Welcome! It's such a great site. I have depended on the advice of many here in the last 18 months. Keep us posted on your progress.

My DH and I were in SF 9 years ago, and I would love to get back there. It is one of the very best vacations we ever had! Gorgeous part of the country:-)

Amy

Welcome. Here's my dumb question: what is a shiba inus? And is it something that one needs two of? A breeding pair?

I am just getting started as well, unless you count the last 1 1/2 years of finding and acquiring the land and working with an architect to the point where our design is almost finalized. And we have a G.C. waiting, already helping us with the design (to reign in costs after the architect overdesigned it, costwise, by almost 50%).

There's a wealth of knowledge here and it's a fun place to hang out. Very encouraging for most of us because the rest of the world gets bored very quickly with those of us who build.

We, too, are going to do a ka-boom! Only ours was a house we bought to get the lot. All two-thirds of an acre of it in a suburb north of Atlanta, GA. Bought in a community of 60s and 70s ranches, so we've designed something that will blend in. (They hate the McMansion invasion, and some of it has started there. We won't be building one, but I'm sure the disruption will make enemies anyway.)

My taste is somewhat similar to yours, only throw in a dash of minimalism. Saw a neat article recently that categorized someone's style as "Arts and Crafts meets Modern Asian." I liked that.

Welcome and good luck!

Hi! I'm also a relative newbie (to both the building forum AND GW), and have been semi-lurking for the last few months. Glad to see someone else from the Bay Area is taking the plunge! You're ahead of us...we're just getting the survey, and have spoken to a couple of designers, but haven't picked one out yet, and no soils report yet (trying to do this one slow step at a time). It's amazing how much building is going on around here, but there don't seem to be that many online resources for this area...it's Silicon Valley, for goodness sakes!

Anyway, glad to meet you!

Welcome! I lived in the Bay Area for many years and love it there.

Wishing you a smooth process and minimal bumps in the road!

Lindy

Karen,

Welcome to you! So glad you "found us". This is a great site for asking questions and gleaning information, as well as inspiration from so many photos people share.

Congratulations on beginning the journey. Keep us updated as you move along.

We honeymooned in Napa Valley, and enjoyed a day in SF. Love it there!

Welcome Karen! I've only been here a couple months myself, but the knowledge, advice, and support you can get from the posters here has really been a blessing.

We are just nearing the end of our tear-down and re-build on a small 50x100 corner city lot and moving "home" Sept 1st. I wish you the best during your build, the process you go through is really remarkable and I hope you are able to have fun with it!

Hello Karen! I'm about at the same stage you are, but I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get to build. I've been waiting on a developer to make me an offer on my house -- it's taking FOREVER! Anyway, I've been trying to work on my own plans -- which I hope are about complete. Now I need to find someone to draw working plans with an engineering stamp. Over the last few years (yes, years), I've been lurking here and have learned SO MUCH -- it's such an active and friendly board too. I hope you enjoy your build. Keep us posted on your progress!!

Nice to meet you. We are about half way through with our house. But We are doing the work ourselves so its taking a lONG time.

Welcome, Karen! DD1 went to college in SF, living downtown for 2yrs before moving to Emerald Hills for a year. She's in SoCal now and it makes me sad to think I won't be visiting her in the Bay Area any longer.

Shiba inu are good looking dogs - what color are yours?

Good luck with your build.

Thank you all for the warm welcome, how nice!

Hope all of you who've visited our wonderful area do get the chance to come back, there's lots to love (and hate) about the Bay Area.

juniork, if you're still reading, what area of Silly Valley are you in? Maybe we can share resources when the time comes. I realize I'm totally jumping the gun, but I'm already collecting (and starting to visit) tile shops, flooring distributors, window/door places, etc. Yes, I'm a type A personality, I can't help it....

pinktoes (what a cute screen name....I usually have pink toes, too, though I went for the french pedicure yesterday...never tried that before, not sure I like it on me....) - shiba inus are a small Japanese breed of dog - they look like an akita, but are much smaller - our girl is 18 lbs, our boy is 26 lbs. They're spayed/neutered, so no breeding here. They just torture and play with each other.

allison0704 - both are red!

Well, nice to meet you all, thanks for introducing yourselves and the good wishes, and I'm sure I will have a barrage of questions very shortly!

Have a great weekend (or what's left of it...)

Hi, Karen,

I'm in the Mountain View/ Los Altos area, so south bay. Would love to share info if you're interested. I know EXACTLY what you're talking about re. jumping the gun! That's ok, though, the recurring theme I get from all this is to plan out everything you can in advance, so that's what I'm doing, too!
Talk to you later!
Jenny (juniork)

Hello, gerberadaisy! Great name for the Garden web!

Like so many others, I too have been "lurking" on this site and learning a lot to ready DH and myself for our first (and we hope only) house build. We have the final architect's plan in our hot little hands as of last week. Our builder anticipates starting our odyssey in September. We'll be building a modest-sized Craftsman/Prairie/cottage-style house with lots of emphasis on energy efficiency and use of sustainable materials...oh, yeah, and since we are 50ish, we've made it relatively W/C accessible. I guess the next step is all of the perplexing permits. Looking forward to comparing notes, miseries, frustrations, excitement and photos with all of you!

By the way, my sister lives in SF and we LOVE to visit...and eat!!! Strybing Arboretum is always a fav!

Jenny/juniork - we're in Los Altos - over near Fremont & Grant. We'll definitely be able to share some vendors, etc.! So far, I have written off EXPO, and I (heart) All Natural Tile in SJ - don't know how their prices stack up yet (need to do some serious googling), but their selection was impressive.

coffeehaus - the ironic thing about my GardenWeb name is, while I seem to be able to keep a great variety of things alive(currently, we have roses, peonies, dahlias, hydrangea, kiwi, blueberries, raspberries, plums, passionfruit, citrus, grapes, tomatoes, artichoke, herbs, etc), I cannot for the life of me keep a gerberadaisy (or a gardenia) alive. I've tried sun, shade, and partial sun; all gerberas die in my yard. :(

House update: our survey guy promises the map/report tomorrow morning! He's 1 month (literally) late, and of course, our architect could not get to drawing without his map! A few brain cells sacrificed in the fruitless pursuit of trying to get him on the ball, but *whatever*. Delivery, tomorrow morning. Onward!

Geberadaisy, for a second there, I thought you were the people 2 blocks away, then I realized that their foundation is done, and they've started framing. ;)

Do you know that modern-looking house on Oakhurst? The neighborhood joke that's been in construction for THREE YEARS? We're near there...

We'll definitely have to share info. Great meeting you! Amazing how you have to get online to meet 'neighbors'! And congrats on the almost-done survey! We just got the bill for 50%, so I guess we're 50% done...did you like your soils guy? Congrats again!!

I'm glad there was a bit of an intro. :) I, too, have been lurking here for about 6 months or so and learned so much.

We live in Wisconsin, about 30 minutes north of Milwaukee. We have land (1.5 acres) and will be building a farmhouse-style home. We just got our prelim drawings from our designer and have started looking them over.

My husband is a painter by trade, so we know who is doing that, and we are in the process of finding a builder who can work with us on that portion. We probably won't be building until next year at this time, so I find myself wobbling between "anxious to start" and "ohmygod we have so much to think about". I hope that's normal!

We are going on a quick vacation in SF in December...really looking forward to it. And also looking forward to input from everyone here! Good luck!

gerbera: I thought it was just me. I can't keep one alive either. I love them. I've given several to people and none of them can keep them going either. Difficult plant. I'm in north GA--figured it was our climate. Way too humid for most things.

Hi Karen and Jenny,

My name is Melissa and we are currently building in Los Gatos. Karen, we were in a similar position trying to decide whether to hire a GC or act as our own GC. In the end we found a fantastic GC who we hired to run the project until it was weather tight and then we would do the rest. We own a radiant heating business and my DH is very handy, so he is doing the plumbing, heating, and AC. Then we are hiring subs for electrical, sheet rock, cabinetry, etc. Building has gone slow because I have had such a difficult time making decisions. Also, owning a business, having a 2 year old, and dealing with a lawsuit (put on us by our neighbor) hasn't helped in the progress! But it is par for the course since it took us 2 years to get the project approved in the first place!

Anyway, I have info that might be helpful and I would love to get info from you regarding tile and other finishes you have looked into. I am just starting all that and the choices are overwhelming. Plus, where to look? Have you looked for front doors yet? I was suppose to order the front door months ago, never did because I can't find anything I like.

Melissa

Hi Melissa - ah...Los Gatos......probably the only other city in the area that is as contentious about building as Los Altos...in fact, LG might have overtaken LA......

(Your comment about neighbors suing neighbors reminds me of this short sidebar....this probably really belongs in the "House Disasters" forum...) The architect we hired was a referral from a neighbor, whose house we *love* - in fact, it's the only house in the neighborhood we admire (rancher neighborhood, 50+ years old, many/most have been remodeled, many very badly. A few have been rebuilt, and DON'T ASK ME WHY but people and the city are seeing fit to build mediterranean-style homes that look like they belong in Miami/South Beach...whatever.... Anyhow, this neighbor built a lovely Craftsman that's elegant and well thought out). Turns out, neighbor acted as GC (with no prior experience), loved it, and decided to do it again on a larger lot in the LG hills. Hired said architect with the intention of building and moving in to this home and selling the Los Altos home.

Well, the LG neighbors put up SUCH a stink about everything - basement (?!? why do you care if I have a basement that doesn't impact your home or foundation?), sight lines (the home they tore down was a tiny, old house so the neighbors, who all live in LARGE houses, were spoiled by the sight lines the old house afforded), overall size (ironically, smaller than the neighbors who were complaining), etc. So much so, and planning commission meetings were apparently so contentious that my neighbors decided to nix the basement, build a spec house, and stay in Los Altos. So sad! (Though I quite like them as neighbors, so I personally am happy they're here. Just sad for them.)

Radiant heat business?!? As in, for homes? We were just discussing radiant heating this past weekend.....quick question - do people put radiant heat under showers? We are planning (in our heads - we're a year away from building) a "wet room" - soaking tub and shower(s) in the same tiled space, and one of the negative I've read about is that it takes more effort to get the shower space warm - we thought a warm floor would help.... what has been your experience? Look forward to chatting with you more about where you're at!

Jenny - I don't know the specific modern house you mentioned, but DH and I took a drive down Oakhurst after dinner last night to check it out - there are a small handful of newish-looking houses there - we were just there a couple weeks ago, actually, looking at the 18000 sq ft lot with the 900 sq ft Tahoe-cottage looking home on it (on Rosemont or something?). Looks like it sold! Raising land value.....hooray.....

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Oh - house update, to keep things sort of on topic: survey man apparently communicated with soils guy yesterday, so apparently, he's actually going to deliver his survey map - hooray! Jenny - yes, we like our soils guy quite a bit - efficient, communicative, etc. - we haven't seen the report yet (waiting for survey man), but our architect liked him and we do, too! Email me offline for his contact info, if you'd like....

Karen, I clicked on your member page to email you info about radiant heating, but there was no link to an email address. The short answer is, if you only want a warm floor in the shower then an electric mat system would be best. If you are looking to radiant heat the house, then I could give you more info on that. Here is a link that might be helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: radiant heating

Hi, Melissa,

Wow, sounds great! Would love to email you for more info, when I get anywhere near that time! :) Thanks much. The biggest issue for me has been the insane prices here. I love this forum, but hearing about building costs around the country really depresses me, and makes me give up on building...sigh.

Karen, it's on Oakhurst and Payne, looks modern-ish, gray, and overgrown lot, with unfinished concrete wavy fence-type thing by the front door.
Take care, everyone! Good luck on all our builds! :)

Jenny,

Go ahead and email me when you are ready.