"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
. ..

I've built 3 houses so far. What I learnt after building number 2 was
to never do it again. Number 2 was 3 storeys on a big suburban lot,
with a 30' x 30' metal shop drive in basement and a 16' x 20' wood shop
under the deck, all with 3 phase power.

We've built only two----but the first one http://www.castleutah.com/ , which
is now a bed & breakfast, was never finished by us. Ran out of money, but
we weren't in debt on it. You'd think we'd have learned a lesson, but
instead we did much as you did:

Then I found a perfect piece of land, which I could afford but not if I
had to pay a builder, in a different state, on the waterfront and 15
minutes from my new job. Oh hell.

For us, no waterfront, and retired, but still left with the building
project. And the move, which took three containers and three semi's.


Tent. Genset. Single phase builders power pole. Hut. Temporary shed for
the woodworking gear so I could build the cottage and store materials
undercover. Shipped down the DeWalt sliding compound mitre saw, the
table saw and a truckload of other woodworking tools. 18 months later,
move into cottage with big living room, kitchen, bathroom, heat,
insulation. Bliss. Build west wing with master bedroom and 15 x 18
workshop opening off living room via prepositioned doorways and smash
left elbow in 6 places in the process by falling when a ladder slipped
loose. 3 operations and 8 months of physiotherapy later.... 3 phase
power connection, move in welding gear, small lathe, small mill, big
bandsaw, boxes of tooling. Still got sufficient space for the B/port
and tooling, the rest of my stuff is stored at work where I have a
warehouse.

Ouch! I was somewhat more fortunate in that my fall, which was only about
6 feet, didn't break anything. Got a concussion and serious bruising where
one of our building blocks (Rastra http://rastra.com/ ) landed on my
chest, apparently after I pulled it off the wall as I fell. Same deal as
yours, a wonky ladder, which was immediately cut up and sold for scrap
(aluminum). That damned ladder ended up being quite costly---about $5,000
including the ambulance trip to the hospital.

I can build another wing on the cottage if I need it but have no
immediate plans to do so. I'm going to build a 16m by 13m workshop barn
near my power pole and run 3 phase to it. Move the rest of my tooling
in and then take it easy playing boatbuilder. Hah.

I ordered some bronze porthole castings yesterday so I can see how much
of a PITA it's gonna be to machine them up myself. It's good to be back
to the point where I can do metalwork at home again rather than having
to use the shop at work for every little job.

Sounds like a fun project. How large are the port holes?


The 2 immutable laws of building I've learnt are that nothing ever
happens on time and nothing ever happens on budget, so I know where
you're at. Eventually you'll get to where the place is 'good enough'
and can move on to other things. You'll know when it arrives. One of
these days I'll make the fancy drawer fronts for my kitchen.......

I'm not convinced a house is every truly finished---although for the first
time I'd like to assure it is as close as possible. We're quite comfortable
in the shop, but as I said, I'd enjoy having it back so I can use it
properly. The vast majority of my equipment isn't operable because we're
living where the items would be placed in use.

Harold