Building your dream home
or
Why the man kept hitting himself in the head with a stick....because it felt so good when he stopped.


Once upon a time there was a man who had a dream, a dream to build a house, a house you might say, not a great undertaking, but no, a house that was unlike many others a house made of steel and concrete a green house conscious of the environment with huge windows to take in the view, and a house that would cost thousands less than the conventional home built with wood and plaster. This man was smitten with the idea that this could be done and undertook the task of designing this dream home. First it was a modest thing, rectangular and simple with parking for his cars and room for his small family to live. Then it took on a life of it´s own growing rooms for entertainment washing of clothes and guests to visit. That meant more bathrooms and maybe even a guesthouse. This home grew from about 1600 Sq. Ft to over 5200. Un-daunted by the new personality this home was taking on, the man said yes he could do it and do it cheaply!!!

1^St hurdle

From his design he needed an architect to make sure everything would work. Not knowing how difficult it is to get an alternative building permitted in San Diego Co. He needed to hire a staff of structural engineers to make sure the home would stand up to all acts of man and nature. The process of getting his permits and engineering took about 18 months and cost twice the budget he had set aside. Not to worry though the building innovations would more than make up for the over run budget!

2^nd Hurdle

Part of this dream home plan was to build a steel barn to store all the family´s possessions and house a small sheet metal shop to make all the widgets needed to build this innovative home. The barn was planned with the erection taking about two weeks. With the material on the way the news was broke to the man that he would have to build this barn on his own, the expert crew that could put this building up in a couple of weekends were booked for a whole year. Some would think that the man would be broken by such a predicament but no, he rented some equipment and with the help of his son and his daughter´s boyfriend started building!

The barn was completed (very nice and shiney) unfortunately it took 4 months of our building time of 1 year.

Barn Slab with uprights that extend 5' into the           Barn well underway (and he was afraid of heights!)
ground and 21' into the air (Notice the polished
 and stained concrete )

To be continued...