My New House

Can I have my house?

I want to build it… or at least design it. It used to be I could do both, but I got better at the first, and now I have a bum shoulder and can do the actual building. But, since I know how it’s done I can act as my own general contractor. I’ll have to check if I need a license on my own property.

So, what do I want to do?

First, I think I want to drop the house down. It’s four to six feet below the sidewalk grade and has a retaining wall. The water is no issue, but anything below grade isn’t going to sewer. It’s work space only. Since I can sell the fill, hopefully it’ll be a wash. I could make a cold room and even a fun little wine cellar.

This will also allow me to remove some of the retaining walls that are falling down by the sidewalk. It will need to be done sooner or later.

So where to go from there?

The walls will need an engineer, but I know a few of them. I can’t have any favors, but they can be reasonable. I want to put my trusses and walls on something that’ll hold up. I’ve done concrete framing, so I can’t watch it being done. Then the rough carpentry, another trade I did for a bit. Just enough to watch and read the plans.

So how big?

Well, I don’t know yet. It depends how they measure my house and the one I want to build, even though I own an "extra" lot Either way, I want a car spot, a walk in shop, meaning a garage and man door, with stairs up to the main floor. A great room with kitchen and living area, and a small bedroom with a three quarter bath. Then, and I think I can do his, I make a main loft. It can have a bathroom, but mostly it was a west facing deck above all the neighbors.

How will you pay for this?

By paying off everything as fast as possible. Just got one done, maybe two and a half to three on the next. Then save for this dream. Design it and build it myself. It really is one of those things I’d really love to do