We've built a few homes in the past and are getting ready to build our last (our "forever" home). Get a few bids, and it wouldn't hurt to price out a materials only cost for your plan. You may be shocked at how one person will come in at a bid where they should, and how inflated someone else comes in at because they assume they can get away with it. Do your homework. Many architects have no clue, and/or do not care about the cost to the person who is actually paying for the house. Because of this, we are drafting our own plan this time. You may be able to shrink your square footage and still get plenty of house. I've gone from designing a 2400 square foot house down to just under 1800 square feet. By making better use of the space and not wasting it on convoluted hallways and too many doorways, I actually have more usable space. The 2400 square feet was the architect's mess. Every 100 square feet saved shaves a ton of costs off your home, both with building costs, as well as future utility costs and taxes. We had also considered shrinking the main story footprint and building a home with a loft (we're doing a log home), but I've since decided I did not want to try and keep huge vaults cobweb free again, and people we have talked with have heating and cooling costs roughly double a single story home with the same square footage, even with decent insulation. (Think all that volume of airspace above your floor, and it's space not being used by you). I think gentle vaults are much cozier. We recently had a converstaion with a house designer, and he said don't let anyone fool you. Lofts and two stories highly complicate the build process. Think roof trusses, stairs, extra wall materials. It isn't cheap. Also, a single story exterior is much easier to maintain than dragging out huge ladders. Take some time and consider actually doing work within, and outside your home. Eliminate as much maintainance as possible. Sometimes we think we need large homes. Think of the extra housework. Have more fun, instead. We've been pricing materials, and yes, while the prices have risen some, my feeling is that your new pricing sounds out of line. They haven't gone up THAT much. One place actually quoted almost double what everyone else had, for the same materials. My husband and I are acting as owner/builder. We just built a wonderful barn for 1/3 of what contractors were quoting. We sought out local trades people to help with the tough stuff, and they did an excellent job. It was absolutely no stress. We hired a builder with our last house. I was looking for cyanide pills. (Kidding...). Again, do your homework. There's a lot of sharks out there.

Mom, there are a few like that where you must become a member to even view the site but at most, you don't need to register until you want to make a purchase. I first became aware of this over a year ago, when a woman in my knitting club who was a full-time "extreme couponer" said that since manufacturers and grocery stores had tightened their policies, she had a new job. She explained how it worked through social networks of various kinds and all she had to do was steer people to legitimate companies where they could buy attractive merchandise for discounted prices. E-bates was and stii is her cash cow, with shoes and houseware sites the best for impulse buys. Her husband is a barker for tools and auto accessories. They'll join about a dozen blogs or Facebook accounts a day and post on hundreds they've already become members of so they can establish a presence before posting links to the sites that will rebate them. It's a fascinating business and they work hard to be successful at it. She gets very irritated at "amateurs", who just post to let their friends know about a good deal they got at a site that rebates for new members. I confess to having mixed feelings about it. Lots of opportunity for women to work at home and pick up extra cash but I still feel that tiny bit of resentment I always did when someone at work invited me to their Pampered Chef party or put an order blank for their child's Boy Scout popcorn sale on the lunchroom table.

Don't tell me we have to start another Weather XVIII? Yes it looks like we have to start from scratch. I just checked the old link and got "not found". And they limit us to 4 pictures I believe. Let's see how this works.

MANY THINGS.. THAT ARE LITERALLY... crikey ... growing.. IN A FENCE ... are carp plants.. planted by bird droppings ... when they sat on tyhe fence and deposited them ... odds are ... your instinct is right.. and they all should go ... personally.. it would be a summer job for me ... so in the mean time.. i would let them leaf out.. get the IDs .... and have at them ... however ... if your motivated now ... it will be much easier.. to simply get rid of them ... and then.. once its all cleaned up ... then design and plant your own future nightmare.. lol .. like we all did ... that bath tub or whatever ... i know a lot of gardeners who would die for that in there yard .. so much design potential ... heck.. you could even make a fish pond out of it with a pump ...and im just talking 10 cent goldfish ... be done with it.. clean it all out.. and by fall .. you will be happy with it all ... ken