Making big plans

We had a great Thanksgiving with our family in Breaux Bridge LA. and we hope you all had a great holiday as well. We are also excited because we had the opportunity to sit down with our friend Dede and His wife Josie, and discuss ideas for the floor plan. Dede is a retired architect, and has been down this same road, I mean having built a small garage home to live in while they built their big house. He has lots of experience and ideas to bring to the table.

While out there we had the chance to drive around and look at some of the barndominiums there. Here are a few shots of ones we especially liked!

slow but steady...

Well as you can see I have gotten some pictures of our place up now. Here are just a couple of the most recent additions. The electric pole and meter box, and the new water well and pressure tank. I'm pretty sure that the well guys had to go around 300' because neighbors on both sides of us had to go that deep. Notes to all who follow our steps: The drilling of the well isn't cheap! Our Well service charges $14 a foot and has a minimum charge of 200 feet...Although I haven't received the bill as of this post I anticipate paying at least $4200 just for the hole...cased sanded and ready to except the pump. The pump I am using is a submersible type with the surface pressure tank. The pressure tank reduces pressure bumps as the down-hole pump cycles on and off, and it provides a constant pressure to the service. I also expect the pump and pressure tank, pressure switch and all associated plumbing, to add up to near $3500 more. It is really cool how these guys do business with just a handshake and my word...but I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate in taking it all back, if the check isn't on its way!!

First things first...

Electricity is of the greatest importance, and it isn't cheap!! We contacted the local coop electricity provider for our area and scheduled an appointment to meet at the site with their engineer. The way is breaks down, is as follows. They charge for the poles and installation. The first pole is $1800.00 and all additional poles needed to get to the site is about $800 each. We needed two poles, plus an additional smaller pole to hold the meter box. Yep that's the skinny on that ...$2600 later we had poles and lines. But the meter box had to be built and set by an independent certified electrician, and that cost us another $800.
So as of this writing we have a usable source of electricity to the site and the assurance that if we take up full time residence on the site within two years, we will be reimbursed the full amount of the poles and installation...$2600!!! After all this I have spent a considerable amount of time researching the use of some renuable source of energy...but the thing is that all those grand ideas are just to costly for now. I do like the idea of solar energy and will look more closely at that after the barn is built.

Where in the World to start?

My name is Morgan, or SaddleTramp in cyber space..My project is in motion...what a ride!! The wife and I, her name is Gladys, started dreaming about moving to the country in mid January 2005. We are both in our mid forties and wanted a home with little or no maintenance. A home that could be built to our specifications, modest as that may be, and a house that can be built on a reasonable budget. I spent many hours in front of my computer searching for information on this topic, and had only minor success. So I have decided to establish this site as a place to gather and organize my findings, and maybe help those folks trying to do the same thing! Please, please, if you have any suggestions or additions, feel free to add them ...I know that we can use all the help we can get!!!