A few blog posts ago, I was lamenting the lack of pricing that can be found on the internet for building materials and home construction. In most cases, you're led to believe that you're going to get a firm price quote, only to find yourself filling out some sort of form request in which a salesman will "get back to you". Well, I finally figured out a type of building in which you know exactly how much you're going to pay (provided that you already have your piece of land and perhaps a slab). I'm referring to steel buildings, of course.  read more »

As I mention quite often, choosymom and I are planning on building a new home as soon as we can sell the one we're living in now. Since we're planning on doing as much of the designing and building ourselves, I spend a lot of time trying to nail down what it will cost us. But it isn't easy. In some cases, I find that I can stop by a home improvement center's website and actually add up costs per item. From sticks of lumber to nails and tools, many of the prices are available for standard stocked items.  read more »

Although we have yet to receive a decent offer on our current home for sale, I have been working on the plans for our new house for several months now. It seems to change weekly, whenever I see a new layout idea in a plan book, or I discover a new green building material that is surprisingly affordable. I was pretty sure that I had the foundation all figured out, at least up until the storm hit us. Now I'm positive that we're going to have to include a basement in our plans instead. It's funny, because this wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for this tree falling on our house.  read more »

Choosymom and I have been painting like crazy for the last couple of days. Our kitchen is still slightly out of commission, but looking better. The kitchen and breakfast areas are now fully painted (except for the ceilings), and we decided to paint some of the wood wainscoting white. Since it was previously a dark stained woodgrain, it is requiring several coats of white paint. Even then, it appears to be a slightly different shade of white than the rest of our trim. Plus, I've had to replace several old black electrical outlets with nice bright white receptacles.  read more »

I was working with contractors all day. Some were removing the tree from our roof. Others were tearing down drywall and assessing water damage in the ceiling. Although they were here for the entire day, I didn't see a single one of them eat. Only the tree arborists took a break to run to McDonald's, but I swear they were gone for less than 15 minutes. I've heard of fast food, but isn't fast food unhealthy enough, without having to practically inhale it without chewing?  read more »

We had an open house this weekend, but the house is still for sale. The market seems to have dried up, and we are getting very little interest at this point. Lowering the price didn't even bring any new lookers. So I fear we may have to wait this one out. It's a shame, because I am really itching to get started on building our new home. We already have the land, and have done much of the preliminary site work. We just need to get our equity out of this house before we can break ground.  read more »