Today's the day (well, yesterday, actually)! The contractor started clearing our driveway in SC. We have a flag lot, and so far, he is clearing the entrance. Hopefully, I can get up to lay out the driveway this winter. It's not much, but it's a start!

 

Cool! I'll have to run up and check that out this weekend...

 

Congrats on getting things underway! Make sure ya let us know when your comming up Jay

 

Let's have a GTG at the driveway !

 

That would seem strange w/out the new-future to be home owner being there...

Or add a bit of "Extreme home makeover" flare to it and have a live video feed...

 

It'd be alright...............Funny thing officer we were out here collecting firewood and found a bunch of beer.

 

You gonna "lay out" the drive for mudding or make it a 1/8th mile for speed? I don't remember which way your truck is set-up.......
Congrats anyway.....I sure hope he leaves as many of those tress as he can.

Welcome to the Palmetto State.

Bob

 

Good point! Theres too many trees disappearing around here with the subdivisions that go in.

 

It'll be just like "Extreme Makeover" - the homeowner is 'vacationing' in Florida!
We plan to leave most of the trees. The entry way is all crappy pines, so I want them out of there. But the rest of the property is mature hardwoods- mostly red and white oak, with a few poplars and hickories. I expect to clear about 1-1/2 to 2 acres at most. We're lucky in that there is little underbrush- you can walk around comfortably under the trees. I'll gradually do some thinning to let the big trees reach their potential, and provide me with firewood!

 

So this current timeline still puts you in SC late Dec. or mid Jan.?

 

I wish! I might get to visit between Christmas and New Year's. The problem is that I have very little vacation time at my job (one week a year) and since I'm the boss, it's hard to take additional time off. What I'd like to do is get a slab poured and trusses built ahead of time, and then have a barn raising. I think with everything ready to go, I could have a barn up and tight to the weather in a long week (9 days). I have several friends and relatives who are up for it, plus any local help I can hire (a friend of mine used college kids for manual labor). When I get ready to build a house, I'll have the foundation done, then quit my job, and move to SC and start building. I have budgeted a year, which I think is doable on a small simple house with very basic decor. Another option would be to have a shell built, then do the rest my self. A lot of it depends upon how much money we net from the sale of our house, and my health/ambition at the time. Right now, my health is excellent, but I'm 54- ya never know. The only thing keeping us in FL is waiting for our son to finish college, since we have to maintain FL residency to keep low tuition and scholarships. He should graduate in 2 years from Dec., so I could start building in as little as a year. If real estate looks any better, we might put the house on the market as early as next summer, then rent until we are ready to start our build. Wish us luck!

 

Yer gonna need a bunch!! The Realtor that sold our place is an old friend and she said we were lucky to have sold it when we did. Real estate is in the drink and they don't see a rise anytime soon. You might want to think about throwing it on the market earlier if you can.

Are you getting any cash for the pines that were taken down? From the pic i see a stack of straight ones.

 

In a way, yes. The guy doing the clearing is deducting some of the cost in exchange for selling the pine- I think it's only fit for pulp anyhow. They're straight, but pretty small, and Virginia pine, which isn't worth much. He took out a couple oaks, which a friend of mine got for firewood. When we clear for the house, I'm hoping to have some of the oak milled up to use in the house- maybe some wide board flooring.

 

That would be cool!