It used to be that designing a house and getting a building permit was a fairly simple and inexpensive proceedure. Not any more it seems. Now, we require many highly paid professionals to make it happen. We've enlisted the help (as required by law) of a planner, a surveyor, an engineer to design the septic field, a soils engineer, a structural engineer and a heating systems/HVAC engineer - so far. I have no doubt there will be more. We've had to register to become a building contractor - or rather pay the same fee to become exempt from the process. We'll sign up for worker's compensation and pay all of those required fees as well. I've done many weeks of research, finding the best materials and the most qualified professionals to do the work. We've had numerous meetings with all the interested parties. The fact that our house is not 'normal' has certainly added to the complexity. The process of course has taken much longer and has been much costlier than anticipated. Sadly, the convoluted process has added little to the project except for a very large pile of paperwork. But thankfully all that is now largely behind us.

Now at last we are almost ready to apply for our building permit.

Then perhaps the real fun can begin. Here's a concept of the house in it's current configuration...

We are getting pretty excited about building the house. We've removed two trees that were in the way. The fence has been relocated. Test holes have been dug, everything is almost ready...

-grampa dan