Spring is almost upon us! We’re anxiously awaiting the snow to melt in our area is that is a definite sign that our building season is near. Where we are in northern Minnesota typically gets at least one more snowstorm in March so we can’t get too excited yet, but we’re getting close. Once the snow is gone we still have to wait for the road restrictions to be lifted before we can get heavy machinery out to our property. In our case, that means the cement truck for the slab, and the flatbed to deliver our materials. Hopefully, we can start pouring the slab in early June.
While that is a best case scenario it still feels like a long way away. That’s not necessarily a bad thing either as we still have a lot of work to do in the meantime. First of all, and probably most importantly, we changed the design of the cabin completely. We had originally designed a 24×30 gambrel cabin with an 8×30 slab porch on the side. After designing this cabin in SketchUp I was confident that I could build it. I was, however, relying a lot on my father’s experience to help build it. He had reservations, and he wanted us to do something simpler and cheaper. After his passing we rethought the whole thing and came to the realization that he was probably right. Not only is our new design going to cost significantly less, but it will be easier to construct and save us on subcontractor costs. Mainly, with the new pitch in mind, I’ll be able to do the roof myself. Our new design is a 20×30 shed roof with the 8×30 porch on the side again. This will allow us a livable loft upstairs which is why we could make it a little bit smaller. I’ll upload both of the designs page as soon as I finish them.
Now that we’ve changed the design, I still have to figure out how to build the thing! I’m more of a “build it as you go” sort of guy, so planning every detail is a little difficult for me. There are so many minor nuances to building that seem to make my head spin. That, and I’ve never built anything this significant before so all of the roofing details make me a little anxious. Furthermore, we still have to find a plumbing subcontractor and a spray foam subcontractor. We’ve already found subcontractors for the site prep, slab, septic, well, and electric rough in. I plan on doing the rest. That, and we need to meet with our financer to see how this will impact our monthly payment. My hope is that by selling our house we’ll be able to break even on the cabin and just owe for the septic and well. This would give us time to pay off those and pay down the land loan before we start building our house.
Even though our new cabin is only 600 square feet, and it might be interesting to build and get accustomed to living in it, I cannot wait for the day we can move in. Not only can we relieve ourselves of the financial burden of having a mortgage on our current home, but we’ll be on our land! We’ll have the freedom to start homesteading. That, after all, is what this is all about. Since my father’s passing we’ve started to plan his estate. The neat thing is that I will acquire a lot of his possessions including several outbuildings. Since we will be so close it won’t be much work to move his chicken coop and garden shed to our property, and it gives me much joy to know that I can have his memory live on at our property through the buildings he constructed. That said, we also have to plan on where to put them, as well as our future barn, woodshed, greenhouse, solar wood kiln, and the dogs’ fenced yard. We’re also planning where our orchard will be, our garden, and our crop space.
As excited as we are to move, I have to remember that there is still a lot of work to be done in the planning and in the building. My dad always used to make fun of me in that I always had a timeline for projects that I wanted to adhere to. Rarely could I keep up with my optimism! This case is no different, and I certainly have a timeline. Hopefully we can get the slab poured right away in June, and then I can get the exterior framed up and weather tight by the end of July. That would give me August to finish the interior and we can be ready to move in and sell our house come September. The nice thing is that I have vacation in August in which I plan to utilize working on the cabin. Since I know that I rarely keep up with my timelines, I figure this will probably take a month longer than anticipated. The important thing is that we’re ready to move and list our house before winter hits. I can’t imagine paying for the land, cabin, and our current mortgage while the house sits on the market over the winter.
I have a certain sense of trepidation in that this will be the case, and having to manage two properties at the same time while trying to make payments on both. However, God willing, we’ll be blessed in that the construction follows schedule, we’ll get an early start date, and our house will sell quickly. I’m anxiously awaiting the day that we can officially call ourselves homesteaders and enjoy all that comes with it. The biggest lesson that I’ve learned from my father’s passing is that life is too short. Do the things you want to do instead of waiting for the “perfect time,” because it might never come. I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to move our family to our land, to build our homestead, and to start our new life together. This summer that comes to an end, and this summer we can become the homesteaders we have envisioned for so long.