Fee summary and timeline

After talking with building inspectors, fire marshals, realtors, and structural engineers, here are most of the fees that will have to be paid to begin building the cabin, along with a timeline:

First, buy the land. I'm hoping we can purchase land with as little as $2000 down.
How to help: look at land for sale online, call a realtor, drive to lots, take pictures, post what you find.

Next step, we need blueprints for the cabin including a site plan. I plan on working on these myself over the winter since we can't work on the cabin in the snow anyway. I'll probably purchase software to help me ranging from $100 to $400.
How to help: If you know anyone that has drafting, framing, or architectural skills, talk to them about trading time at the cabin for work, etc. If you know of good software, post about it.

Once we have a plan, we need to have it stamped by a structural engineer. Its possible to skip this step if we purchase a stock building plan. However, that means we would have to build the cabin exactly according to the plan. We couldn't use rammed earth, rubble trench foundations, reclaimed lumber, etc. The cabin would probably not be very unique or inspiring. But, it would save on engineer costs. I spoke with an engineer and he estimated it would cost around $2000. I think we can find ways to lower that, but that was his estimate.
How to help: Find an engineer that would be willing to trade time at the cabin for their work. A recent college grad for example. Or take payments over time.

Once we have the engineer stamped plans, we schedule a time to meet with the fire marshall. He will have some requirements for the cabin, as well as the lot. We have to clear dead wood and fallen trees within a certain distance from the structure, etc. We have to pay $1000 upfront, then we get $500 back once the cabin is complete.

Once he approves the plan, we submit the building plans to the HOA. Every HOA is different, but they ones I've spoken with have a small fee for this, around $300.

Once this is approved, we submit the plans to the county building department. After speaking with them, if the plans are stamped by an engineer, they most likely will approve it. They will asses their fee based upon square footage. He estimated that a project like ours would cost around $2000.

Now that we have a building permit, work can begin on the cabin. There are a couple of other fees we have to pay, depending on where we build. The places I'm looking into have a water connect fee of $1500. I need to call about the power connect fees, but I estimate them to be around $1000.

So, that's a lot of fees and money. Including the down payment on the lot, I project we will need at least $7000 to start. The water and power connect fees can be paid later. We'll have plenty of work to do before we're ready to connect.

So, here's a rough estimate of the timeline:

This year its possible to purchase land. However, we won't have much time to work on it before snow falls. But, we may get a better deal than buying in the spring. And we would have a place to store any materials that we could accumulate.

However, we could just wait to purchase land until next spring, and over the winter we can be saving our money, working on the the cabin plans together, and start accumulating materials. So next summer I think we could get all our permits taken care of and have the driveway in, the building spot leveled, and the foundations completed before the snow falls.

The following year could be when we build the walls, the roof, etc. It's possible we could finish that year. But if we don't, we'll almost certainly finish it the following summer. So, being conservative, this is probably a three year project.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts.

Brandon