In addition to The Owner-Builder Book, I've read Better Houses, Better Living and am in the process of reading Make Your House Do the Housework and have watched several of the DVDs that I've ordered from this site, all of which have been jam-packed with excellent information that I cannot imagine building a house without. Angela in Luray, VA

Richard's Forum Posts: 2
Journal Entries: 3
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Starting Foundation

Posted to Plant-City-Craftsman by Richard in Plant City, FL on 5/29/2008

Well my subcontractor started to form up the foundation and set the steel. I called him the week before and he was ready to go to work. The slope of the lot was of some concern when the survey showed that the lot had a 12ft rise from front to back property line. But after talking with the sub it looked like it was going to be ok. It only took one day for the crew to form up the foundation for the house and the 30 x 40 shop which we are building at the same time. Easy digging in the Florida sand.

Photos

House foundation dug and steel set ready for inspection.	Another shot of the house foundation.	Shop foundation with steel and 1 of my protected palms

Getting Land Cleared

Posted to Plant-City-Craftsman by Richard in Plant City, FL on 5/20/2008

We closed on our loan on April 25th and submitted our plans to Plant City office of the Hillsborough County permitting office on April 28th and then we waited for almost 3 weeks before we could start clearing land. Had several very nice people help get us through the permitting process. Starting with Julie Sternfels of the Natural Resource office. She helped us with the LAL-SFD application and getting the approval to cut down some trees that were in the footprint of the house site. The trees were considered in poor condition so we did did not have to replace but we had a couple of palm trees that are protected that we could not remove. We were told that once we get CO on the house we can get a permit to take the palms out. Then we had help from John Auston 307-8352 in getting our plans moved through the permitting process. In all it was not to painful of a process.

Photos

May 20th as we prepair to start clearing the land.

Day 3 of land clearing, almost done.

The Beginning

Posted to Plant-City-Craftsman by Richard in Plant City, FL on 12/18/2006

Well this is the official start of my biggest project to date. My wife and I are starting construction soon on our 3000sqft Craftsman style home. We just closed a couple of weeks ago on our land. It's 1.2 acres in east Plant City close to I-4. We plan on starting work in March and are currently finalizing the plans. See photo of land with lots of orange trees to remove.

Photos

1.2 acres with orange trees

John's Forum Posts: 0 Journal Entries: 2 Send Private Message Image from John's blog 6/4/2007

CONGRATULATIONS!! My name is Annie in Eustis, we are right now in permits stage.  My husband Mike and I are having lots of fun, eventhough sometimes we feel a little stressout finding subcontractors.  Do you mind sharing a few of your major ones?  It is amazing how different bids can be from one company to another with same specs. Wishing you the best on your project.  annie and mike

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