I finally decided on a name for my new piece of heaven, Tumble Moon. It’s the name of a Texas Dude ranch in an old campy film called Lightning Strikes Twice (1951). It seems that all the other name combinations that might describe my property’s uniqueness were already spoken for by multiple apartment complexes.
Below is a list of what’s happened since I purchased the property eleven months ago:
• December 18, 2014: My landscape architect Michael Parkey and I explore the property together and locate two possible building sites for the future tiny house.
• December 21, 2014: Michael sends me the first site plan.
• February 11, 2015: New survey finally arrives after waiting two months.
• February 24, 2015: Michael and I return with Mark Bulloch, the landscape contractor, to show him the property so that he can work up an estimate for erosion control, hauling off trash, installing the fence and gate, and clearing paths and drive.
• May 18, 2015: Mark Bulloch’s estimate is signed off on, and he moves his camper to the site and begins the work.
• June 12, 2015: Michael and I visit Mark at the property, where we decide on an ideal building site that hadn’t been considered before. We also determine that the entrance needs to be relocated. While out there, we met with several contractors to see about the feasibility of digging a well and installing a septic system at the building site.
• June 23, 2015: Michael and I return to do a survey of the future house site. We needed to know all the grade changes and distances.
• June 25, 2015: Michael revises the site plan to reflect the new changes and the survey’s results.
• July 15, 2015: Charley McKenney, my architect, and I meet up with Mark and Michael at the property. This is Charley’s first visit to the site.
• September 9, 2015: Charley McKenney presents his first set of schematic drawings, which have been enhanced for this post.
• September 22, 2015: With the dimensioned schematic drawings, Charley, Michael, and I locate the exact position of the house on the site and use stakes to indicate the corners and blue spray paint to outline the building’s footprint. We originally had thought that the house front would face northeast with only one stupendous view out, but Charley decided on a much better location which allowed the house to take in three different views. Of course, this meant a revised set of schematic drawings would be required to adjust windows and door locations, but the footprint would remain the same.
• September 24, 2015: Eikon Consultant Group is hired for geotechnical and structural engineering. The geotechnical phase to drill for core samples is scheduled.
• September 24, 2015: The extensive property behind me has been sold and not knowing the new owner, we decided to relocate the drive up to the entry gate. Originally the final portion of the route was to have been in between two neighbor properties on a rough drive that had been created for utility purposes, but was not intended to be a public-right-of-way. Mark Bulloch and I agree on his estimate to build a road access which will require a ton of road base and dollars. Here’s the new site plan for entry road.
• October 16, 2015: Mark Bulloch has now completed all the property and road work that’s required for now. There’s more work for him once the house construction has been completed.
• October 20, 2015: Charley McKenney presents the second set of schematic drawings. Along with window and door placements to take in the views, Charley has included interior elevations. He has also rearranged the kitchen. I will post these drawings when he has had a chance to incorporate the things we discussed.
• October 21, 2015: I received Eikon’s geotechnical report. All 36 pages of it.
Remember that clicking on each image will give you a much larger version.
