Well, in part due to the reception and popularity of Hueto's thread on building his home, I am going to post pics of my project.

A little history:  I have acquired roughly 16 acres of ground in SE KY to build my "dream home".  I have spent the last 2 months looking at what seems to be thousands of plans and have come up with nothing.  Well, I won't say nothing, but I still don't have a plan.  I basically took notes of all the features I liked from that vast array of plans and just this morning, met with an architect to design my home.  

What follows are just some pics of lot preparation.

First obstacle.  Get a driveway/road put in to access the building site. A previous road/drive existed that ended 400' in at the bottom of the hill. It is difficult to see from the pics, but all I needed to do was have the road extended another 600-800' while climbing a fairly steep hill.  It was tough keeping the slope acceptable.  As it stands right now, it is as steep as I would want it.  We won't be going anywhere if it snows.  In the end, the driveway looks like it is going to be somewhere around 1200 feet.


This pic was taken standing about 200 feet up the drive looking back towards the highway.



This pic was taken standing about 400 feet up the drive looking back towards the highway.



This pic was taken standing in the same spot as the last, but now we are looking up the hill towards the home site.



This pic was taken after some initial clearing of underbrush standing about 600 feet up the proposed route looking back towards the highway.  The clearing you see is the spot where the previous two pictures were taken.



It took about 4 days to complete the drive(rough stage). 160 tons of crushed base has been put down.  I'll post those pics in the next day or so as soon as I get them uploaded to the computer.

Looks good.  I'm actually considering looking at some land in KY, just because i miss trees.

What kind of machine are you using to clear the driveway?

What did the 160T of base run you?  Just curious as to costs compared to out here.

Good luck with your project!!

Can't wait to see this build come together.  Looks like alot of preparation and work, but well worth it in the end.

Wow, that's a beautiful site!  Any idea how much it will cost to run electricity up there?

-James

Man, that's some pretty land. I wish I had trees and hills like that on my acreage. Makes my road building look like child's play.

If you need help with some preliminary designs, let me know.  I would be happy to help you rough something out that you can give to a local professional.

Quoted: Looks good.  I'm actually considering looking at some land in KY, just because i miss trees. What kind of machine are you using to clear the driveway? What did the 160T of base run you?  Just curious as to costs compared to out here. Good luck with your project!!

I contracted that out.  They used a CAT dozer and trackhoe to do all the work.  I think the  bulldozer was a D4, not sure about the trackhoe, but it was a good sized one.

The crushed base was $11.50/ton.

Quoted: Wow, that's a beautiful site!  Any idea how much it will cost to run electricity up there? -James

I'm going to rent a trencher and put in the conduit.  I'm fortunate in that the electric company will install the service for the cost of the hook-up plus I think they quoted me 24 cents/foot for the wire.  That is a far cry cheaper than I could purchase the wire outright from a supplier.

I'm guessing it is going to run me around $3000-$4000 to get electric/gas/water/phone/cable up to the site.  That is if I don't run into any ledge and have to hammer or blast. If it is up to me, you know I'm going have to blow something up!

Quoted: If you need help with some preliminary designs, let me know.  I would be happy to help you rough something out that you can give to a local professional.

Thank you for the offer.  I actually just met with an architect yesterday and he is designing something for me.  He was recommended by a friend and seems to be very reasonable so I'm hoping things go well.  If they don't, I just might be giving you a yell!!

ETA: More pics....



Looking back at that same clearing with more of the excavating completed.



This is taken from a couple hundred feet further up the drive.  You can just make out the clearing through the trees.  And yes, it looks like the dozer was a D4.



This pic is taken from the top of the hill.  The drive will continue on about 200 more feet from here to the house.



And finally for tonight, the beginnings of gravel.  This picture was taken from about the same spot as the one above, I just used the zoom.  You can see the ditches and drain pipe that were put in to help route run-off.  There are pipe in the drive spaced about every 200'.  I never knew galvanized pipe was so pricey!



I might post one or two more pics of the drive with the completed (for now anyway) gravel.  After that, there may be a lull for a few weeks until I get some preliminary drawings back from the architect and have the "house" actually staked out on the site.  Once I am certain of the positioning of the house, I'll start on clearing the lot.


I lied, I have one more pic for you.  I snapped this shot of one of my future neighbors.  I have to warn you, she is a real heifer!

Looks good so far, nice and private.

Cool!

And the sheep are pre-numbered...easier for counting to get to sleep.


ByteTheBullet  (-:

Very nice site you got there.