02 Jun, 2021
May 2021: Building permit, excavation begins on house and shop pads, water well evaluation...
We visited county offices to pay for our building permit.
In Bonner County, there is no catch-all building department. There are multiple offices that work together and luckily, they are all in one building. If you are in this situation, you may check on their website and there is a checklist of items that need to be completed before a building permit will be approved. I had filed for a preliminary building permit in February 2021 that was unable to progress due to lack of information from my builder. That was $125.
I received what I needed (plans with specific measurements and schematics) and forwarded it all to the planner in the building office. After they received my documents, I received a bill for $550 within a day and so I went to pay and to inquire if there was anything else missing. Good thing I went because as I was paying, I received an email from the Roads and Bridges department that I needed to permit my driveway. On our previous visit, we had already visited the GIS (Geographical Information Systems) department and Erosion Control (we are not in a flood zone)
On the aerial map, a dirt driveway is visible on our property and I informed them that we had laid gravel down for dust control. They were ok with that. Paid my $130. Inspection planned for next week. We installed a gate on a previous trip and I anticipate that they will say to move it further in, which we were planning to do anyway...on the list for next trip. Next, I was advised to re-visit the GIS department to ensure my address was recorded properly. It was, yay! Building permit wait time 2-3 weeks….
We knocked down trees, pulled stumps, and made a house and shop pad. I'm thinking we may have overstepped our boundaries without a final permit, but I'm prepared to apologize and assert that I got ahead of myself and didn't know better. I called the salesperson who sold me this house a few times and got some answers and I dug in...he never said, "Hey stop, what are you doing?" until it was done… When I didn't get answers from him, I found the number to the Project Manager and called him. Anyway, long story short, I feel like I forced some answers out of them and started digging down prematurely for the foundation. I stopped before it got too far, but there is a big hole already...well, what's done is done….
Our new driveway and approach to the future shop also is lined with road fabric and approximately 20 truck loads of gravel.
The proper order would have been to wait for a pre-construction meeting with the builder, complete a site visit, then permit, I think. But I'm pushing hard because the cost of materials keep rising each month. I was informed during this trip by my builder that in addition to the recent 50K increase of the house build, lumber costs rose $11K+ in May and another $15K in June with an unknown, but expected rise in July. These are cumulative costs so the increase is another $26K+.
What I started on this trip broke something loose because I feel like I’m getting somewhere.
The ball seems to be rolling now. I got a call to setup a pre-construction online ZOOM meeting the following week. And several other calls for other things. Like I said, I must have broke something loose because I didn't feel this attention before.
Now, I feel like we are getting somewhere. To recap, since I started down this path, I signed a binder in February 2021. In April, the same build went up in price an additional 50K. Now, in May, I was informed that lumber prices are increasing costs by 11K-15K per month with no cap. Our contract states the price is not fixed until foundation is done...which is why I will continue to push forward to get this project started.
Lumber prices have to stabilize at some point, but so far I'm not seeing it. A 2x4x8 piece was once about $2.50, now the same piece is about $8. OSB board used to be about $10/sheet, now it's $60! As I pass the lumber mill in Idaho, there are mountains of raw logs and I see lots of lumber trucks still hauling more in. Our neighbors are also logging and selling their wood. Our neighbor Jim is very knowledgeable and has proven to be a valuable resource for us. He said that despite lumber costs have skyrocketed, the price of selling lumber off your land has not and makes it almost not worth it.
Our land is retired timberland. We still have lots of trees, but the management has made them grow tall and thin in many areas instead of thick clusters. We applied for a forest land exemption and hope to manage new growth for future lumber. We are looking into getting a mill so we will be able to make our own lumber.
On this trip, we had pre-booked an appointment to pick out flooring and tile...done. The salesperson at Great Floors was super nice and professional and found me a tile that I probably wouldn't have picked myself….upgrades include nicer tile option in master bath, backsplash in kitchen to go all the way up to cabinets vs. standard 6 inches, and additional flooring over standard carpet in main hallway = additional $2K. I'm OK with that.
We are asked to pick out our appliances. I informed them that they would all be standard sizes, nothing custom- frankly, at this point, the price increases are dashing my dreams for custom appliances...they recommend that I make an appointment with the appliance store they work with. I’ll think about it.
Water well. We met our well driller. JR met us on property and we walked the property. He suggested 2 separate areas for a potential well. Our neighbor toward the mountains has a well that is about 700ft deep. Our neighbor’s well on the other side of us is about 300-400ft deep. JR said that if they hit bedrock, they have to go past it. Farther away from the mountain = less chance of hitting bedrock. We chose the location farther from the house in a dip on the property. We feel like it’s better to hope for a well that is not as deep and pay instead for more wire to the house. Still hoping for late October for our new well.
We shopped locally for a woodstove and pending a true estimate, I anticipate it to cost $5-6K.
Next project on our next visit in 6 weeks will be to make a Temporary power box for construction workers to use and for our RV to plug into and move the gate more inside for a wider approach.
UPDATE:
Returned from our trip. Worked the next 3 days...every time I visit our future property, I love it there. It is so hard to come back to California, but I have to work to continue to pay for our future. Anyway…
Pre-Construction Meeting. Completed our online ZOOM meeting with our project manager. All documents relating to our meeting were emailed to us 30 minutes before our meeting. Some were documents we already had before such as the choices we made for kitchen cabinets and granite colors, fixtures, and other changes we had asked for. This was the pre-construction meeting during which all changes and discussion would be final. Any future changes would come at a cost. I was ready. I have been combing through all documents received since this process started because this is new to me and I don’t want to overlook anything. The meeting was pleasantly conversational. Steve went over every document that we had received. We discussed options and general build items, but I would have to contact another person for boots-on-the ground and day-to-day questions later.
Received quote for the wood stove…estimate is $8732 installed. More than I had expected, but OK.
Building permit. Heard back from the Roads and Bridges department. Inspector completed his inspection the previous week as promised and we received a report by email. We have to trim some trees to increase sight distance on one side. I received an email from the building permit technician that he required a more detailed map of our plans. No problem. I fixed the current map I had submitted before to show where we had graveled the driveway and showed the distance from the proposed house to each side of the property. My map was accepted and I was informed that once the Roads and Bridges department signs off, my building permit will be final.
Next trip July 2021.
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