No Building Experience

[onegreynight]

Hello All:
This forum is AWESOME, and I am so inspired by all the stories and advice.  I have been reading about building for about a year now, but I have no experience thus far.  I am wondering how difficult it is for someone like me to build a house.  My husband and I have some land in NW Arkansas, and we are interested in building either the 14 x 24 builders cabin or the 16 x 28 Victoria's Cottage.  Would we be biting off more than we can chew with these size plans?  Do you recommend that we start off smaller?  

Well, that is all for now.  I just want to get my feet wet in the forum.  Thanks for reading!



KELLY

[glenn-k]

Welcome Kelly.  Not biting off more than you can chew if you want to work at it.

We have many who have not "picked up a hammer" before and are now living in  their own house.

Best would be to build at least a shed or something for practice or volunteer to help some one - some try Habitats for Humanity volunteer work, but if that's not possible, maybe you can find some willing experienced help to get you started.

You may find another member nearby you could learn from and help also.

[Jared]

Where in NWA is your land? I don't have experience either, and no time unfortunately, but I'm in NWA also.
Jared

[youngins]

Wife and I have virtually no building experience.

We bought John's Enchilada plans with a dream to build a cabin on a property we bought in South Central CO (which is over 700 miles away). To build our confidence in tackling this, we decided to design/build a playhouse in our backyard (details coming soon!!!)

Anyways, welcome and look forward to hearing again from you soon.

[jraabe]

For those new to building the Enchilada (for a small project) or the 20' wide universal are the easiest projects to build. The one story Grandfather and Volks are also pretty easy. The Victoria and the 1- 1/2 story are a bit more complex and might be best for a second project.

[n74tg]

If you want this house badly enough, nothing will stop you.  Conversely, if you don't really want it, thre will be plenty of things that will stop you.

This forum can help.  It is a wonderful place to ask questions and use to educate yourself on what you don't already know.  There is a "book list" here on the forum with all the best titles found by people just like yourself.  Many of those books can be found in the local library; you won't need to buy them.  

There are plenty of people here who work professionally in the business of building as well as many weekend builders like you.  So, you will get opinions and answers coming from both directions; that is a good thing.

I am building my own 1700 sf house in central Arkansas (Hot Springs).  It will be a slow process and take a couple of years to finish, but it has been rewarding and a lot of fun too.  If you're interested, the blog address below chronicles the tale.

[travcojim]

Hello,
 Been here on the forums for a few years, have learned tons, but like you, lack and real building experience.  I am in NW Ark also, Springdale area, with land out in Kingston that I am going to build on.  
 Taking that first step is the scary part for me.  In my mind my biggest hurdles I think are going to be roof and getting a foundation in place.  Wow,  that only leaves the middle part, what more do you need.
 But this board has some of the best people on here to gather info from.  
 

[glenn-k]

Looks like the start of a building crew to me -- I guess NW Arkansas could be a little bigger than that but it may be possible to arrange cooperative barter type building events. Then both would gain knowledge and get the projects under way.

[Jared]

Hello,
   I am in NW Ark also, Springdale area, with land out in Kingston that I am going to build on.  
   

I'm in Siloam Springs, about 20 minutes away. Not sure where Kingston is, but if we build, and right now it's looking pretty iffy, it'll either be in Oklahoma or Prarie Grove, depending on her grandmother.
Jared

[travcojim]

Kingston is about 50 miles east of Springdale/Fayetteville area.  A building crew co-op sounds like a great plan.  Share the experiences and knowledge and get some things done a bit faster also.
 Our plans right now are to build and pay as we go, no big loans or heavy cash tie ups, (no cash to tie up otherwise...)  But I think foundation to start with and then put cash back for flooring and so on and so on.  We are not in a big hurry to get something up, but a place in the dry would be great sometime in the coming year, this paying rent is getting very old when we have 40 acres out there waiting for us.  And we also have well and septic in place, and electric pole, so thats a big plus.

[onegreynight]

Wow!  I was not prepared when I checked my topic thread this afternoon to find so many replies.  
First, I want to say how grateful I am to hear from each of you, and I want to thank everyone for taking time to reply.  I visited your Hot Springs blog, N74tg.  Nice work!  Thanks for keeping a blog!  I want to hear more.

I had no idea that there were so many ARKANSAS people.  This is wonderful!

I am all for starting a work coop.  Thanks, Glenn, for the wonderful suggestion!!!!  I would LOVE to help all of you.  I live in Fayetteville (in fact, those of you who are in NW Arkansas right now know that it is snowing here today--right now  ).  

We have 80 acres just outside of Winslow, about 20 miles south of Fayetteville.  I, of course, know Springdale and Siloam Springs since we are essentially the same town now.  I have also been to Kingston.  It is BEAUTIFUL there, BTW.  I love that town and the river.  I agree, renting is getting really old.

We do not yet have water or utilities, but we are working on it.  We also want to pay as we go and avoid loans and selling our souls to the bank.  Anyway.  I would love to set up a meeting with anyone interested.  Let's get together and talk about all of this some time.

John Raabe-- Thank you for such a great site and for such great plans.  I would also love to hear your opinion on the difficulty of the 20 x 30 1 and 1/2 story house?  I don't think you already mentioned this.  

I look forward to being part of this forum.  It rocks.  

Thanks to you all.  I am so happy right now I could burst.
WOOO PIG SOOIE!
Go Arkansas!  

[onegreynight]

Opps, John, you did mention the 20' wide plan.  Sorry for missing this.  Thanks
Kelly

[travcojim]

Snowing, Yes, you could say snowing,, I went out to Kingston and was doing a few things out at the land about 11 and it started coming down so I hurrried back to town, glad I did or I would still be trying to get here.
 We are thinking about buying the Big Enchilada plans, but like I said earlier are still in the 'think we can pull this off stages'.  
 Winslow is a great area also, a bit closer than Kingston, but with the new highway getting better everyday its not that bad of a drive.  
 Getting together at some point sounds like a good deal, we will have to plan something.  Anyone else from this area chime in and lets see who all we have close by.
 I would be happy to just drive up and see a foundation and a floor sitting on my land.  It gives you a boost to see some progress no matter how small it may be.
 Great site and great bunch of people on here.

[onegreynight]

Snowing like crazy!  And I have to drive to the airport tonight to pick up people flying in late from Chicago.  

Kingston is not that far, and it is so lovely.  We'd be glad to drive out there to help out.   Yes, lets wait to see how many Arkansas people we have on the forum and take a count of all those who are interested in our little work group; then we can arrange something.

Okay all you Arkansasyans  --  Let us hear from you!

Keep warm and safe!
K

[Jared]

This sucks. I'm the only one with no land and I can't cash in my 401(K) unless I quit my job. Which is tempting. If I had enough weekends off, I'd be glad to help. I work 2pm to 10pm, so weekdays are no good for me. I really wish I was in a place to buy some land and some land was affordable instead of 5 grand an acre. I'm really glad there are a few people close to me, too. I bought the little house plans, because they were the cheapest and I wanted to see what they looked like. I like the idea of a pole barn with two bedrooms downstairs and a loft bedroom upstairs and everything else just one open room. That way the entire house could be easily heated with a wood stove. I've tried and tried, but can't get it down to 20' wide. Mine would end up being about 30'.
Jared

[desdawg]

Jared,
5K and acre is pretty inexpensive compared to a lot of places. Consider yourself lucky and save your pennies. Maybe you need to get creative and find a motivated seller. When I got my 3-1/3 acres I put $500 down and made monthly payments for 5 years. Now that was a while back so it may take a bit more now but I would venture a guess that it could still be done on some level. Think outside of the box, educate yourself on the ways of real estate transactions and if you come up with a deal run it by me and I will try to give you some advise.

[travcojim]

Hey Jared, If you email me I may have something you might want to check into.  It is near mine out in Kingston, has some killer sunset views.
 jimmy

[glenn-k]

That's a great offer, desdawg-- I know you know the ins and outs of making deals.

Thanks, Glenn, for the wonderful suggestion!!!!

I look forward to being part of this forum.  It rocks.  

[highlight]Thanks to you all.  I am so happy right now I could burst.
WOOO PIG SOOIE!
Go Arkansas![/highlight]

Kelly, Kelly, Kelly,  easy girl - don't break anything,  You Arkies are more fun than a barrel of monkeys.  WOOO PIG SOOIE!  Really

So Kelly, how did you do in the pig calling contest?

I suggested the group because that is something a few of us out here have done for years.  A few friend and my renters kids came over here this afternoon and we poured a slab for the underground cabin shop.  Sometime they will need something from me and it will be my turn.  We don't keep close track but we try to do what is fair for each other.  Barter in the old days -- called networking now I guess.

Lets keep track of the progress on this forum if this thing actually gets off the ground.  Sounds like it's going to be fun.

Kelly --- could you send me a recording of that pig call?

I found this special for you, Kelly.

Caution - Dirty Little Pig Video - Don't say I didn't warn you.



Jared, Maybe it will work out to where you may get a break to work with the group a bit then at least you will gain the experience and you will have the knowledge forever, even if you don't build right away.

[travcojim]

hey glenn...
here ya go..turn it up loud

http://arkalum.org/traditions/callingthehogs.php

[glenn-k]

Oh -- the Razorbacks-- now I get it.  I always think of my brother doing his imitation of a pig stuck under a fence when I think of pig calling.

Do I apologize for the cartoon now? :-/

[travcojim]

Nah, thats the sunday go to dinner getup there...

[onegreynight]

 
LOL, Glen, at the dirty little pig video and at your thinking that I am calling just some random pigs.  LOL!
I cannot tell you how hard I am laughing right now.   I love it.  I will try not to break anything while I call those hogs.  Seriously, we do live in Razorback country, and we are big hog fans   here in NW Arkansas -- well in all of Arkansas, really.

We will keep you posted on the new little barter group of NW Arkansas, but you keep us posted on your group as well.

Jared, I know what you mean about being depressed over the land prcies around here.  I know we have cheaper land here than other places, but the prices have sky-rocketed in the last five years. We aren't used to these prices are we?   Don't worry, you'll have your land soon, and we will all be out there to help you build.   Check out that land in Kingston that tavecojim mentioned.  It really is nice in Kingston.

Okay, I guess I better go bring in the pigs now.  I'll talk to y'all soon.
KELLY KELLY KELLY KELLY

[onegreynight]

PS:
Thanks Jim for sending the hog call link!

[Jared]

Kingston is too far away from where I work here in Siloam. I'll probably look at it when I get the chance, though.
Jared

[glenn-k]

KELLY KELLY KELLY KELLY  

Sorry about the random pig thing.  I didn't know you were calling special pigs.  I try to stay away from pigs.

When I was  a kid I got in an argument with another kid and he yelled out that I wasn't fit to sleep with a pig.  My dad overheard the conversation and stuck up for me -- he said I was too. :-?

Anybody got any tentative dates as to when something is planned as far as building goes.  Hope I didn't miss something--- being so pre-occupied with pigs and all. :-/