Dogfish,

I can so empathize. I'm at roughly the same point you are, although my goals are more modest. Bought my property 3 years ago next month. Took forever to get my septic permit. Then the archetect's plans went way over my budget. He claims he doesn't keep track of how much things cost, including his services which also went well over budget. Paid another $2K for revisions by a designer, and the county sold me my building permit in a reasonable time frame. Broke ground July 7, basement footing formed up July 14, inspection July 15, hung up with building inspector issues from then until this past Monday Aug. 18. 5 week delay and $750 for a geotechnical engineer consultant and it turns out both issues with inspector were mistakes on the inspector's part, and there should have been no delay nor unnecessary consultant fee. I don't get the 5 weeks or the $750 back. Poured the basement foundation footing yesterday. Hope to pour the walls next week.

At least my garage/shop wasn't held up. Poured that slab about 2 weeks ago, and had wall lumber delivered last Thursday. Got the north wall up Saturday and have the east wall framed and ready to raise. I'll begin framing the west wall this evening if the weather's nice.

We're building an empty-nester house. I've got a sloped site, so a daylight basement makes sense. Gonna' have a couple bedrooms and bath and such down there, so it could be a family home, but it'll be mostly storage for us. I don't have a lot of shop stuff, so I'm making my garage/shop just 24 x 36, basically a 3-car sized garage so I can store my boat and have a place for a workbench and my table saw. I'm using attic trusses, so I'll get a 12 x 36 storage area above the garage. If I fill that and the basement, then for sure I've got way too much stuff.

Good take off on the Big Stick imitation. I don't have a cottonwood tree on my place, but I did have a nice cedar that no matter what, runs right up the middle of the Mt. Rainier view. My 30+ year-old Stihl, and a friend's portable mill turned it into the future paneling for the living room ceiling, and maybe more. It's stacked and air drying now. Then I get to buy a small bench planer and shaper bits.

Few things are more fun than building. Except maybe fishing. Oh, and sex. Save a little time for the latter two, and the building will remain lots of fun.

Sg