Bids Packages Are OUT!!!

...now we wait for January 21st.

Contractors / Builders

OK time to pick our contestants for the project.  Sandy did a lot of research on builders, magazines, Angie's List, word of mouth.  I'm pretty sure I'd be happy with any of these builders, honestly:

1. Janiczek Homes - These guys are the top of our range.  They build serious Main Line homes. Get written up all the time (Main Line Today 2008, Main Line Today 2010).  They seem mostly geared to high end stuff - which we are not - but are very big "green" builders which we like.  Why not try for the brass ring, right?  
2. United American Builders - Sandy found UAB in her initial sweep.  The owner spoke with Sandy at length and gave us a really good feeling.  They have been around a long time, done a lot of new construction and will "build whatever we come up with". I like that.  
3. Lord Contractors - This is Tony's add to the list.  He's worked with Lord a number of times and has been very happy with their product.  Honestly we did not have them in our list, but that was only because we never dug that far.  They seem quite capable and very ready to do business.
4. Greth Homes - We had not heard of Greth, but after digging a little we found them to be HUGE.  My dad's neighbor is building a new addition - a big one, and using Greth for their work. She was very impressed in their quality and pricing.  All good things for us.  

Plan is to have the build packages (80% plans, item selections, material selections / allowances, engineering plans) out to the builders in December, and have responses due back January 21st.

Tony knows what he is doing... continually impresses me with his background and skill here. This is how it all works out.

Tony prepares the build package, sends it (BCC) to all the contractors.  Then, all the questions, comments or other communication goes through Tony.  Once a week, he will issue an Addendum to the bit package to all the contractors at once.  This way, we keep a level playing field and nobody gets the wrong / out of date information.

We have decided NOT to meet with anyone prior to bid submission. Feels kind of strange, actually, but it is the way we can keep things level.  So, we trust Tony... that's what we'll do.

Moving right along.

Floors, Heating, Driveways, Fireplaces and Plumbing...

Lots of activity - not much to actually show here though.

Been fully engaged in picking our radiant floor heating system (RadianTec), floors (reclaimed wood), fireplaces, and plumbing fixtures (Danze).

Preparing everything to get out bids to contractors.

Direct Buy - A scam?

Ever heard of them?

They are all over the TV and in plenty of magazines.  They are supposed to be a way to order product at wholesale prices - cabinets, furniture, flooring, etc.

Are they a scam?  No, I suppose not... not technically.  But I will tell you, I will never ever deal with them. I'm so sure of this I'm not even going to give them a link from my blog.

It all starts off with high-pressure phone calls.  3, in our case.  They call, want you to sign up for a "personal seminar" with them to understand how the whole thing works.  Honestly, this part seemed fishy, but doable.  When we dug a little, we got thousands (and I do mean thousands) of hits about how much of a horrible place they were.  One of the sites suggested we ask them about the membership.

Membership? WTF?  Like Costco or BJs?  Ok... fine, I can see how that might be necessary.

So, Sandy gets a call, and chats a little. Uses her husband as an excuse for not committing to joining up on the phone right then and there, and for not being able to set up a time for a session.

Second call, they try again... sign up.  Sandy asked about the membership, and the person's response?

It depends.

What?  Seriously?  Come on now, lets have an answer here.. if we're going to do something like this it is important to know what we're getting in to.

Well, it really depends on what you want to buy.

OK, so it is based on how much you participate?  What type of discount you get?  Fishy and getting fishier.  We press for an answer.

Direct Buy:  Maam, I really have no idea at all.
Us:  Well, are we talking hundreds?  thousands?  tens-of-thousands?
Direct Buy:  I really can't tell you.  I only answer the phones.  So, can I sign you up for the session this Saturday?
Us:  No, not yet.  I don't think my husband will be able to come. (Lying)
Direct Buy:  Well, we really need him there.  Why can't he come?
Us:  That's not really your business.  We need to know how much it is before we can commit.
Direct Buy:  We can't tell you over the phone, we have to have you in the seminar first.
Us:  Thanks, no.  Good bye.

Got a call the next day, wondering why... actually chastising us for not being able to commit.

Do yourself a favor... check out the reviews online before you do anything with them, ever.


Needless to say, we're not going with them in any way, shape, or form.

Appliances / Ikea Kitchen

Now come the fun part!  Actually, this has all been fun.

Kitchen creation.  We love Ikea stuff... style is right up our alley.  Sometimes quality can be a little less than perfect - and what do you expect for the price. We have some friends in CA that just did an Ikea kitchen and love it.  But, is this really for us?

Hell yes!

We went to the showroom to do some serious thinking about it all, and were surprised with the quality that was available to us.  Sure, they do have the particle board cabinets and counter quality available for insanely low prices - but for a very reasonable price, you can get some solid wood systems too.

Impressive.

What is even better is that Ikea has an online 3D CAD tool for building out your kitchen...

So we did.  Nice stuff.

What is even better, is that it produces a full on list of what is needed for purchase.

Great stuff.

We are trending towards a glossy red island with white cabinets surrounding.  Counter top, TBD, but probably a dark color.

Engineering Firm Bids / Estimates

Turns out this is going to run about $5k to get

• water runoff calculations, 
• impervious coverage calculations, and
• updates site survey 

Needs to be done... but that's not chump change.

On top of all this, there is a bit of history here that needs explaining.  As it turns out, the previous owners had worked with Houtman in the past to get things rolling on their build.  For whatever reason, that build never happened, but Houtman did the initial work to get the site surveyed and basic plans ready for submission to the township.  It seems that since the job never went anywhere, they never completed it - and never got paid.

This is where we come in.  If we go to a new Engineering team, Momenee, we get someone local that has worked with Tony.  If we go with Houtman, we get the benefit of any work they had done on the previous owner's dime.    We had some issues connecting, quickly, with Houtman and decided to reach out to Momenee for the work.  Along the way it was determined that we might be able to get the previous work anyway.  So, down that road we went.

Ends up, this kind of thing is very frowned upon, and we ruffled (un-intentionally) a few feathers.  After a few conversations we ironed things out - let the water under the bridge and engaged Houtman for the complete package.

Makes everyone happy in the end. Unfortunately we had to jettison Momenee Associates in the shuffle. They are a good team, and I would recommend them from the honest and professional stances they took.

Anyway, 5k gets us Township Ready documents.

Cha-chin... $5k it is.

Engineering Firms

One of the rather significant things we did not know about in this process was that of an Engineering Firm. Our Architect, Tony, did of course, but it was new to us.  Seems that you need a full engineering survey to help determine things as complex as water run off and percolation rates.

To put it simply, they need to calculate how much of the ground are covering because of the fact that your house will be preventing the soil form absorbing precipitation.  Pretty big deal, in our case, as our house is covering a significant portion of our lot.  Really, they have to account for every drop of water that is re-directed by our home, and then provide a way to make sure it stays on our lot and not pushed off into the street or a neighboring lot.

Based on some suggestions, we went out to Momenee Associates and Houtman Engineering.

We'll see how much this runs us.

Virtual Model

Things are starting to come together!

The 'Final' Plan...

This is it... this is going to be our house!  The garage works the way we want it to, the tree is safe, the floorplan is perfect for us. 

Next up, virtual model. :)

High Resolution PDF : Site Map, 1st Floor, 2nd Floor

You want to park a car too?!?

As we think we're nearing completion on the inside of the house, we started to look on the outside.  Garage, in specific.

The issue is that we want to be able to pull in to the driveway / garage.  To exit, we want to back out of the garage, and be able to drive out forward on to the street.  That poses a bit of a problem with both the Japanese Maple tree and the width of the lot itself.

So, make those kind of concerns known to an architect... this is what you get:

attached are various driveway / garage schemes. schemes b thru d have alterations to the floor plan.

scheme a –

current scheme, van reverses into garage and goes out forward.

scheme b-

garage gets shallow but longer with storage nooks, van goes in forward and reverses all the way out to the street.

scheme c-

angled parking, forward in and reverse out to street. potentially weird roof.

scheme d-

forward in reverse all the way out to street or reverse in and forward out to street.

none of the schemes are ideal. it depends if you are comfortable with backing out to the street. I supposed if I had to choose it would be scheme b. it has the least impact on the tree and still achieves the entry court that I was after. I haven’t studied them in form yet but scheme b looks like it would have the most interest from the street.

if you want I could have a scheme with the garage doors facing the street tomorrow.

we probably should have a conference call to discuss.

tony

Garage Scheme A

Garage Scheme B

Garage Scheme C

Garage Scheme D

Evolving plan...

The really interesting thing about this whole process is the fact that Tony will apply some creative tweak to a design, based on our comments and it takes us down a totally new path.

For example, based on the previous plan, we wanted to make sure there was a closet in the office area in case we ever needed to use it as a guest room.  And, what we got back was a wonderful tweak... shown below.

Our 1st Plan!

How many ways can you say WOW!

High Resolution PDF Files:  Site Map, 1st Floor, 2nd Floor

Next set of plans...

E

F

Plan : A, B, C & D

Tony whipped up 4 plans for us to start visualizing.  Honestly any one of them would be awesome.  As time goes by, and we imagine how we would live in these spaces I think we're getting ideas for Plan E.

A

B

C

D

Our own little bit of PA!

We own it!

Granted, no house, no electricity, no water or sewer... but it is ours!

Amazing how fast a closing can be when you pay cash and don't have a house on it.

Deposit is in.

We sent our 10% deposit into our architect, Tony.  We are on our way!

Next stop, August 13th for closing!

Phew!

The past days have been quite nerve wracking for us.  A lot of what-if scenarios have been put into our heads by lawyers, real estate agents, etc.  This whole easement thing could be a very big problem if people are in the mood to fight.  People can always lawyer up and fight, even if they are in the wrong, and you have to suit up the same way.  Just gets expensive.

We decided to send all the BS to the sidelines and just talk to the neighbors like normal people.  We certainly want to start off on the right foot with them and playing legal games is not good ground.

So, Sandy called and spoke with them.  Plain and simple - they are cool people.  They don't want what is not theirs, they don't want to fight and they want to move on with their lives.  Apparently there is some bad blood between them and the seller.  Who knows how long it goes back, but they want to move on with their lives.

In short, they will happily sign an easement we draw up (no legal cost) and it will "go with the land" (so the township will be happy) and we can have it all done after we actually own the land. We'll sign over a few beers.


Anyway, they are going to be cool.  Phew!

Sellers, Neighbors & Buyers - the perfect storm.

Life is never as easy as you want it to be.

Apparently the sellers are playing hard ball and really don't care what we think about the easement, how much it will cost to pursue, and the time we've put in to figure it out so far.

This past week, I've spent a collective 8hrs on talking with various real estate attorneys, land survey engineers and township representatives.  To put it simply we have three options in front of us:

1) Do Nothing - we just leave everything as is.  Our land is what it is defined in the deed. Their land is what it is as defined in their deed.  The items of theirs on our property just sit and nothing changes.

• Pro: $0 Cost, 0 Time wasted
• Pro: Happy neighbors.  What happens in the future? TBD
• Pro: Simple & Fast Closing on the sale.
• Pro: We don't care about the encroachment, really.  We don't have any intention of moving their house, AC unit or shrubs - we are just trying to figure out who owns what.
• Con: Plenty of "what if" problems w/ neighbor.  What if their AC leaks freon into the soil and it requires "cleanup".  Technically it is their freon, but it is seeping into our soil. We are responsible for the cost of the cleanup.
• Con: Will there be problems if we sell the property later? If/when we sell the house, what problems will appear in that sale.
• Con: Counts against our impermeable surface calculations.  Since we are building, we need to be concerned with how much soil our home, plantings, driveway, etc will cover.  If we're close to our limit, then this area of theirs on our property counts against our total coverage.  Small, I know, but still... it counts.

2) Re-Deed the property.  Basically have the township re-draw the property lines for both properties.

• Pro: Fully legal and binding.  This would be recorded and passed down forever.  Basically a re-zoning of the property.
• Pro: Most 'complete' of the possible options.
• Con: Very Expensive. $3-5k for legal paperwork, plus $2500 (minimum) for each property in question.  So, we're looking at approximately $10,000 to execute this. 
• Con: Disallowed by Lower Merion township Zoning. Cannot put property into further non-compliance with lot dimension rules.  As it is now, our property is below minimum lot width for the Zoning it is currently in.  Making it smaller puts it further into non-compliance and that would not pass any zoning boards.
• Con: Long time to complete.  Probably a year of wasted time.
• Con: Requires multiple township approvals.  Everybody and their mother has a chance to weigh in on this.  It has to go through multiple township, county, and public hearings. You know that would be a mess. 

3) Grant of Easement - As discussed earlier.

• Pro: Fully legal and binding.
• Pro: Requires only 2 parties to agree. Grantor and Grantee.  There is no need for the township, county or state to get involved. This is just an agreement with the people in question.
• Pro: Grant should be filed with township / county.  We could  submit the final documents to the township and it would stay with the property.  Interestingly enough, easements can have various lifetimes.  You can say it lasts as long as one or both of you own the property, as long as XXX years, or that it can "go with the land".  Meaning, as long as the land exists... the easement exists.  We've been told by the township that they would only allow a "go with the land" option.  How could they stop you?  Well, they are the ones giving us the permission to build, and they can pull that at any time. So, need to keep that crew happy.
• Con: Legal fees = ~$1000. 
• Con: Engineering / Survey fees = ~$1000-$2000.  All about the Benjamins.

4) Grant Permission - Basically say they can use it.  That's it.  We grant permission to use the land with stipulations (they maintain, etc). If they don't agree to the permissions, then they are inherently stating they have right to the land (since they don't have to ask permission) and are therefore responsible for any issues. If they do, then they are agreeing to the stipulations.

• Pro: Needs only to be a mailed document to encroaching neighbors.  Mail a copy to us, and to them - registered, and we're done.  If they refuse it, that is a sign they don't want the property.
• Pro: $0 cost.

 Option 4 is new to us, and it the least binding. But, as is with any law, common sense generally prevails as long as the "reasonable man" would agree.  So while I think we're going to go with the Grant of Easement, it is nice that if we get push-back on that from the neighbors we can go with a one-sided permission document.

More to come.

Friggin' tree huggers!

This is our lot... or soon will be.  As you can see, it is flat, level and clean.  Oh, wait, what is that giant shadow?  That is the oldest and biggest Japanese Maple I've ever seen... and it is wonderful.

Great shade, great red colors in the fall, and it is our "spirit tree" if we had such a thing.  When our daughter was born, we got one from my dad.  Planted it, and then days later our dog Gumbo, pictured here in the shade, ate it down to the mulch.  Yup, ate a tree.

Anyway, we thought it was dead.  Next spring, up came a sapling and it grew and grew.  By the time we left OR it was about 8ft tall and very nice.  Unfortunately we could not bring it back East with us and it had to stay there.  We had actually grown to like that little guy, and was sad to see him go.

On top of that, I used to have a "climbing tree" when I was growing up.  You guessed it... Japanese Maple.  We had to leave that behind too when we moved from Phoenixville to Tokyo.  Again, sad to see it go.

Fate, right?  How could we not at least attempt to keep this great tree on our lot?

Today we met with Matt Ward, of John B Ward Tree Service,  that gave us a free estimate and some advice on what to do with it.  We asked a lot of questions and it turns out that it is quite healthy and would probably make it though the construction process quite well if we took some precautionary measures.

1. Remove all the paver stones around its base.
2. Fence off the "drip zone" so that no heavy equipment can get to it, or compress the soil around the roots.
3. Lay a 3inch deep pile of mulch in that drip zone.
4. Prune back the dead branches as well as trimming the ends of others.

That's it.  Not so bad right?

I think Matt was pleased that we were willing to save such a great tree and offered to give us the mulch for free. 

Again, how would we not save this tree.

Once we close on the property, I'll be there the next day pulling up pavers and fencing off the area - ready to accept a ton of mulch.

Grant of Easement / Adverse Posession / Spin-up!

If you look at the plot plan we got from Joe, you will see there is an "encroachment of adjoiner's dwelling" on the South-West property line.  Actually, I would probably not have noticed this if it were not for Joe's knowledge of the township... but anyway, it is there.

Honestly, it is minimal. The neighbor's house is about 9 inches over the line, but their A/C unit, gravel pad and some gas line plumbing is square over the line - up to 4 feet, I would say.  Fact it, their stuff is on our (well, soon to be our property).  Not that it really matters to us as it is on the edge, and we are not likely to need that part anyway... but it is what it is.

Based on what Joe told us, we have to account for any/all items on our land. Meaning, when we do our impermeable surface calculations for the proposed build, their stuff would count against us.  Again, it is not such a bit area, but it is something.  You'd be surprised at the various surfaces that count as impermeable;  pea gravel, stone walks, wooden raised decks. 

There is that, and then there is the pure and simple fact that we need to know what the seller is selling and what we are buying.  We have to be 100% in agreement on that.   So, again, Joe helped us out by giving us the legal property description documents for both lots. And, luckily, they agree exactly. Meaning, there is no problem in figuring out the actual property lines with respect to the township, the tile companies, and the mortgage companies.  We're good to go on that front.

Problem comes in with the Adverse Possession Laws in Pennsylvania.  Basically this law says that if someone uses your land and you don't assert your right to that land, you lose legal ownership of it.  It has to go unnoticed for 21 years in PA, but still. You don't use it... you lose it.  This whole law comes from the fact that the government wants people to own and use land.  Not just squat on it. 

Truth is, if the sellers of this lot had never submitted a plan to the township for approval  there would have been no need for a detailed land survey... and this would have gone un-noticed until the ownership of the parcel of land transferred to the neighbors.  Truth is, there is a line of trees on our side of the property line and it seems that the neighbors and the sellers had been treating this as the neighbors plot of land even though the neighbors knew of the true property line.

Anyway, while we have the legal right to cut down all those trees and have the neighbors remove the offending portions of the encroachment, we would never do that.  Just not cool.  I mean, it is not harming anyone, and what a horrible way to kick off a relationship with the new neighbors.

"Hi, we're moving in.  Don't mind the bulldozers ripping out your AC unit.  Hey, we should have a beer some day."

The legal remedy here is to grant an easement.  This is a legal statement along the lines of, 

Hey, we both know this is our property, but since you are using it and being cool about its use, we're going to grant you a right to it.  It is still ours, but here ya go.

Now, there are some ways to do this, but we want to make sure that this easement stays with the land and does not encumber any sale of either property in the future.  How would you like to buy a house if you knew a portion of the land was being used by someone else?

Think of it like this.  You buy a lot... it happens to be behind another lot, and you can't get to yours without going through theirs.  They would grant you an easement for a driveway, for example.  You are allowed to cross my property to get yours... but it is still mine.

So, that is exactly what we are going to do.  See?

Interestingly enough, the township does not care in the slightest.  It would be good of us to submit a copy of this easement to the township for both property files... but it is our land, and therefore it is up to us.

Pretty cool, eh?

We talked to the neighbors about this property line issue... and I think they think we're lawyer'ng up for a fight.  Nope, we just want to move in, be cool with the neighbors and let everything be.   Just want to make sure we're all clear.

My new best friend...

On the advice of our fantastic Realtor, Jenny Kirkpatrick, we have become best friends with member of the Lower Merion Township Planning and Building division, Joseph Newby.

Here is an interesting little factoid, Jenny helped my family buy (and sell) our first house in Devon when we moved back from Japan in 1982.  Also helped my Dad buy his home in Strafford, and my Mom buy (and sell) her townhome in Devon too. 

Joe is one of those guys who I think could be a real hard and stubborn dude if he wanted to be. He is in "control" of zoning, building plans and permits after all - and not a man to cross.  Despite the power, I can honestly say he is one of the nicest and most friendly guys I've met in a public service role in a long time.  People generally are so beaten down by The System these days that they have become hard, rude, unresponsive and generally disagreeable.  Not Joe - he seems to love what he does.  Not to mention he is really good at it from what I can tell.  I would mention a property address and he'd come right out with,

"I think that's an open lot. Nice neighborhood too."

Anyway, Joe is also my connection for plot plans, tax records and general "how do I build a house?" type questions.

The plan I had on a previous post came directly from Joe.  I asked, and he happily went back in to the files and pulled it for me.  No fees, no begging, no arguing... just a friendly, "hang on, let me see if I have it on file for you."

Anyway, thanks Joe.  We'll be working together for some time, it seems... and I will definitely owe you a beer on the front porch of the new house when it is done.

Good potential...

I met with the township today, and got the lot plan... this was a plan that was approved for the lot in question, and has expired.  Yes, I know it is small, when we get it, I'll make it full sized.

I think we are going to bid!

This is why you meet with a professional architect!

Last night we had dinner with Tony, our architect.  (Feels impressive to say something like that, right?)

I'm glad we did.  We get along very well, and he has a great personality and a sensibility that we find refreshing.  We are talking about building "green", but that can be a pompous and trendy statement - and that is not what we're after.  Like we told Tony, we're not looking to build a hay and dung walled long-house.  Nor are we trying to save the planet by building out of old tires - we just want to make a nice home that matches out lifestyle while making good eco-conscious decisions.

We really just talked about the process of using an architect to build, how we lived, and some of the concepts and building materials we were interested in.  For years, we have been tracking all of this in a document, and we basically read it to him.

Every so often he would ask a question about something we said, but more often than not, he would just listen.  Sandy and I can talk... and talk... and talk.

During dinner we mentioned that we had seen an open lot for sale nearby and that it was currently priced out of our range - but felt that we could show it to him none the less.

Truth be told, this lot is very promising for us, and I hesitate to post any details to it just yet.  Suffice it to say, if we could get it for the price we'd want... it would be a perfect location.  He agreed.

We may put a bid in... who knows.

The Teardown...

We saw the teardown... and boy is it a shame what some people will do to a property when they are crunched, financially.

This property, 922 Delmont Avenue in Wynnewood, PA was  purchased by a local homeowner for their parents.  Apparently they were relocating from Florida and needed a house nearby.  For some reason, approximately 2 years ago, they had to leave it and it is now in pre-foreclosure status.  Basically, this means that the owner and the mortgage company is trying to get as much money for the property that they can before they initiate the legal action of "foreclosure".   Once a property gets in this state, everyone lines up and starts taking what they can.  This could be contractors, township, or other providers that are owed money from the owner.

Anyway, apparently in this status, the owner just does not care anymore and gets pretty vindictive.  In this case, they ripped stuff out of the kitchen like the stove and shelving.  Not removed... ripped.  The living room has the metal sleeve for a in-wall air conditioner... with no unit.  So, if you have ever had one of these, it means that the room is open to the outside - for all intensive purposed.  The house smells of mold, radiators have burst and ruined the walls and ceilings.

Rather sad, actually.  But, truth is, we would be tearing the house down and starting again.  The lot is decently sized, and we would probably be able to re-use a lot of the basement.  It seems that the basement foundation is sound, no cracks, no visible leaks.  The attic has some very nice old wood boards and the roof seems watertight.  We may be able to re-use the wood boards up there for a floor.

The footprint of the house is relatively small, compared to the lot size, and I would think we could build pretty much whatever we wanted there.

The neighborhood / street is actually exactly what we would want.  It has some history, large trees, not a cut-through road so traffic would not be an issue.  The only issue is that this end of Wynnewood is a little "tired".  We would still have to drive a little to get to decent shopping, restaurants, or other shops.

Our architect, Tony Miksitz, got to see the outside and walked the lot with is.  It does have potential.



View Larger Map

Land Ho!

A piece of land has come up!

Actually, how fortuitous since today we had planned on meeting with an architect at the tear-down lot.

More to come.

Land or Tear Down?

The first issue we're going to have to deal with is where we want to build our home.


We really have three choices, as we see it, find

1. ...a totally undeveloped plot of land.  Basically, find someone that has a field somewhere that is willing to sub-divide and sell.  This is a little tricky because we would have to run power and utilities to the plot.  Clearly this is a non trivial cost.  Plus, here on the East coast, there is not much undeveloped land that is within a reasonable distance of civilization.
2. ...a plot of land which once had a home that has been demolished.  This would, obviously, already have utilities to the plot and probably be in a more populated (and desirable to us) are.
3. ...a tear-down home.  By tear down, we mean a real "handyman special" situation.  A home that is so old, or in such a state that it is better to remove or significantly renovate than to use as is.

I think at this point, we're going to be pushing for #2 or #3.  The totally undeveloped land really is just to much cost for us and it would require us to drive a significant way to get to anything that we would need.

So far, we've seen a number of properties in the #3 category.  Unfortunately, they are all priced at a level where we can't afford to buy them and then make changes.  This area is expensive.

We have seen one promising tear down online and are going to try to see it tomorrow.

Here we go...

We have always dreamed of building a home. So, we've decided to try.

I suppose it all stems from the fact that we are both pretty creative (in different ways) and have rather strong opinions about things and life.

For years, even before we were married in 2002, we would clip articles or bookmark websites of interesting products, new ideas, or impressive architecture - really unsure of what we would do with this information. I think we have found an outlet - build a home. Not just A house, but R house. One where we could live the way we wanted to live - not just in someone else's idea of what a home should be.

See, we just moved back to PA after living in Portland, OR for 6.5 years. The West changed us - in a good way. We're not tree-hugging-smelly-hippies, mind you... but people who grew up, and were educated in the East coast with a significant bit of West coast attitude toward life. What does that mean? Well, we see it as being more aware of, and enjoying, what is around you and remembering that your actions have consequences.

It is just different out West - in good and bad ways.

We hope that we can take back the good habits we have learned on the left coast and merge them with our new life on the right coast. Can't hurt to try.

So, it all comes down to this... lets build R perfect home and do it while thinking of the impact we are making on the world. No, that does not mean we want composting toilets and to grow hemp in the back yard for our herd of goats... it just means that if we select one material over another it should be for the right reason... not just cost or looks. If we have the chance to make a decision that will positively impact the world around us, we will try to do so. Or, if we can't we will think twice before walking blindly into it.

Sure, it is going to be a long, uphill climb - perhaps even a wall or two. Barriers are there to show how badly you want something. One of my favorite anonymous quotes out there seems to sum it up for me:

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?