the meter would go, so I called the electric company and asked if they would come out to remove the plastic cover and make sure it wasn’t hot (power coming down the pole into the meter box). They came out the next day and said everything was alright to start working in the meter box.

I tested the leads to make sure they really weren’t hot and started working. I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a small breaker box with 4 slots, 2 twenty amp breakers, some romex, and an outdoor outlet.

I ran the power cables down from the meter box into the breaker panel. Once I had that connected, ran the romex down from the breakers into my outdoor electrical box. I called the county to come inspect it. They gave it the okay and I called the electric company to come out and install a meter. Took two days to get the power hooked up, about 20 minutes to install everything, but now I have power on the property.

Some states and counties may require a licensed electrician to do this type of work, so check before you start a project like this.

Grading the Lot with Bobcat T190

Last weekend before it started raining here like you wouldn’t believe, we began grading our lot with a Bobcat T190.

The Bobcat was great at digging down around the roots of large trees in order to push them over. I had 2 large white oaks right in the center of the home site that needed to be removed as well as 6-8 sweet gum trees. The white oaks were pretty easy to push out with the Bobcat, but the sweet gum’s have a tap root that runs very deep and is larger than the trunk of the tree at the base.

I was impressed at the power of the T190 with it’s track system. Those trees came down fairly easy.

I probably could have used a little bigger equipment to get the job done, but I didn’t have access at the time and a Bobcat is fairly easy to operate with it’s hand controls. I had my best friends dad, who’s like a 2nd father to me, Charlie come by and help me do some of the grading work. He mainly loves being on a machine, plus it was nice to have him there while I was cutting up the trees with my Husqvarna chain saw.

Rain Rain Go Away! New Plans Anyway.

I’m very happy to have all this rain considering just last year we were in a drought situation here in Georgia, but it’s really messing up my plans to get this house started. I guess it’s a good thing though because it’s given us some time to consider changing our plans and budgeting those plans.

We are going with a house plan very similar to the house plan seen here on FamilyHomePlans
We are planning on building the main house then adding the garage in the near future after the house is finished since we don’t want to spend the extra money at this time. With all the rain though, it’s almost impossible to get this project started. So, we’re praying for a break in the weather.

I don’t mind framing in the cold, but I need that foundation to set right and before the rain, we had a cold snap.

Looks like warmer drier weather is right around the corner. Permits are the next project this next week. I’ll keep you posted on our owner builder process. Attached are the engineered trusses I will be using that integrate the floor system for the second floor into the truss.

2 Car Garage with Apartment Plans

After checking with the county, I am going to build a 2 car garage first with a 1 bedroom apartment above it, then live in it while I construct my house. I’m not looking for extravagant garage plans, just a simple structure that will accentuate a similar style cape cod house plan. I am working with a local designer who came up with a first draft last night, seen to the left of this post.

I have to go with a slightly wider 2 car garage plan to meet my county’s 1400 square foot primary structure requirement. I want to build my house and take my time, but I want to get onto the property so I can work on it little by little. It was either choose a 2 car garage plan with apartment or buy a mobile home to put on the property while I build a house. I chose the garage because mobile homes depreciate so quickly. Plus, a 1400 square foot mobile home is huge.

The living area in my garage apartment is not going to be huge, around 650 square feet, but it will give us a place to live while we build and we won’t have to rent. As an owner builder, the whole idea is to save huge amounts of money and get the house you want.

Next step after the plans are completed would be to start grading. I have a bunch of sweet gum trees as well as dirt to move around in order to accommodate the garage.

Thanks for checking out my garage apartment plans. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

Septic System Owner Builder – DIY

Just came back from closing on the property today, so we’re proud owners of some Georgia dirt. The first step was to find out where the septic tank was to get it pumped and inspected by the county. After 2 hours of digging around, and with the help of the septic tank guy who’s business card read… “The Do Do Doctor”, we finally found the 4″ sewer pipe. We probed around and followed it down 30′ or 40′ to the septic tank.

After the tank was pumped, I needed to take the form given to me by the septic pumping company down to the county. I paid $125 for an inspection by the county and I should find out this week if I will be able to use the existing system. The “Do Do Doctor” said it looked good should pass inspection.

I did some research on septic tanks and wanted to share some info I found for other owner builders out there. Where we live is pretty rural, so there is no public sewer available or I’d be hooking up to it. Being able to use the existing septic system will save me thousands of dollars. The lowest price to install a new system around here was around $3500. I got other quotes close to $5000.

Material costs for a do it yourself owner builder would be somewhere around $1500. The septic tank itself is around $500 or more for a 1000 gallon tank.

Then, unless you’re going to be digging it with a shovel for a couple weeks, you’re going to need to rent a backhoe.

The septic system is pretty simple… Waste comes out of the house, down a main pipe, and into the septic tank. Solid waste will sink to the bottom where bacteria and other organisms will break down the matter. Then, the liquid waste seeps out and down the drain fields to sink down into the earth where the waste is naturally filtered.

A couple tips I got along the way would be… Never flush a lot of bleach or cleaning products down your drains or you will kill the bacteria that breaks down the solid waste which will lead to problems very quickly. Next, have your tank pumped out every 3-5 years. And finally, place your drain fields more than 100′ away from your well, which is for obvious reasons.

I’m hoping I pass inspections so I can move on to the next step in the owner builder process. I will keep you DIY folks informed. Hope this post helps.

3 Acre Lot Homesite for Our Owner Builder Project

I went back out to the site to poke around where we are building our home to get some ideas. I told you in the last post that I would tell you a little about the property so here it goes…

It’s 3 acres of land in North Georgia. There is a creek bordering the whole South side of the property. The home site is approximately 25′ higher than the creek up on a hill. There was a mobile home on the property that was removed, so the electric is already run out to the site, there is a septic system, and there is also a working well on the property. There is public water at the street that we can tap into, but we may do that down the road.

It’s been a year or so since anyone has lived on the property, so as you can imagine there is a lot of underbrush that has come up and totally swallowed any grass that was there. My first job will be to rent a brush hog and take out all the brush and saplings that have grown up before I rent a bobcat and start grading.

I talked to a friend of mine, Charlie, who use to pour foundations and grade property for a living. He is coming out to the lot with me this weekend to go over what we need and has offered to help me grade it for free.

My plan, which I have discussed with the county, is to build a 2 car detached garage with a small apartment and move into it while I complete the rest of the house just 15′-20′ away. I have never built a house before, but I have remodeled several homes from top to bottom. I am confident in my skills and being able to follow a plan. Of course I will hire some help for the framing, plumbing, and electrical, but for the most part, we’ll be building our own home ourselves as owner builders.

Launch of “Building Our Home” Blog

Welcome to our new site. 

After finding an amazing deal on a piece of land in Georgia, my wife and I are embarking on a journey to build our own home as an owner builder. I am kind of a “jack of all trades” and have been heavily involved in internet marketing and graphic design as a hobby of mine, so I figured… Why not turn this into a step by step documentary of our experiences while building our own house.

I also thought it would be interesting to find building materials from alternative sources such as craigslist.com, backpage.com, and maybe some signs, rather than pay retail prices for building supplies at home improvement stores. I know how to get high ranking in search engines using blogs and linking, so I’m hoping for some large companies to want to donate some materials in exchange for permanent links from my blog, which will be a heavily visited owner builder website.

In this owner builder blog, we’ll discuss every step of the building process as we go along, every road block, every victory, any score on building materials at crazy prices, and much more. In my next post, I’ll include some pictures of the land and some rough sketches I’ve made of our house plans and site plan. If you’ve been looking for a step by step guide to building your own home, I am happy to put this website together for you.