Victoria Cottage at Lake Cushman, Washington

[glenn kangiser]

Illegal if you have money,time and power enough to fight them.

[CREATIVE1]

Permits are approved!  After 9 months of going back and forth and running into this problem and that. I had to hire another engineer if I wanted it to be built in this century, but then it sailed right through.  Only problem is, I've already paid about $5,000 and we haven't started to build.  About half of that is for permits.  So much for my CHEAP cabin in the woods.  But at this point, I'm celebrating.

[MountainDon]

Yahoo!      I hear sighs of relief!!

[glenn kangiser]

Great - you finally got a good one.

That is still cheap.  One permit I applied for for a customer here was $21000.00 with school tax but a 4500 sf house.  Engineering was not included in that.  That was just the county extortion fees.

[CREATIVE1]

Wow.  Countin' my blessings that it wasn't worse.

[MountainDon]

So what does the final approved plan look like?

[CREATIVE1]

It's pretty much the same, with more engineering notes.  I asked the engineer to change several windows that the designer wouldn't.  There were no structural issues with any of the changes, just stubbornness.   For example, I bumped out the bathroom in the Victoria to make room for a six foot tub with big glass windows on two sides.  I guess modesty was an issue she couldn't get around, despite the fact that from the tub I'm looking at a steep wall going up 200 feet, covered with ferns, and we're at the end of a quarter mile gated private road.  YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE THE HOUSE FROM ANY DIRECTION.  If someone does look in the window, I'm getting out the gun.

I'll try to scan the plans, and see if I can attach them.

[ScottA]

Congrats on getting approved. Bet you're ready to get started. 

[CREATIVE1]

We're flying out on October 15th to see about the foundation.  We really don't want to frame up the house until late spring because of the rainy weather, and also because I still have to locate materials and decide if we can afford to bring out power to the property.  The electric company is doing an estimate, but we're half a mile from any lines, need our own transformer, etc, so--$$$$$. 

Can't wait!!!  Probably many more posts coming about the challenges of building a home 3,000 miles away. 

[MountainDon]

I'll be looking forward to hearing about the electrical estimate. I was curious about our distance so I remeasured it last weekend. 0.88 mile, over the ground, rocky, slopes, and must be underground. I thought it was a little greater than that. $55K

[CREATIVE1]

I think it will be at least $20,000, and I don't think that includes "trenching."  Luckily it only costs $300 to bring in a phone line.

[CREATIVE1]

On our way out to Washington in 7 short hours.  Since the last post, we have approval from our community (including a big yellow sign we have to post somewhere while building) and have changed the name of our road.  When we moved there, we were on Dow Mountain Road, which was fine.  They then named our private road "Stull Lane".  The only one who would ever like that is Mr. Stull.  So we had it changed to "Watersong Way," since a noisy creek runs beside the entire length of the road, with little waterfalls on our property.   

[glenn kangiser]

I bet you are excited.  Hope things continue to look up for you.

[Whitlock]

Sounds like your on your way to making it happen. Exciting

[CREATIVE1]

Back again.  We ran into an unexpected problem---our pole barn was leaning against a tree when we showed up.  Luckily, nothing broke.  It's been standing for about 25 years, but there was a record snow last year.

One of our four neighbors on the mountain had a winch, and helped us shore the thing up for now. DIDN'T CHARGE US ANYTHING, EVEN THOUGH HE USED HIS LUMBER. We've already returned the favor by helping him with his pickup truck.  And he's an ex-contractor turned mountain man, so may be on our building crew.

I HUGGED that big tree that saved us from losing the barn and the trailer in the 100 foot gorge. The barn has a beautiful metal roof with trusses, but is about 25 feet tall overall with spindly 4 x 4 supports about five feet on center.  We have some fixin' to do.

From the storms, our creek has a new channel and everything is sunnier down there from the cleared out trees.  More waterfalls, too.  And the path down to it is GONE.

Our first order of business before building the foundation is to flag the septic tank.  My only reference from 1982 is a magic marker sketch!
I also have some problem with two tanks, and the RESERVE tank being the one closest to the building site.  I need a grinder or something, and might need a taller foundation so the s*** flows downhill.  Always something.

No one wants to send big trucks down our road as-is, and they suggest we wait until spring to regravel.  Hmmm.  Our building permit expires in April, but can be re-upped if there's activity.  Great.

The continuing saga.........

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks for the very interesting update.  Hope all goes well, Creative

[Solar Burrito]

I just read all 6 pages of this thread, wow what an ordeal. I might be caught in the same thing. I have 5 acres on Dow Mountain at 1600 feet elevation.  I want to build a cabin on the only flat spot on our land but am afraid of going through what you did. I only have $5000 to build it.

Mine will be just seasonal with  no water/plumbing or wiring. Do you think I'll have to do all the same things? What are the consequences if we build it and don't get a permit? You would be able to see it from the road but only by residents that had a key to the gate. We are about 2 miles from the gate.

So glad you stuck through it Creative! I hope to meet my soon to be neighbor some day, even though I'm only there on weekends.

[Solar Burrito]

Any updates?

[CREATIVE1]

Guess what?  We're finally building this thing.  First inspection is Monday, wish us luck.  A long and involved path to get here, more about that later.  Pictures too, if I can get the guys to take them.  I'm helping to drive our new pickup from Florida to Washington, and then after about three days talking to suppliers and confirming deliveries, I'm flying home as our crew flies in for an ELEVEN DAY blitz to get it dried in.!!!!!  Luckily they're experienced. 

[CREATIVE1]

I just read all 6 pages of this thread, wow what an ordeal. I might be caught in the same thing. I have 5 acres on Dow Mountain at 1600 feet elevation.  I want to build a cabin on the only flat spot on our land but am afraid of going through what you did. I only have $5000 to build it.

Mine will be just seasonal with  no water/plumbing or wiring. Do you think I'll have to do all the same things? What are the consequences if we build it and don't get a permit? You would be able to see it from the road but only by residents that had a key to the gate. We are about 2 miles from the gate.

So glad you stuck through it Creative! I hope to meet my soon to be neighbor some day, even though I'm only there on weekends.

We considered not getting a permit and enclosing the barn, but the property is a little too close to civilization and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life living in the 30 foot trailer if that failed.  Since you can build something under 200 square feet with a loft and daylight basement unpermitted, that may be the way to go.  There might be some flak about having that as your ONLY building, and Lake Cushman Maintenance Company is supposed to go through an approval process.  Look at Red Sky yomes or similar, maybe the work around is to not have a "permanent" structure.   

We'll be on site during the last half July. 

[glenn kangiser]

Glad to hear things are moving, Creative.  Looking forward to updates and pix.

[CREATIVE1]

A quick update.  I'm back in Florida, but the crew has been building since July 20th.  Set the ridge beams yesterday.  The main beam is 24 inches deep (!!!!), so we needed a crane.  They're trying to dry it in by August 3rd, and are racing against the clock during this heat wave. 
Glad we have that creek--they rocked in a small area where they can just sit and splash in the water when the heat becomes overwhelming.

There are 6 full time residents on Dow Mountain, others who are there in the summer only.  We have been welcomed with food, help, and offers of assistance.  Last night the couple on the top of the mountain treated the guys to a salmon dinner.  Pizzas and treats of every description have been brought in.  Wow!  I can't wait to be part of this community.

I have some cell phone pictures that were emailed to me. I'll attempt to attach them later today.

[CREATIVE1]

Pictures!

[ScottA]

 

Glad you finaly got it out of the ground. Congratulations!

[CREATIVE1]

Way off the ground!  This is one tall and massive house.