My partner and I took a day off this week and ventured up to the property. We were disappointed with the progress. Our contractor had told us that he expected to have the logs set by now, but we found only a foundation at the site. The contractor informed us that he was having difficulty with some of his employees showing up on time or at  all to the job site. He said he has resolved the issues and that the team will work twice as fast this coming week to get back on schedule.

Our contractor promised to give us a call by the end of next week to update us on the progress. We really need to get this project back on schedule.

We visited the construction sites over the weekend. We are impressed with the progress. Everything seems to be on track. The excavation is complete. As you can see by the photos below, the contractors have started the foundation work.

My business partner and I have both returned to work and are now relying on our contractor to provide regular updates on the project. So far so good.  I spoke with him yesterday and he said nearly all of the excavation is done and concrete should be poured tomorrow. We have set up accounts at a couple of supply places for him so he can get all of supplies he needs and won't have to stop and wait for money from us. He promised pictures by early next week and I will post as soon as I get them.

We are making progress now! We broke ground on the first home on Friday. Things are going well. Below are pictures.

The meeting with the contractor was a success. We hired him despite a few unsettling details. We were impressed with that he was impressed with himself. The biggest issue for us was that he provided his proposal/estimate for the foundation on a napkin. This lack of professionalism has us a little nervous, but we really don't have any other options. We are set to break ground tomorrow.

Our selection of contractors went from us selecting the best candidate to us settling for the only candidate.

We approached several local contractors and consistently ran up against the common responses of "Don't have time on the schedule" or " Don't do log homes." Time and money are burning. We had a framing contractor who is talented and efficient but he back out at the last minute.

We now are left with just one option. A friend of ours, a stucco/plaster contractor, recommended a guy that might be able to help us but has no other references. We are meeting with him this afternoon.

We really hope this works out this afternoon. We need to get construction started and don't have any other options for a contractor at this point.

We thought final approval was going to be easy after getting preliminary approval so quickly. We were wrong.

Our plans had the house built on the same setback as the rest of the homes on the street. When the county planners reviewed our plans for construction they identified that the plans did not meet the setback requirements. Our rebuttal was that all the other houses on the street had the same or similar setback. The county admitted that we were correct but if we wanted to build with this plan we would have to file for a variance and that would take about 3 months.

Based on their preliminary approval we have already secured construction funds with a secure timeline and corresponding penalties for delays. A variance isn't going to work.

We are now reworking our plans and pushing the house farther down the slope, which is going to mean more engineering, more design changes, and more money.

We are regrouping and will resubmit our new plans to the county next week.

It has been a busy week. We received preliminary approval on our plans from the county planners late last week. That approval allowed us to secure our construction financing this morning. Things are moving along quickly, just as we need them to be.

We should have final county planning approval by the end of the week. Once we have that approval, we can break ground on the first house.

With two log cabin kits ordered, the clock is ticking on finding a proper rustic setting to build these homes. In the San Francisco Bay area, homes and property are at such a premium that finding a viable piece of land to build on could to be a daunting task. Some friends told us that property in Lake County, California was not just reasonably priced but also offered attractive rustic views and settings. So this past weekend we took a drive.

We purchased a lot on Cobb Mountain in Cobb, California. It is a great rustic setting but there are going to be some challenges. The land has well over 30% slopes with 60% embankment. But we can overcome a few engineering challenges. There are other homes built on the same road with similar challenges.

We also liked a second lot diagonally across the street from the one we purchased. We are going to do a little research and see if we can purchase that one as well.