Fraid you've got me confused with someone else re building a barn on the property and living in that while building the house. DH and I bought our land by refinancing the house we then owned in order to pay cash for the land b/c mortgage interest rates on the refinance were MUCH lower than interest rates on a raw land mortgage. We then spent five years paying down the refinanced mortgage before felt financially ready to start building. We finished paying off our mortgage on the first house while we were in the process of building the second. So even tho we weren't able to sell our first house as quickly as we would have liked after moving into the new dream home, we never had to worry about making two mortgage payments at the same time. I was terribly impatient during that entire five years to just "get started" but in fact, the wait gave me plenty of time to educate myself and to design a home that FITS our property and our lifestyle. So, IMHO, you can't start too soon. Yes, prices will change but the relative cost to build various houses will stay about the same. (i.e., if the build price on plan A is twice the build price of plan B today, five years from now, plan A is still going to cost about twice as much to build as plan B.) Instead of obsessing about costs tho, use your time to learn all you can about the pros/cons of various building practices. For example, while it isn't exciting, spend some time learning about various types of foundations and how each type is PROPERLY INSTALLED as well as all the ways a particular type of foundation can be screwed up by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Then when you're choosing a house plan, you can make an informed decision about what type of foundation you want. Ditto with framing. Learn as much as you can about how a house is framed up and some of the options you have. Terms like "open web joists," "i-beam joists," "California corners," "sole plate," "king stud," "cripple/jack stud," "ridge pole," "purlin," and "load bearing" should become familiar to you as you learn how framing should be done right and all the ways that bad builders can screw it up. Likewise, get a thorough grasp of the concept of "drainage planes" and how flashing, house wraps, claddings, etc. SHOULD be installed in order to contribute to properly functioning drainage planes. Basically, work your way thru every "system" within a house. The more you understand about how a properly designed and built house WORKS, the better off you'll be when dealing with a builder. Or, for that matter, when trying to communicate with your architect. And, of course spend time doing the fun stuff like thinking about how you and your family actually live. What in your current home makes your life easier and what are the little things that just drive you bonkers. Like maybe, you actually love having the sun wake you up in the mornings thru your east facing windows but hate the way everything always seems to wind up stacked on the dining room table b/c there isn't really any other place to drop stuff off as you come in the door. Or you love your big kitchen island but hate the the way your top kitchen drawers are half-an-inch too shallow to hold rolls of waxed paper and tinfoil. Make notes about these things and, when you're designing your new home, incorporate the good things and find ways to fix the annoying things. And of course, spend time finding and saving "inspiration" pictures for the really fun part which is decorating that brand new space! Three years will fly by!

What do you expect to pay to get this job done? Buy the cheap thickness planer and do the job yourself. Then clean the machine up and box it back up just like it came. Then resale it for a little less than you paid for it. How does the price of the planer minus the resale price compare to what you expected to pay for job to start with. Or Special order the material already at the thickness you want. Or Put an ad on craigslist looking for someone to do the job. This is a very easy job to do with a thickness planer. Surely someone would be willing to take on the job. Pooh Bear

brickeyee, I have had old sears tools for many years. I used to use one table saw often and I have never had a saw bearing fail. I am glad that the bearings were easily available. However regarding price: while I agree that $100 or 160 is a perfectly fair price for a decent table saw, you likely could have done much better, especially if you were willing to do the repairs. For example, I often go to auctions (admittedly this takes time). I have seen many old sears saws go for less than $25 or $50. I recently got a Jet with extension table and bessimer fence for $125 and now I have a couple of sears saws sitting apart in my atic. Yes the Jet was an exceptional deal, but plenty of people have given up on the old stuff. When I have had motor problems, I just switch in another old motor that was $5 or $10 at a garage sale or auction; or free. By the way, Yes of course the tension was by weight; from a pivot block that may be missing on your saw.

Thanks Mike. I've assemble it and it seems pretty solid. The blade to fence was almost spot on out of the box. I only had to barely make an adjustment to get it perfect; not it is. I then tested the 45 degree angle and it too was spot on... What I really like is the way the fence tightens down w clamps at both ends. You can also rip to 30.5" on right. The fence also has a fold over piece that that will then support the far right side of the board. It/s locked to the top right of the fence, then you flip it over to the left bottom of the fence. There's also a dust port extension that you can aim at a 5 gal bucket that's supposed to dispose the majority of the saw dust. After I've run her a couple of times, I'll post back. BTW, do you have a 77 motor, and if so, has it performed well? Thanks, tstex