Getting Ready to Start

[ellbaker]

Long time member and mostly a lurker.  I have admired several of the homes built by other members and have used them as motivation for my own dream.  I have been looking for lake property for a few years.  The real estate boom put most of it out of my reach.  Thank goodness for a good correction.    One problem besides price are the restrictions on most lots.  Most lots have minimum restriction of 1500 ft and up.  I just want a small lake cabin, not another McMansion. 

I found a really nice lot in a subdivision that was foreclosed on by the bank.  A little over a year ago this lot listed for $230K.  I have been working with the bank and we are close to agreement on less than 1/3 of the original price.  The lot has public water and underground electricity/phone already in place.  Only problem was that the lot did not perc but I found an engineer that was able to move the field farther from the lake and can get approval for a 2 bedroom house.  Best news was that the developer never filed any convenants.  No minimum size restriction     The only restriction is with the deed and it restricts the use of mobile homes, campers, trailers, etc. 

I have decided to go with the 2 story universal floor plan with a 1 1/2 story look on a full basement.  I will probably order the floor plans Monday from John.  I went back and forth on 20' vs. 24' but decided if I need more room, I will add a wing in the future.  I want to keep it simple and most importantly less expensive.I spent most of the day working on a floor plan and a 3D rendering.  I wanted to see what a 10' porch would look like on the lake side.  It looks as little big on the 20' wide plan so I may go back to an 8' porch. 

Met with the excavator yesterday and he can put in my driveway, dig the basement and put in the septic for around $6K.  It would be $1500 less if I didn't have to pump the septic 40' up the lot.  Hopefully I will have a project thread going soon.

Here are some renderings of what my dream looks like.

[duncanshannon]

Hi!  I'm new to the site and am in the dreaming phase. Currently shopping for land too.

Thanks for starting to share your project - I'm looking forward to following it thru it's lifecycle!

I've downloaded sketchup and done the most basic tutorials. I'm still feeling a little intimidated about diving in and tryin to draw my lot (with elevation) and the rest ofthe site plan.  Any tips?

Duncan

[ellbaker]

I've downloaded sketchup and done the most basic tutorials. I'm still feeling a little intimidated about diving in and tryin to draw my lot (with elevation) and the rest ofthe site plan.  Any tips?

Duncan

I did not use Sketchup. I used Punch Home Architect. I picked up an older version for cheap. I tried using Sketchup but the learning curve was a little steep for me. I had used Punch before so it was easier than using a new program. It is not as robust as Sketchup though.

[UK4X4]

Sketchup

start with just doing the house, just rectangles and lines and get used to the program

you can add the background later or just copy and paste your house and cabin onto the background

I found the background distracting and kept getting in the way of viewing, also after I added tree's the whole thing slowed to an almost unusable speed.

design the outside, detail the build and add to a background, at least I found it easier that way

[duncanshannon]

good advice...

do you folks do 2d and 3d work? I thought you could flip back and forth or translate somehow, but i've been unable to figure it out.  I was hoping to model my basement and make plans to finish it.  Seemed like a 2d floor plan would be a good place to start.

[blacklab]

I'm new to the site, just browsing.....where were you able to do a 3D design of your plans?....ps looks good

[duncanshannon]

I ended up doing a little bit of drawing with a Live Interior 3D on my mac...

http://www.belightsoft.com/products/liveinterior/overview.php

Need to get more serious with it tho. Considering Google SketchUp Pro based on some other peoples use here.  Makes both 3D and 2D at the same time (so do a lot of the apps, inc. Live Interior)

I think you just need to pick one and get busy. 

[Don_P]

Start with the free version of sketchup.
Click the top view and under the camera tab click "parallel projection" for a 2d plan image.