Hi Gabe from a fellow PNWer. Don't know how much further you are in the raised beds, but here's a suggestion anyway. Do you have any place locally that gathers recycled building materials? We do have such a place locally. They have old windows, doors, toilets, bricks, etc. On any given day you could find who knows what. Perhaps this is not common elsewhere, but it is here. I was thinking such a place could be quite a source for you. Prices on materials would be much more reasonably priced than at Lowes, Home Depot, etc. Cinder blocks would be quite the ticket for me. Resiliant and long lasting. Another thought would be to visit your county extension service. If there is not an office nearby that you can visit, perhaps they are on-line. I am lucky to live in a town with a local extension office and they serve a wide area of Oregon. They are really good. Not the case for everybody, so I have been told. But it's something you might look into. Our local office promotes alternative gardening for those who may need a little help. A year or two ago they displayed a big table filled with dirt. I think it was about 4 feet wide, 8 feet long. Maybe a foot deep. Obviously, such a table would stand in place once it was built. Your mom could stand and garden. For someone in a wheelchair, it could be built a bit lower to the ground. We get about 40 inches of rain a year. I don't know if they use anything special to protect the tables. The local extension agents know and practice organic gardening as much as possible as near as I have been able to tell. anyway, such a place may provide you with some good ideas. Best wishes. It's neat what you are doing for your mom. Mary

Hi Frank. Masterpiece did the design too, which ended up having approximately 3 revisions before it was perfected. This was done during the vendor evaluation phase before we signed a contract. I was glad they understand customers want to have the design and approve it before making a choice on the builder. Besides, how are builders supposed to give you a bid without having a design to price out? Most of the vendors we met with did this, except 1 fancy-pants builder who wanted us to pay him $500 to come up with a design. That didn't appeal to us. For the landscaping side of the project, it was done by a company that is owned by an employee of Masterpiece, Ron Bond. Ron is the designer and salesman for Masterpiece so we put in a lot of hours with him and knew him well. Technically the landscaping was done by a different company, but in reality it was seamless and is easier for me to say the whole project was done by Masterpiece due to the relationships. I paid Ron's company directly for the landscaping work and he has good prices and of course intimate knowledge in the entire project scope. Let me know if I can answer any more questions for you. We are really happy with our pool, spa, landscaping and the whole build process (minus the city inspectors... LOL). There are 3 other families in our little group who have signed with Masterpiece too and are in varying stages of their builds (we got to know 2 of these families through Houzz - 1 during our vendor eval process & the other from this specific blog -- Houzz is so helpful!). I'm very happy for them and for Masterpiece because our new friends are in good hands with Masterpiece, and Masterpiece has earned my respect and appreciation so I'm glad to see a healthy backlog for them too. Good luck with your project! I'd love to follow you so please let me know when you get started.

These features are bare minimum but some need upgrading regardless of the budget. There is no description of the footing. The foundation wall design depends on the ht. of unbalanced fill so without that info I can only suggest 10" CMU possibly with some vert rebar and non-shrink grout fill. Exterior of foundation should have at least 2" of extruded polystyrene insulation. Waterproofing of CMU wall is important and should be accurately described. Slab vapor retarder should be thicker Typar is good if installed with cap nails and all joints taped. Zip system sheathing is better. Sub floor should be AdvanTech OSB or CDX plywood for better water protection Roof sheathing should be 5/8" OSB or plywood for better nail withdrawal with full coverage ice &water shield (Grace only) for your climate. What is a lid? Sheetrock is a trade name, use blueboard veneer plaster if available. Just an observation: the content and terminology of this list seems to be from a past era. I would be a little worried about the use of up to date construction methods and systems.

Just a couple of datapoints. 2018 was the lowest coal consumption in 39 years. The forecast decline for 2019 is 8%. Assuming that rate continues, it is insignificant in a decade. April 2019 was the first month that renewables (23%) surpassed coal (20%) for US electricity generation. And yes - April is great solar month. I suspect it flips back for one last time in December. The fuel choice in a new house lasts for a long time. Switching can cost a significant chunk of change. You can talk about coal as a electricity generating source but that is backward thinking. Trust me, I know about the coal ash issue. I would 100% never change NG out for an economic or environmental reason. But buying a new one, plumbing and exhausting a new one - doesn't make economic sense (most markets) . Southern VA has got to have relatively low electric rates. TD - I had Dual Fuel in my last house. My NG bill for heat was around $100 a year (skipping the monthly maintenance and cooking amount) Resistance electric probably would have been $250, except that I would have run the HP harder. I would guess it saved $75 a year tops. Cost me $1500+ (new construction) so payback was marginal at best.