Planning

Started by disabledcabin, June 13, 2009, 04:04:34 PM

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disabledcabin

How do I start plannig my cabin? I know what I want, but  I don't have the land.
Do I need the land frist?

John Raabe

Your land will tell you what type of foundation options you can have, where the main spaces should be and where to place doors and windows. The interplay between plans and site will help you customize the construction for your specific site.

So while you can get plans before you have your site picked out - and even go looking for land appropriate for the type of house or cabin you want to build - the land will have lots to say about how to build the actual building.
None of us are as smart as all of us.


Redoverfarm

I would have to agree with John as having your land  first would be a "must". Several factors enter into the planning stage.  Well & septic are the big land eaters.  Meaning that there are certain distances that have to be maintained on each not only from each other but the house as well.  If you had a piece of land that could barely support a certain size square footage home and then you had only a certain location that the septic field or well could go then you can see where this might be a problem.   City water and sewage could eliminate alot of problems but in my opinion create even more.  Meaning that the mainstream of persons building would rather live in a rural area vs. urban.  The proposed plans will not disappear.  You can always find them later but land is a different story.

MountainDon

There are too many unknowns for a simple answer, but the simplest answer is Yes, get the land first, before you spend any big money on plans..

However, I can see planning a floor plan, the layout, as to what you want/need. Most floor plans can be adapted to different foundation types.

Other questions I have though are;
- who's the builder going to be?
- how detailed a blueprint do you need?
- if you know the general area you want to find land and live in, research the local building permit requirements. If there are neighboring counties one may be more restrictive than the other. Ditto, on municipalities/towns/villages.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Don_P

Depending on your disability there might need to be a fair amount of the plan nailed down ahead of time and then find a site that can accomodate it. I had our plan basically done 10 years before we found the land. I sense you are chomping at the bit, try to find a way to put that behind you, it will cause thinking mistakes and problems that you will then have to live with. If the current living situation is bad maybe finding another temporary place until you can get built. I've seen very few people rush and end up with something they are really proud of.


MountainDon

Don_P makes a good point on the being in a rush vs taking time to make good decisions.  We took nearly 2 years on our land before we began the cabin. The first two spots we thought would be ideal fell out of favor. If we had built the first year, or even the second we may have had second thoughts after it was too late.

On the other hand when we selected the lot for our suburban home we did it in less than 10 minutes. Flat open desert with only the streets laid out with the curbing made it easy. Our only decision point then was to have the backyard facing east so in the evening there would be shade from the house.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

disabledcabin

I want to map out my plans  first and then find the land that I need. The land thing will take more time
becouse I want do  something as far as my cabin. I can chege things if I need to. On this fourm poeple
been telling me to find my land first. I am looking at a small  area with not much land. Might open my seach to
east and north of Napa.

disabledcabin

I have been useing a progran on the net to start my flood plan. I am sill leaning to use it. It going very show.