Land Prep/House Build

[wmonroe]

Hello everyone, my wife and i are getting ready to start building a house in the next few weeks so I thought I would start a thread that showed our steps through the process. I appreciate any comments you want to give.

Might as well start at the beginning.

About 14 months ago we went to look at this piece of property we had been watching for a while. After a little negotiating we were the proud owners of 16.7 acres. Here it is when we bought it.

And a couple in the spring when it is green, just prior to the driveway going in.

The first thing we did other than mowing the fields down was to install the driveway.
The top soil removed.

 

[gwjd]

looks great

 

[wmonroe]

My first lesson I learned is that shale although common in this area does not work at all for a driveway. I was out of town for work when my wife called me because the well driller could not make it up the driveway, his truck would just sink in the shale.
This is the pile of #4 stone to spread over the shale so the well driller could make it to the top of the driveway.

My dad helped me out and spread the stone, and the well driller was able to make it up the driveway.
Here he is drilling.

After the well was drilled we didn't do very much else before winter. It was very nice in the summer/fall though sitting around a campfire there and relaxing.

Now we are to the present time. This was my project for the last two weekends. I decided underground electric was the way to go, which means I need about 700' of trench from the last pole to the transformer. Thought I could dig this in about 8 hours, which led to lesson 2. Digging went way slower than I anticipated and by time it was down I logged about 28 hours of time on the mini excavator.
Conduit is a minimum of 36", deeper just about everywhere but there were a few rocks requiring a jack hammer and after hammering for quite a while I was happy with 36".

1400' of conduit (700' of both 3" and 2").

Me on the machine.

Pictures of the trench.

 

[wmonroe]

looks great

Thanks, we are going to begin the house in the middle of April so it is going to get exciting very quick.

 

[B7510HSD]

Looking good!!:thumbsup:

 

[hobie]

Beautiful property! I'll look forward to following this one!

 

[wmonroe]

Thanks for the replies. Dig date is April 18 so I will be following up with pictures.

 

[Kyle241]

Now that is trench! Nice views, can't wait to see the process. Any specs on the house? Are you going 'green'?

 

[wmonroe]

Yeah, the trench was definately more involved than I had expected. Really thought i could dig it all in 8-10 hours or less but missed that goal by a lot. Good lesson though. House will be a two story about 2200 sq ft. and about 720 sq ft of attached garage. Not really going 'green', going to use electric/heat pump and a gas fire place in the living room for the time being. Couldn't decide what i wanted to use for heat long term so that is my short term solution.

 

[TnWV]

Nice looking property. I am sure the trench and conduit is expensive but you won't regret it. Nothing worse than a bunch of telephone poles in the yard. I hope to build a similar size house in 2-3 years so I will be following closely and hopefully learn a few things!

 

[yucholian]

Very exciting. I was in the same boat 1 year ago, in Pittsburgh area too.
Wife and I looked everywhere and didn't see the land you bought. :thumbsup:
We ended up buying 9 acres just outside of Cranberry and built the house, moved in in September of 2010. You'll have a great time building the house, but a lot of headache as well. Hang in there and enjoy.

 

[flusher]

Really nice property. Congrats.
Reminds me of work I did 5 years ago on my 10-acre place. Took me about 13 months from purchase of the land to the final inspection on the house and occupancy.

 

[wmonroe]

Nice looking property. I am sure the trench and conduit is expensive but you won't regret it. Nothing worse than a bunch of telephone poles in the yard. I hope to build a similar size house in 2-3 years so I will be following closely and hopefully learn a few things!

Yes, it will definately be much nicer with no exposed telephone poles. What pushed me over the edge to go underground was the fact the power company would not put the poles more than 3' off the edge of the driveway, and at first had them directly on the edge of the driveway. I was worried my wife, in the winter, might slide off the driveway and hit a pole.

Very exciting. I was in the same boat 1 year ago, in Pittsburgh area too.
Wife and I looked everywhere and didn't see the land you bought. :thumbsup:
We ended up buying 9 acres just outside of Cranberry and built the house, moved in in September of 2010. You'll have a great time building the house, but a lot of headache as well. Hang in there and enjoy.

We found this property near Donegal, but there is not as much property for sale as i htought there would be. I am excited to get started and can't wait to move into the new place.

Really nice property. Congrats.
Reminds me of work I did 5 years ago on my 10-acre place. Took me about 13 months from purchase of the land to the final inspection on the house and occupancy.

Thanks, 13 months is very good. We are going to be right around 16-17 months.

 

[markrahn]

Are you going to be your own GC? How deep was the well? Are you going to run a conventional or aerobic septic system?

thanks - will be watching this thread.

 

[wmonroe]

Are you going to be your own GC? How deep was the well? Are you going to run a conventional or aerobic septic system?

thanks - will be watching this thread.

I would like to be my own GC but I travel to much with work to have the time. Instead we are using the home building company I used to work for, theyre a good group that I trust.

When they were drilling the well they hit water about 75-100' and then continued to drill to 175'.

Septic system will be a sand mound. Unfortunately that is all i am allowed to put in, almost 17 acres and can't put a standard septic system in, unbelievable.

 

[wmonroe]

Well today was the big dig day. The excavator came this morning and finished digging out the foundation by the end of the day. My wife is going to send me pictures, which i will post as soon as i get them.

The power company is supposed to install all the telephone poles at the end of this week and then run the wire next week.

 

[wmonroe]

Well it only took me about a week to get the pictures but here they are.

The electric service should be completed by Tuesday or Wednesday and footers are already poured with block starting to be laid tomorrow (Monday) so there will be more pictures to come.

 

[scoutcub]

Beautiful piece of property! Looks like you'll have a great ridge view as well.
How did you site the house? (direction, view, etc. )
Will be following the project with interest.
Very nice so far!

 

[BoFuller]

Nice property. Looks similar to my brother's place in Central Ohio. I will be watching and learning as I get ready for my build.

 

[mjncad]

House will be a two story about 2200 sq ft. and about 720 sq ft of attached garage.

Very pretty property you have there.

Out of curiosity, with that much acreage, is there a particular reason you decided on a 2-story house?

I think the group would enjoy seeing floor plans too if that's OK with you.