My wife and I are the directors of a non profit organization in east Tennessee. Our mission is to help disadvantaged and special needs kids who's got that burning in their gut to race, but feel due to their circumstances, they may never have the opportunity. Racing Dreamz is the organization that tries to help them. We try to get the kids into the karts so they may find a better path in life and happiness.
We are purchasing 95 acres in Carter County. Actually the top of a huge ridge. The elevation is not too extreme, maybe a few hundred feet spread over almost a mile long tract. We plan on building the kart tracks on this as well as the Racing Dreamz office, simulated racing room and physical fitness training facility.
Since it's just us two purchasing and paying for all this and our budget is extremely tight, I started searching our for small house/cabin plans so that we may build most of it ourselves and save a ton of money that we dont have. I found this forum, actually, by mistake. But I'm very glad I did. There is a ton of information here and I've been trolling the threads a bit and have learned alot.
We're looking at building either a 16x24 story and a half(with full loft), or if we receive some anticipated funding, a 24x30 two story. The other board member and a couple of volunteers can build the full basement foundation, floor joist system, subfloor, and framing of the exterior wall. But I'm having difficulty in how to integrate the second floor system and stair(landing) system, electrical, plumbing and the roofing system. I hope to learn from here. We really cant afford to hire a subcontractor. So, if anyone has suggestions, advice or would like to help supervise, please feel free. We can use all the help we can get.
We hope to close on the property either late December or in Jan. Then we have to start as soon as we can after that. The building site will be at least 750-1000 ft from nearest water/electricity. So, the public water line will be quite long(wells cost too much around here) and the electrical line will be high also. The electric company said about 4 poles and the 1st is free. At $1000 a pole, it's going to get expensive.
So, thanks in advance for any help and advice. It's great to have found a place like this to learn. :)
For more information on Racing Dreamz, visit us online at www.racingdreamz.org. For pictures of the property, visit https://s1284.photobucket.com/albums/a562/RacingDreamz/
Thanks
It's going to be really tough running a charity and building a house at the same time I think. Here at work when we started the fire/rescue helicopter division all the funding went into the aircraft and training---creature comforts not included. We were able to acquire some second hand mobile homes--a single wide and double wide, and a local construction company donated the work to make them livable in a short period of time. Now that our division is proven and establisjed we're starting to work towards getting more permanent facilities, hopefully get these copters out of the salt fog...
I agree. It's already beginning to pile up. But it's what we want to do, so, we're going to do it.
If I may, how did you get two mobile homes donated? I called Clayton's home office and got nothing? If you can give some incite, please do. Any advice is welcome. :)
We got them cheap from one of the Indian gaming casinos, who have been very supportive of our fire/rescue program over the years. We had to pay to have them moved and they really needed a lot but we're out of the weather. Since you're going to have a racetrack, seems you're going to have lots of room for sponsor boards. Can you look around for who might have some old trailers and offer publicity in return?
We've thought about that. But our town is relatively small. I'm going to call Claytons again monday morning. As soon as we know that we'll be closing, we plan on canvassing the town's business for signage sponsorships.
Look for a school in your area that uses portables. They frequently sell / donate / auction them off for very, very cheap. Albuquerque public schools recently had a portable auction,and some of their double wide trailers sold for $2k to $4k each. You have to move them.
Keep in mind that these are mostly open boxes. No plumbing, interior walls, etc. But it is a rain proof / snow proof building and for that price you are getting a steal.