seriously considering buying land (in the mountains but not far from towns), plopping a temporary trailer down on it, and then trying my hand at building a house and serious/dedicated lab space
@ktemkin
You're a pair of very smart women, this stuff isn't rocket science. You'd probably need to put most other things on hold for a year or two but the outcome (personal security) will be with you for life
Try to come up with a staged plan. eg. many people will build a shed/garage first and use that to stage the house construction. There must be 100s of books and videos on this
Also think about solar power and HVAC in your plan. Put the ducting in and add them later when you have the funds
@tomkeddie I've actually just arranged with my current employer to work two days a week, as I really need some not-for-an-employer time to recover from burnout.
I can't sit still / be without projects, though -- so I think now's the perfect time to start planning and preparing, which will ensure that there's no rushing to a decision and we know what we're getting into. :)
@ktemkin do it (partially informed - I have not done this exactly myself, but have done parts involved and there’s people in my life who have either done other parts, or do other parts professionally)
Doing the actual building is the easy part. It’s the planning and permitting stage that will break your brain because you need to figure out so many rules, regulations, and feels of other people who you’ve never met before.
At the very least you’ll need to employ a structural engineer, a geological engineer, and a surveyor, and you’ll need to hire heavy earthmoving machinery and operators. You’ll also have to deal with the council planning department…
@jpm Yep. I remember all of that fun — plus things like sitting with an architect for hours trying to figure out how to best place windows — but at least the upside is that all of the report diagrams and plotted drawings make for really great wall art. =P
@ktemkin that’s very true. We ended up having to fire the last architect we had design a house renovation. The first design he came up with was estimated to cost 3x our budget. It had an octagonal turret…
@ktemkin it's not a bad idea, but as always it's a matter of not knowing how much important stuff one is unaware of. easiest if there's someone to ask around who knows the process and the works of contractors of the area.
the mix of diy and limited amounts of contractor work is also how most people built houses in my parents generation (late 80s, 90s) in austria, so it's not an out there idea.
i probably would also do it like that if I had the money for land, or an idea where to live permanently
@ktemkin@Lunaphied I voted no/uninformed, but I would be looking at prefab/modular or cabins instead of building. It condenses the logistics down to a single problem, rather than having to solve the same problem for each delivery of building materials.
Unless you like (or have an active interest in) building houses, in which case go for it.
we’ve participated in building houses before and know the general deal; and have sufficient experience in general construction, plumbing, and wiring to participate and/or oversee contractors
I don’t know the survey/inspection/permit process for each local area up there; so along with other locale-specific stuff I’d have to learn that
I’d be paying cash out of pocket; I don’t own a house now because if I want to own something, I don’t want it to actually belong to a bank
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