We love to go snowboarding in the winter months and for the longest time we have been dreaming about having our own place to stay when we travel up north.  We purchased a small area of land in northwest Michigan, near the ski slopes.

We will be building a 1-1/2 story, 34 x 20 cabin.

We have our septic and well permits, a street address and are now waiting on our building permit.  The wait is killing me, I have to learn to be patient.  We found a contractor to install the septic tank and well, and he will also clear the property of brush etc, put in a driveway and culvert and build a foundation for us.  We can't do anything though until we get that building permit!  My husband has a few friends who are willing to help us build the cabin.

On my lunch break right now so will post more when I have time.  

Welcome mogie!  Looking forward to watching your dream come true!  I used to snow ski a lot but haven't in years.  Took a really bad fall at Snow Mass in Colorado - didn't break anything but had to be taken down by the ski patrol in a litter (guess that's what it's called) - was way up at top & seemed like it took forever to get down - was embarrassing    Skiing was fun, though!  Had some friends who were ski patrol who had a cabin close by Badger near Yosemite so used to stay there & get to ski free - ahhhh, that was the life!

Thanks for the welcome Sassy.  Sorry to hear about your fall in Snow Mass, I've had quite a few tumbles too, luckily nothing too serious.  I wish we knew people that had a place out west, I love it!!  Alas, we don't, hence the dream cabin 

To date we're still waiting on the building permit, yeeesh.  Does it normally take this long or am I just being impatient?  I know, probably the latter. 

I'm going to try and post some pics of our lot soon, I'm working on creating an account on photobucket.

Some pics of the land we bought:

Hey Mogpiie
You are  doining great
sorryfor my russuin
i do  hope  that yuo shall do your best

Good to see another Michigander here. Where is your property?

Nice! Is it near Boyne? Yep - another Michigander !

   We're season pass holders at Crystal Mountain, near Thompsonville, the land we bought is about 4 miles south of there.  We love Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands and especially love Nubs Nob but it's just a little too far for us to travel up there every weekend.  We can drive up to Crystal Mountain in about 2-1/2 hours and we just really enjoy it there.

Nub's Nob...Wow, does that ever bring back memories.

My skiing days are long past, but I do recall a few trips to Boyne.

You say that this land is north of where you live. I'm from the Hopkins area (between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo). Where do you call home?

Hey, Tom.  We are just south of you!  We are just west of Kalamazoo.   

   Just looked at the Crystal Mountain website. Really nice set up they have there! Plenty of activities. We have family in Manton (11 miles N of Cadillac) and my sister and family live in Middleville. We are scattered throughout the state. I am so excited for you and I can't wait to watch the progress!

Wooohoooo, we have the building permit and we met up with the contractor and he said he should be able to start this week.  I think we'll take a drive up there this Friday and check things out.

Things are starting to finally move along.  The contractor cleared the lot, the septic is in, the foundation is in and he should finish the well today.  He also brought in gravel for the driveway.  So far we've been really happy with the work he has done.  We are taking our camper up today and will leave it there to give us somewhere to stay while we work on the cabin.  Now we can finally start working on it.  This is exciting!!  I've posted some more pics.  

Looks like a great start! 

Looking good.

Do you mind if I ask how much the foundation cost?  Trying to get a sense of cost for my project.

Good luck

Thanks Bmancanfly.  The cost was around $3,000 that covered the foundation, clearing the lot and backfilling.

What are you going to build? Size? 2 story?
Just curious 

Germangirl we're building a 20 x 34 1-1/2 story cabin.

Greetings and best of luck on your cottage! I'm building from the same plans and I'll tell you I'm having the time of my life.

Nothing like building your own home to give yourself a good dose of the feeling of accomplishment. It's hard work but very satisfying.

Nice looking foundation too. Are you going to pour a slab? Even a "rat slab" would be good for additional storage underneath. You could use a low strength slurry mix to save money. 

russ

Quote from: mogie01 on September 11, 2010, 12:50:57 PM
Thanks Bmancanfly.  The cost was around $3,000 that covered the foundation, clearing the lot and backfilling.

That's a good price and it looks like they did good work too.  Can't wait to see the cabin go up.

Sourdo, not planning on pouring any more concrete.  Maybe down the road if we need the space.

Our friends Paul and Rick working on the insulation.


I-joists in place.


Paul and Rick working on headers


sub floor installed


Assembling first wall

Husband, son and his friend managed to get 4 walls up this past weekend.  We plan on going up tonight and staying through to the weekend and try to get the remainder of the wall sheathing done and the  roof rafters on.

"The cost was around $3,000 that covered the foundation, clearing the lot and backfilling"

dam that was good, its costing me $4500 just for ground clearing and levelling mind you there are arround 15 trees that need cutting down , then all the roots removing and the sloped lot levelled.