More Cool Ideas for the Cabin

The stair slide and indoor climbing wall come from this article about an architect that built an eco-friendly/kid-friendly home. He also uses geothermal piping to heat his house.

This is an artists rendering of what neighborhoods would look like if we flipped the cement:greenery ratio with lots of green space and little brick buildings. Pretty cool. This is what I imagined a neighborhood of rammed earth housing with living roofs would look like. I'd love to have a living roof on the cabin.

I am in love with concrete floors. I don't know how well they work for real living (too cold or too hard to make...?) but they look awesome! Plus, you're not limited to the design or colors. We could go simple, traditional, crazy or fun!

Yes, this next one was made to look like a beach. You can see a starfish in the bottom right corner and the waves rolling up the beach on the left. SO AWESOME!

I've also thought it would be really neat to have a tree growing right through a house! I don't know if this will work for a rammed earth cabin, but the concept is pretty cool...

Anyway, those are some ideas I've been thinking about.

Financials

So everyone has responded. I asked for a minimum and maximum amount for monthly contribution and up front contribution.

Minimum Monthly Total = $325
Maximum Monthly Total = $610
Minimum Up Front Cont = $2400
Maximum Up Front Cont = $6150

Since part of the goal is to not stretch anyone, lets just look at the minimums. $325/month is adequate to make this project feasible, I believe. The upfront minimum of $2400 however, I think would be a little low to be able to realistically get this going. If we all started contributing now, however, that would be $3900/year towards the fund. It might not take too long to start making this a reality! If we add in some peoples max contributions then we could realistically start even sooner.

Just a thought, that I haven't thought out completely either. What else could we do collectively w/this money? A family cabin is great, but it IS difficult times, which does of course make it the time to buy. A couple of other ideas though: family vacation - sweet one. Of course a cabin would be endless vacations. Pay some bills for mom. Get together to invest in something; this was suggested by someone else at the last meeting as well. Yes, there are investments that start this low that are not that risky, flipping cars is one that I do right now. Buy a little rental property, however this one would take someones credit. Just a thought. Any others?

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

Christmas Cabin

I just wanted to say that I liked Becky's idea that we put our Christmas money towards the cabin. The money that we would have spent on Christmas presents only for our siblings (not your individual families) could go into the big bank account. Delayed gratification for something bigger and better in the end?!?!? I like it! Anyone else on board? Anyone not like the idea? Maybe some people have already bought things...so maybe this wouldn't work but just a thought to put out there.

Added Email Address

Hi Everyone. I added "resources" and "fun ideas for cabin" on the side. Be sure to add your ideas and thoughts. I also added almost everyone's email address to the "email notification" option. I could only add 10 people so Brandon and Becky I left you guys off because you seem to be more on top of this blog than anyone...hope that was okay. If someone doesn't want to receive an email every time there is a blog post then just remove your name under "settings", and then "email&mobile" and then "email notifications".

It was fun to talk about all this on Sunday. We are really excited and Spencer even wants to get his family doing the same thing because it is an awesome idea!

Thanks everyone!

Treasurer

I have been nominated treasurer of the Allred Cabin Fever project. So I will be contacting each family member with some questions about finances, etc. When answering these questions please know that your answers will not be shared w/anyone else. Once everyone has answered I will give a grand total, so you will know your portion and a total. The purpose of this survey is to determine the actual financial feasibility of doing this and starting somewhat quickly so we can start enjoying our new family cabin. Realistically, we will probably need to find a building lot that offers some sort of seller financing, so we will have a down payment and a monthly payment as well as building costs. Before we start, however, there will also need to be some rules guidelines discussed and agreed upon by the entire group. Above all else, I think we can all agree we don't want this to bring up ANY ill feelings between anybody. Some of the things in mind that I am talking about are equity splits in the event the property is sold, scheduling of the cabin, value of labor/skills/etc as a contribution instead of money. Please assume that these questions will be answered and resolved to everyone's agreement. Please also assume that we will actually get this done and you will have use of a cabin. I know I was originally thinking, sweet a family cabin, this will be fun even though it will never go anywhere. But once I started thinking that it might actually go somewhere I was taking it a bit more serious and thinking that I would definitely be willing to contribute to make this happen. Also, if you don't feel you can contribute anything at this time, it doesn't mean you are not allowed at the cabin. This is a family use cabin. It will mean if any proceeds or equity or rental income is had, that you won't get a portion of that. You may also be able to contribute later, or contribute items. Here is a list of questions: Please discuss these w/your spouse and be ready to answer them in the next couple of days.

1. How much, if anything, can you contribute up front as a lump sum? Min & Max. Think of this as, well we could easily do $X, possibly $XX. We don't want anyone to feel stretched by this by any means. But the more we can get committed the more likely that this will actually take place.
2. How much, if anything, can you contribute on a consistent monthly basis? Min & Max again
3. How many hours can you commit to actual physical labor per month, as a family? This is for actual building, site prep, etc.
4. What equipment might you have access to for free/reduced rate that could possibly be used in construction?

Temporary office/cabin

So here is an example of a temporary office that might work great for building cabin HQ. This is a current auction that ends on Saturday. The current price is $100. And later you can convert it to storage or something.