By The Tim on June 4th, 2009 at 10:13 AM · 5 Comments
A couple months ago I pointed out Mike Davidson’s excellent home-building journal A House by the Park, in which he is chronicling his step-by-step process to build a custom home in Magnolia.
When I posted that link, some readers complained that Mike’s project was too high-end to be of much use to your more average family. Well, thanks to a heads up from Cheap South in the comments, here’s another local project on the opposite end of the spectrum for you: Mini-Mobile Cottage
Jeff & Arlene are building a cottage with less than 200 square feet, documenting and pricing out the project in a similar manner to Mike’s site. They’re also looking for a place to park their house upon completion in August, so if you’re interested in helping, drop them a line.
Categories: Features
Tags: construction, custom home, DIY, small spaces
By The Tim on April 13th, 2009 at 1:09 PM · 17 Comments
I had the pleasure of speaking with Mike Davidson (founder and CEO of Newsvine) at last week’s No News is Bad News event. During our conversation, he alerted me to an excellent blog that he has been updating since October 2007 in which he is chronicling his journey to build a custom home: A House By The Park
Here’s a snippet from his About page:
In beginning the process of building a house, I’ve found no singular source of information online which describes the start-to-finish process of creating a new custom home. There are a ton of “Building A Home For Dummies”-style books on Amazon, as well as disparate blog posts and photo galleries about new construction, but nowhere have I found a coherent, first-hand journal of the entire process from the standpoint of someone like me: a guy building his first house with no clue what to do besides putting one foot before the other.
A House By The Park will attempt to be that guide for others looking to do exactly what I’m trying to do: build a great, affordable custom home with no prior experience. If something like this existed before I began my project, I know I’d be a lot more equipped than I currently am.
Mike is detailing the entire process, including the hunt for and acquisition of the perfect plot of land on which to build his home, which happens to be right here in the Seattle area.
One of the greatest features of A House By The Park is that Mike is 100% transparent about how much he is spending on each step of the process. At the end of each post in which he discusses a new cost for the project, he plainly lists all the costs in a simple table, providing those who follow in his footsteps a great data point for comparison to their own project.
A House By The Park would be an awesome resource for anyone considering going through the process of building a custom home. I highly recommend checking it out.
Categories: Features
Tags: construction, custom home, Davidson, DIY
By The Tim on September 5th, 2008 at 12:01 PM · 14 Comments
I expect August stats from the NWMLS to be posted either today or tomorrow, but here’s something from the lighter side to kill some time until then.
Mark Zimmerman (zim) had a problem that many have been faced with thanks to the housing bubble:
A few years back, I got tired of living the American Dream and struggling to keep up with a horrendous mortgage and rising credit card debt. I know there’s really only two ways to balance a budget, spend less or earn more, and I didn’t see a huge wage increase in the future. Also, I have always been interested in unusual homes and can’t pass a two or three hundred square foot enclosure without wondering what interesting living space could be made there. Less space, less stuff, less consumed, less owed. It sounded like where I wanted to be.
So what was his solution? Convert an old bus into a cheap home, of course!
Then, I got a call from a buddy that purchased a pair of used school buses from the Texas A&M surplus property auction. He knew I had been interested in one and was willing to hold on to it until I could head out to pick it up. I got myself to College Station, spent a few days changing fluids, ripping out the seats and doing general preventative maintenance. Then, for about $1400 for the bus and another $600 in diesel (probably twice that, now), I headed back to Florida with the beast. Two years later, I’ve got a fully functional, comfortable, clean living space for about $12,000 and my monthly housing and utility costs are less than $400/month.
It’s no Ballard Craftsman, but I guess it’s a step or two above living in a van, down by the river.
Hat tip: Boing Boing
Categories: Humor
Tags: affordability, DIY, Humor, small spaces
