Anyone build a house recently??? (Penobscot: sale, motorhome, buying)

[irontank]

Irishmom...if I were building a home in Maine, I would focus on eneregy efficiency...long winters, the increasing price of energy and the tax credits that a lot of states offer for energy-saving features in a new home (don't know about incentives that Maine offers but I would bet they offer some) make energy efficiency a no-brainer

If your husband is handy, you guys may want to consider a course at the Shelter Institute....a small family-run business in Maine that offers a lot of different courses on home-building...from a 2 week course that will teach you everything from framing to plumbing and wiring...to shorter courses that teach you how to GC the construction of your own home. They really focus on green building and energy efficiency.

http://www.shelterinstitute.com/

If you decide not to take the course or, after taking it, would prefer to have a professional handle construction, they will build a great, superinsulated, post and beam shell for you at a great price.

http://www.shelterinstitute.com/timberkits.htm

Alternatively, another small, family-owned custom energy efficient builder in Maine is Design Concepts

http://www.dcchomes.com/

The owner of the company, Greg Roberts, is the construction supervisor and he could probably give you a good ball park figure for the type of house you would be looking for

[Valinmaine]

Irontank,
Does DCChomes build out towards the lakes region? We've been looking at land in Sebago, but it's quite a ways from Fairfield! Thanks.

[luckyangel]

Wow!!!

This is a fantastic idea, Steel houses!!!
I am so impressed myself and my husband. We will be moving to Maine
Next year. We are looking for land right now and we will be building, Thanks
to you and your Ideas. AWESOME JOB.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by luckyangel

Wow!!!

This is a fantastic idea, Steel houses!!!
I am so impressed myself and my husband. We will be moving to Maine
Next year. We are looking for land right now and we will be building, Thanks
to you and your Ideas. AWESOME JOB.

Well it can save you a lot of money, and really open up the interior allowing much more to be done with the floor plan.

[julz]

We plan on having a basement.Is this possible with the steel homes?

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by julz

We plan on having a basement.Is this possible with the steel homes?

Yes.

In our 40X60 home: starting at one 40 foot wide end wall, we wanted a lap pool. So we left the foundation exposed and poured a slab underneath it. The lap-pool is eight foot wide and then we have concrete block wall coming up to the floor joists. That project is not done yet. But when it is we will have sealed it, installed pumps and filters. The remainder of our basement / crawlspace is open.

We had wanted a full basement, but the site-work contractor was going to charge us more. So I had them just dig out the trench for the foundation and leave the inside. Once I had the walls, doors and roof all up, then I dug out the basement and poured concrete floor. The problem occurred however as by then it was winter, and the ground froze. I could no longer dig with a shovel, so I rented a backhoe. We drove the backhoe in through our front doors [six-foot wide double doors] and we spent a day pounding the frozen ground with a backhoe. It just could not get through the frozen ground. So we returned the backhoe, and make adjustments in our floor-plans.

Had I known what I know today, we would have paid the site-work contractor, in the summer, using his excavator with eight-foot wide bucket, to spend the extra hour and dig out our basement.

Right now of the 40X60 basement:
a. 40X30 is a four foot crawl space with two water heaters [an electric and a propane], the circ-pumps for circulating the radiant loop water [one pump is 120VAC, and one pump is 12VDC], and our water filters.
b. 40X22 foot is basement,
c. 40X8 is pool.

We have both electric and propane heat sources for our hot water, and plan to add a wood heat source.

We use both 120VAC to pump the circulating water that goes through our radiant floors, and we use 12VDC as a back-up for when the power goes out. We have a marine-grade deep-cycle battery that should be able to keep our radiant water pumping for four days without utilities.

[molly2004]

Forest Beekeeper,

Not sure if this is too personal of question. After installing septic, well, building, buying land, how much do you anticipate your finished product will cost? I'm just trying to figure out how much it would really cost, given the increase in the cost of steel.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by molly2004

Forest Beekeeper,

Not sure if this is too personal of question. After installing septic, well, building, buying land, how much do you anticipate your finished product will cost? I'm just trying to figure out how much it would really cost, given the increase in the cost of steel.

a. Land [42 acres of riverfrontage forest] $ 38,000

b. well, 300' driveway [40' wide with three foot thick rock base], septic, electric pole, phone, site-work, 2400 sq ft foundation, building, floors, insulation, interior walls, plumbing, wiring, heat, swimming pool, jacuzzi, three bedrooms, two car garage with a walk-in chill-box and a walk-in freezer, sunken living room with open fire pit. At this point, likely close to $55,000


So the entire property will likely end up having cost me around $93,000

[Stringer]

I am really liking the idea of a steel home right now. What are the prices for these on the freedom steel site, I cannot find them anywhere? Any other steel home info would be great, thanks.

Also, would any1 happen to know the ballpark figure it would cost to cut an easement into a forested maine lot, about 25 feet wide and 800 feet long straight-away for a driveway?

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Stringer

I am really liking the idea of a steel home right now. What are the prices for these on the freedom steel site, I cannot find them anywhere? Any other steel home info would be great, thanks.

When I did it, Steel Buildings had a feature to design your own building.

Right now their website appears to have Freedom Steel Building Corporation *** We have the Steel *** You have the Style ! where you specify the size, colour, windows and doors; and they will give you a quote.

Also, would any1 happen to know the ballpark figure it would cost to cut an easement into a forested maine lot, about 25 feet wide and 800 feet long straight-away for a driveway?

To get someone to give you an easement across their land, that you can use for a driveway, will cost you whatever the land owner wants to charge you. When you buy an easement it is almost like buying the land, so many folks would not want to sell an easement.

If you are simply putting in a driveway on your own land. Ours cost us $3,000 for a 300 foot long by 40 foot wide and 3 foot tall driveway of crushed rock.

I helped a friend to clear a path for a driveway, a couple days ago. Stumps cut really low, do not require to be dug-out, and you do not need to fill in ruts. When they begin bringing in the crushed rock; each dump truck will just dump, the bulldozer smooths it all out, and the roller packs it down solid. Around here you want the driveway to be above the surrounding land, so the water runs off, and you do not get stuck in the snow.