Pole Barn...or House??

[harleymsn]

When I bought my land in Tennessee in '99 it was with the intention of being my retirement home. This is what it looked like then, we have 11 acres nearly all wooded

[harleymsn]

opps somehow the photo did not upload

[harleymsn]

In 2003 I cut down nearly 200 trees to start preparing the site for the build.

[harleymsn]

In 2004 We hired a local dozer guy to clear all the stumps and do some grading.

[harleymsn]

Next came the pole barn. Because I was trying to get this done while I was only goona be in the area for 1 week, we hired National Barn out of Portland, Tn.

[harleymsn]

The plan was that when I retired in April '05, I would finish off about 1/3 of the barn for a small apartment and then in '06 start building the house on another site near the pond.

[harleymsn]

The apartment started with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen/ dining room/ living room combo. Between May1st and July 1st we had the septic installed, well drilled, drainage tiles installed, underground power lines and plumber and electric installed. Outside of the septic and well, my stepson and I did all the plumbing, excavating, electrical and all the interior work.

[harleymsn]

After seeing how building material cost have skyrocketed, and being pleased with the way the job on the 'barn' was going, we had a change of plans. It became evident that we could save tens of thousands of dollars by simply finishing the 'barn' and next year build a new pole barn.

[harleymsn]

next came removal of the sliding door and installation of a new wall and entrance door. We both thought the log siding would look good.

[harleymsn]

Next of course would require more windows