The design of a house should respond to it's site and its owner's needs. What is your site like?

Your designer is not lisrening to you.

Mark Bischak, Architect

This is the site with a previous floor plan iteration on it:

North points up. The site is a former horse pasture. It's mostly flat with a very gentle slope down to the east lot line. The road is along the western side and the approach to the property is from the south. There is a line of pine trees running north and south through the middle of the property. I like the trees, my husband isn't sold on keeping them yet ;-) The views on all sides are to horse farms and trees.

we don't think this plan matches our inspiration at all.

Agree.

allowing them to have a simple unadorned gable roofline.

Yes, your inspiration houses are all simple in shape ... but this house will sport quite a complex roof line. It simply cannot come out looking like your inspiration pictures.

Random thoughts:

- What is Celtic about this house?

- I agree with the others that with five acres, this is not a garage I'd choose. I'd consider the garage to the left of the house ... connected by a breezeway, either open or glassed-in.

- Windows look great ... two of the three bedrooms and all the public spaces have light from two sides ... this will make a big difference. You've worked in a covered porch without sacrificing light inside the house.

- Dryers are best placed on exterior walls so they can vent directly to the exterior. This is cheaper to build and more fire-safe.

- Is that a dog shower in the hallway? I'd rather see it hidden away in the laundry, especially if you have a dog who tries to escape the bath. What are you going to do with all those cabinets in the laundry anyway?

- Bedrooms and baths are simple /nice. I'm a little concerned about storage in the non J&J bathroom. Actually, the J&J doesn't have that much storage either ... but it could have two stacks of drawers flanking a single sink.

- Where do the stairs lead?

- Kudos on a nice pocket office. I'd consider glass doors on the office to allow a bit of light into that end of what will otherwise be a dark hallway.

- Is that a closet across from the half bath? If so, I'd like to see different doors ... doors that would open more fully to expose the closet's contents. As it's drawn now, things stored to the far left will be difficult to reach.

- What does the closet gain from being so deep? The pocket office doesn't really need more space, but it'd be more useful there than in the hall closet.

- Note that the doors by the table are the only access to the back yard ... and with a table in place, those doors will be blocked.

- No fireplace?

- The front door feels a little underwhelming. I'd say set the tone with a set of double farmhouse door in that space.

- Storage also seems a little underwhelming. The pantry is wonderful, but I'd like to see a broom closet /cleaning closet and some hobby storage somewhere. I don't see a linen closet, but perhaps that'll be inside the laundry? We have a small closet with a lock ... for guns, for our safe, and for hiding gifts. It's a nice detail.

- I hate the super-size-our-cabinets /nah-we-don't-need-walking-space kitchen. This is an Ode-to-Packman kitchen. With a large pantry adjacent (love that, by the way), you don't need this much cabinetry ... but you do need a bit of negative space for looks and open space for traffic. The island is a barrier between the three main kitchen players ... it'll add extra steps to your cooking. Function aside, too much cabinetry leads to clutter. In less space and with fewer cabinets, you can have a much more functional kitchen.

- Consider this layout: It eliminates a wall of cabinets, but it gives you more pantry space ... just as much storage, but cheaper. And the pantry is more convenient to the kitchen now. You still have a whale of a lot of counter space, but your circulation space is better. It adds a side window to the kitchen, which allows you to see someone coming to your front door. The table and the island seating are no longer crowded /competing.

It’s very meh. Seems to not meet your expectations at all though. The great room will end up feeling far smaller then it appears as it will for sure be a hallway and major walkway in the home. I don’t really like the kitchen and dining set up either. Feels like it is all quite cramped together where your inspiration phots are lovely and spread out.

There are several things in the floor plan posted that I would consider poor.

Unless the driveway passes by the front door and there is parking space there for guests, a first time visitor has a long walk from their parked car at the garage to the front door. They may opt to go to the 'back door' beside the garage which does not look like an entry for guests.

Carrying groceries from the garage to the kitchen is a long haul.

Barn doors on a laundry room does not contain sound well.

A window in a bathroom that looks out to a front porch is not a good idea.

Jack & jill bathrooms are only good in theory for a limited amount of time.

Bedrooms should be located at corners of a house not bathrooms for natural light and ventilation.

House designs should resemble the inspirational ideas the owner gives the designer.

just_janni

I laughed out loud at your garage comment! My husband originally asked for the garage doors to not be the focal point, and that is what the designer gave us I guess.

I agree about needing a real architect. We went with this designer because he was recommended by a friend, but he's unfortunately not understanding how to design the house as we would like it.

Yes, @Ciseal, it's time to move on. I just looked at your ideabook "Exteriors" and you are not getting what you want with this designer. Don't rush it--take your time to really research and find an architect that understands what you want and listens to you. It is going to be a great project once you find him or her!

Which way is north on the image of the site?

Edit: Never mind, I read it this time.

The thing I immediately noticed that wouldn't work for me is walking by/through the mudroom area to get to the bedrooms. In Michigan I'm sure there are times when people come in with wet, muddy, snowy boots, maybe wet coats, etc. The last thing I want to look at before I go to bed is room full of leftover snow, coats, etc. For a house this size you shouldn't have to do that.

Mark Bischak, Architect

North is at the top

Here's a page with more examples. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/kleur--293648838190345251/ Architects are noted. The first won the Rural category of this years UK Passivhaus Awards. https://hlmarchitects.com/projects/lochside-house/ I think you'd benefit from more research. . .https://hlmarchitects.com/projects/tigh-na-croit-passivhaus/

They keep insisting that we need to nail down the floor plan before they will move on to designing the front elevation. Is the designer right and we just can't see how perfect this floor plan is yet?

Short answer.....plan and elevations are developed simultaneously.

Get a damn architect period .

I'm not sure how helpful this comment will be...but, as the owner of a house on acreage, I think you need to decide about those trees and the siting of the house first. Is the house going to use the trees as protection - unlike the first site plan? If it does so, which rooms will benefit from the protection and which will use the views to the east and south? The plan follows the site.

We walked our land with our architect. We thought about passive solar and the strongest wind direction to minimize air condition usage. We could have had a distant river view if we had sacrificed many trees. Our architect talked about the light and the view of the bluff and the view of the valley when we were most likely to be home relaxing and looking out the windows. I wanted sunset/sunrise views, so dining to the west and kitchen to the east worked and the house moved out of the woods. Mainly, I wanted views of my own horses in both their pasture and dry lot. You may want a garden view, a dog run view, a pine tree view. A house can be much more than how far the bathroom is from the bedroom at night.

I knew how dusty gravel roads were but could not foresee the explosion in the use of 4 wheel drive small vehicles by tourists and locals using our road as a shortcut to the river towns below us, but I should have thought worse case scenario for the road. But on acreage, we also needed to think how far we wanted delivery drivers and horse vets (and rural fire trucks) to travel and how we would pay for and then maintain whatever driveway was needed to reach the house and barn.

But as I sit in our living area, with views in three directions - four if I change position - tucked in a site where the trees meet the pastureland - I am so grateful we spent the time. And the dollars for an architect. I recently saw a house retrofitted into an urban site by a builder and his wife and it was stunning. So, it's not the occupation, necessarily. But it is creative vision. Past projects you love are the signpost for a good fit.

just_janni

Each of your inspiration house have a strong linear influence whose outline / footprint resembles a letter - U, F, H, etc- allowing them to have a simple unadorned gable roofline.

Thanks so much for this - I recall bringing this up in our initial meeting with the designer, but I think we need to make it a point of emphasis going forward with an actual architect. The footprint shape is pretty much the entire crux of this type of design.

Mrs Pete

your inspiration houses are all simple in shape ... but this house will sport quite a complex roof line. It simply cannot come out looking like your inspiration pictures.

This exactly! I mentioned this to the designer and this is his response:

“I know the layout does not look like it can get to what you want but with the main roof of the house being a front to back gable…I can pick up the in and out of the floor plan with raising the pine line of the house to make that happen. Doing this allows for transom windows and a little higher ceiling heights in some of the rooms.”

What is Celtic about this house?

We call it our Celtic farmhouse because we’re inspired by the vernacular of the farm house clusters that you see in the Irish and Scottish countryside.

I agree with the others that with five acres, this is not a garage I'd choose. I'd consider the garage to the left of the house ... connected by a breezeway, either open or glassed-in.

I love the idea of a slightly detached garage connected with a breezeway - thank you! We’d definitely want it to be glassed-in here in Michigan.

Windows look great ... two of the three bedrooms and all the public spaces have light from two sides ... this will make a big difference. You've worked in a covered porch without sacrificing light inside the house.

In our initial meeting with the designer we really emphasized wanting lots of natural light throughout. Windows on 2 sides of most rooms is a must! That's one positive aspect of this design.

Mark Bischak, Architect

House designs should resemble the inspirational ideas the owner gives the designer.

Exactly this! And I think this is where we got off the rails with this house design - right at the beginning.

I think we got into the mindset of critiquing and tweaking the floor plan as if it was a good starting point. In reality, the initial design’s overall shape wasn’t even close to what we wanted, and any critiques or tweaks of it are not going to change that. We needed to start over as soon as we saw this plan, but the designer kept assuring us that it would work for us. I know now that we got caught up in the excitement of seeing our floor plan for the first time and didn’t see the forest for the trees.

In the end, we’re designing a house we want to enjoy life in for the rest of our lives, and this plan, while it may have some merits, isn’t it.

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC

Don't rush it--take your time to really research and find an architect that understands what you want and listens to you.

Thank you so much for this. I think we got caught up in this designer’s promise of designing our house quickly. He’s been really quick to make edits, but he isn’t understanding our overall concept, so whatever edits he makes aren’t helpful in the end.

I’m going to spend some time today researching architects in the Detroit area. Hopefully we’ll find someone who will listen to us!

dan1888

Thank you so much for those links!

I’ve seen write-ups on the Tigh na Croit Passivhaus before and even sent one of them to the designer. He apparently promptly ignored it, though :-(

I’m contacting some local architects today who emphasize building sustainably, Pretty Good House, net zero or even to passive haus standards. We’re excited to go that route as opposed to a more traditional build, and we think it will meet our needs much better.

Architectrunnerguy

Short answer.....plan and elevations are developed simultaneously.

That’s what I always assumed, which is probably partly why the experience with this designer has been so frustrating.

Have you shared the photos and plan you posted, above, with the current designer of your house? The plan that he has produced is nothing like what you have posted.

Does the designer think his plan is more economical and your inspiration photos are out of your budget?

I'm guessing your designer is either worried about your budget (thus a somewhat more compacted plan), or simply doesn't have the experience, talent and ability to do what you want. Or could the builder be influencing what the designer is doing?

Time for a frank discussion?

FWIW, if the plan you posted is a strong favorite, and assuming it's in your budget (and since you are building on 5 acres), I'd place the garage doors and entry to the garage on the left side of the garage, so that you don't look at the garage doors every time you approach the house. The service area and tank can easily slide to be beside the bath and bedroom to make way for the relocated garage entry.

Shameless plug for one of my favorite people ever who has a practice near Eastern Market in Detroit. Link to a project the OP may find compelling -

https://iannuzzistudio.com/briarcliff-residence

Wow, the Briarcliff residence is amazing!

I think you should start over with an architect. I think the house needs to be designed as a whole, not the interior first and then the exterior. In the plan, you have to walk through the living room to the kitchen with groceries. The living room is a little over 15 feet wide but by the time you take out the walkway, you will have a little over 12 feet which might be fine, but something to think about). I just think you could come up wth a much better plan, especially given you have so much land to build on.

Wow, the Briarcliff project that Arch13 posted is amazing and I wish there were more photos of it. That seems like a wonderful starting point for an architect given that they will understand MI conditions, etc. I love that you are carefully considering feedback and are willing to go the extra mile to research architects and start over so that you can get your dream house. Many would just rush through the process, but five acres surrounded by horse farms needs something really, really special.

I hope that you keep us updated on your progress, as this style of home is a favorite of mine.

I'm contacting some local architects today who emphasize building sustainably. Pretty Good House, net zero or even passive haus standards. We’re excited to go that route as opposed to a more traditional build, and we think it will meet our needs much better. I live in SE MI. On your acreage a more architectural design will have excellent value. This would be more than one only designed to meet higher efficiency standards. I'd encourage you to go further towards the current designs you've found above. Restrain your excitement until you get the complete package. And some of the award-winning architects could be contributors in some way, if you contact them or at least carefully study their projects.

This is meant to provide a very rough example of how the spaces in your current floor plan (with Mrs Pete's kitchen revision) could be spread out and reorganized to at least put you in the same ballpark as your inspiration houses:

This exactly! I mentioned this to the designer and this is his response:

“I know the layout does not look like it can get to what you want but with the main roof of the house being a front to back gable…I can pick up the in and out of the floor plan with raising the pine line of the house to make that happen. Doing this allows for transom windows and a little higher ceiling heights in some of the rooms.”

Forgive me if I think your designer is full of crap. Shapes are shapes. The shape of this floor plan simply doesn't match your inspiration pictures.

Does anyone make 3D mock-ups of houses out of balsa wood (or similar)? That could answer the question for much less than building the actual house.

We call it our Celtic farmhouse because we’re inspired by the vernacular of the farm house clusters that you see in the Irish and Scottish countryside.

Interesting.

I love the idea of a slightly detached garage connected with a breezeway - thank you! We’d definitely want it to be glassed-in here in Michigan.

I'm in the South, but I grew up in a house with a breezeway that connects a 1-bedroom apartment to the main house ... and two other family members have something similar. Breezeways are very versatile spaces.

At the moment, the breezeway in my childhood house is a work-at-home office, my uncle's breezeway holds a freezer and dog space, and my cousin's breezeway holds a small dining table and a kids' play area.

In our initial meeting with the designer we really emphasized wanting lots of natural light throughout. Windows on 2 sides of most rooms is a must! That's one positive aspect of this design.

Everyone SAYS, "I want natural light", but few people manage it.

I'd place the garage doors and entry to the garage on the left side of the garage, so that you don't look at the garage doors every time you approach the house.

Disagree for the reason someone else already mentioned: you don't want guests to come up your driveway /park outside your garage /have no view of the front door, especially in the dark or in bad weather.

No, I'd set the garage apart with a breezeway ... and perhaps set it back a touch.

I fell behind in this discussion, I had to travel to Traverse City today for two meetings.

Are there structures in the vicinity you are planning to build that could influence the design of your home? The proportions of its form or general shape?

Would I be wrong if I guessed the site was somewhere between Milford and Ann Arbor?

Mark's post brings up another good consideration.

By the time we started drawing, a house was being built at the other end of our valley, a house I wanted to pretend didn't exist. Our architect first used clerestory windows on that living area wall to block that house view. But then, looking at the floorplan, we recognized that wall was also the best place for a window seat by the wood stove (winter use) and for a broad pasture/horse grazing view (rest of the year use). So, we changed to double-hung windows, but turned our house so that the neighbor's house was not front and center from those windows and not visible at all from the main view windows on the intersecting wall. We're on a corner, but not square to it.

In rural areas, however, huge utility buildings can suddenly appear on adjacent acreage - again, some worse case scenario planning may help - or it may not. Our horse barn is lovely but our neighbors down the valley might not have been thrilled when the hay shed went up.

The OP should realize that the designs s/he posted are very much better than what the house designer has drawn up. That said, the OP's designs likely have more foundation, exterior wall and roof area than the house designer's plan, so it's likely that the OP's designs may be more expensive.

You get what you pay for (but be sure you can afford it)! Just a caution...

Thank you, everyone, so much for your input! We are so grateful for your help with figuring this all out. There is a lot to consider!

I’m swamped with work this week, but I’ll try to respond to your comments as best I can.

barncatz

Thank you so much for your first-hand experience! I’ve added quite a few thoughts from your comment to my growing list of things to consider and decide on before we get into the house design.

I think you need to decide about those trees and the siting of the house first.

These were both things we brought up with the designer in the first meeting, and I think we lost sight of these decisions when the designer showed us the initial floor plan and we got caught up in the details.

We’re still trying to figure out what to do with the trees - do we keep them? do we remove just a few?

And there’s still a debate over where to site the house. I think nestling it behind the trees would be wonderful - much more private.

These are questions I had hoped the designer would have some input on, but he just plopped the design on that spot at the end of the trees without any discussion.

Your walk through your property with your architect sounds perfect. I guess I assumed we’d do that, but the designer never mentioned it. He just produced a floor plan. You get what you pay for!

Virgil Carter Fine Art

Have you shared the photos and plan you posted, above, with the current designer of your house? The plan that he has produced is nothing like what you have posted.

Yes we have shared these photos and this plan with the designer. His response was: “Thank you for the photos. I understand the look you are looking for the house exterior to maintain. We need to get the floor plan designed buttoned up and then we can move onto the elevations. I know the layout does not look like it can get to what you want but with the main roof of the house being a front to back gable…I can pick up the in and out of the floor plan with raising the pine line of the house to make that happen. Doing this allows for transom windows and a little higher ceiling heights in some of the rooms. We need to get the layout done before I can put a roof on it.”

It was after receiving that email from him that I decided to post here and get all of your valuable feedback. Alarm bells were ringing in my head!

Does the designer think his plan is more economical and your inspiration photos are out of your budget? Time for a frank discussion?

He’s been very frank about what works and what doesn’t and I just assumed that if the reason for the house looking like it does is the budget, then he’d tell us. in our first meeting when we presented the photos he was very positive and said we could build a house like our photos even under our budget because of how simple and straightforward the forms are.

And if it’s the case that we just can’t afford this style of house, then I’m happy to know that. We are happy to reign in our desires a bit if that's the case. It’s time for a frank discussion, indeed.

arch13

Shameless plug for one of my favorite people ever who has a practice near Eastern Market in Detroit.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

This house is perfect. Absolutely gorgeous! What a great find. This architect is on my list for sure!

jemimabean

five acres surrounded by horse farms needs something really, really special.

I hope that you keep us updated on your progress, as this style of home is a favorite of mine.

This really is a special project, and we’re doing our best to make the most of this opportunity. I will do my best to keep everyone updated as we move forward.

dan1888

On your acreage a more architectural design will have excellent value. This would be more than one only designed to meet higher efficiency standards. I'd encourage you to go further towards the current designs you've found above. Restrain your excitement until you get the complete package.

Thank you for the encouragement. We actually started off with modifying one of the builder’s stock plans and quickly realized that a house designed for a subdivision setting would just not do the property or location justice. I’m the designer in the family and I’d love to create something unique and even drool-worthy that is also light on the environment!

marilyncb

This is meant to provide a very rough example of how the spaces in your current floor plan (with Mrs Pete's kitchen revision) could be spread out and reorganized to at least put you in the same ballpark as your inspiration houses:

Thanks! This is great - something to consider for sure!

Mark Bischak, Architect

Are there structures in the vicinity you are planning to build that could influence the design of your home? The proportions of its form or general shape?

I get what you’re saying and the local style is something we’ve considered from the start.

There’s an old very traditional white 2-story farmhouse to the north that we can see from our site. The property to the north also has some simple sheds within view.

The only other houses we can see from our site are some ugly subdivision-style houses to the east, but we have some pine trees growing up along that side of the property so we won’t have an overwhelming view of them (hopefully).

Most other houses in the immediate vicinity are hidden behind trees and brush, so it’s hard to tell what style they are. The houses we can see while driving up to our property are mostly traditional farmhouse in style.

In the greater vicinity there’s an eclectic mix of traditional farmhouses, mid-century style, 70’s and 80’s ranches and colonials, and some newer McMansion-style builds.

Would I be wrong if I guessed the site was somewhere between Milford and Ann Arbor?

You’re a bit off - it’s actually just west of Leonard in Oakland County.

barncatz

By the time we started drawing, a house was being built at the other end of our valley, a house I wanted to pretend didn't exist.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! We do have some subdivision style houses within view to the east. We have some pine trees planted along our eastern lot line to help block the view of them, but figuring out how to angle the house is also something to consider.

We’re fortunate that most of our other neighbors have hidden their houses behind lots of trees!

Virgil Carter Fine Art

the OP's designs likely have more foundation, exterior wall and roof area than the house designer's plan, so it's likely that the OP's designs may be more expensive.

This is something we’ve been aware of and concerned about from day one. So far, the builder and the designer have both said that something like our inspiration photos is within our budget. But they haven’t demonstrated an understanding of our inspiration photos either, so I’m still not sure.

One thing we have to keep emphasizing with the designer is that we want to keep the house as small as possible. We don’t need huge bedrooms or bathrooms. Just big enough.

The builder also commented that we’re saving a lot by not wanting brick or stone on the exterior.

Designing for solar heat gain in the winter, natural ventilation in the summer, and natural light should keep our running costs lower over the long haul, which will help too.

An update:

We are absolutely ready to move on to an architect as our next step, so we called our current designer this morning to (try to) tell him as much.

This guy is confident!

We said that we’re moving on, but he insisted that we give him one more shot. I figure with the pay structure of his contract, he’s not making any more money from us unless we approve a floor plan, so we have nothing to lose. At the very least we’ll have a few laughs!

He quickly emailed us a “quick sketch” of what he envisions the elevation of his design would look like:

I can't say I'm surprised by it, and I did have a good laugh 😂

The "grade" line looks good.

is there a Pinterest fails board for architects /home designers?

All I heard when I saw the above was.... "Nailed it!"

You are laughing at the latest design while I am, and probably others are, in agony.

The inspiration images have a refinement to them, one that takes a artistic and knowledgable mind to create; and that is something the current designer does not have.

Designer Dude graced us with a new floorplan this afternoon too - lucky us!

He created this on his own initiative to try to save the project.

We gave him some of the pointers you all suggested and said that it would have to be a dramatic change for it to make a difference. Don't worry - we're still going to go with a real architect.

Edit: Feel free to give more critiques if you'd like, but we’re not going forward with this design. If anything, I'd like to learn what to look for going forward so we don't end up in this situation again.

To be honest you are just being spiteful at this point. You hired someone not educated enough to meet your needs. You now realize it. Move on. Don’t waste his time anymore. Find someone who will meet your needs and move forward.

Tell him it lacks the delicacy of form and proportion.

Tell him there was too much wasted cabinet space in the laundry.

Tell him the barn doors killed it.

Tell him the double garage door with the single car garage door made it too suburban.

Tell him the design did not capture the vernacular essence of the site.

Tell him you kept hearing the song on the radio, "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Designer"

WestCoast Hopeful

We told him that we are moving on to someone else and he sent us these updates on his own initiative.

You're right - I was feeling a little spiteful, and I apologize for that. It's no excuse, but this has been a frustrating process so far, and I let that get to me.

My response to the designer will be "Thank you, but we have decided to move on." Nothing more.

I'm trying to learn how to critique these house plans so that we don't end up in this same situation in the future.

Google the style of the house you want for on-line house plans. If you see something you both love, (assuming you already have worked with your engineer) you’ll need a draftsman to turn that design into a blueprint for the contractor and his construction crew.

For instance:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/872599440/mini-cottage-house-plan-2022?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-art_and_collectibles-drawing_and_illustration-architectural_drawings&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAjwiuuRBhBvEiwAFXKaNJz3yIZ1l9eq6FiZxeh--2wvpur7bvwy_FRohG3rjFzLZasSnua4hoCwUwQAvD_BwE_k&utm_content=go_1844702580_68645564854_346397621191_pla-354814709658_c__872599440_12768591&utm_custom2=1844702580&gclid=CjwKCAjwiuuRBhBvEiwAFXKaNJz3yIZ1l9eq6FiZxeh--_2wvpur7bvwy_FRohG3rjFzLZasSnua4hoCwUwQAvD_BwE

Interesting:

https://cottageology.com/fushia-cottage-plans/

Online plans are as easy as shopping at Walmart.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lancaster-Home-Bentwood-Leisure-Side-Reception-Chair/253301804?irgwc=1&sourceid=imp_Qgp2AyWNOxyITZNQN2Wk1V8vUkGQRLVciySgx80&veh=aff&wmlspartner=imp_150372&clickid=Qgp2AyWNOxyITZNQN2Wk1V8vUkGQRLVciySgx80&sharedid=&affiliates_ad_id=568839&campaign_id=9383

These designs have small roof overhangs. In Michigan south facing windows offer welcome sunlight during the winter. But an overhang is necessary for the hot summer months. Winter sun angle is about 25* and summer abour 72*. Limited west facing windows go along with that. North glass can be minimized.

@Ciseal, last anecdote, I promise. Our nearest neighbor is an old farm about half a mile south on the 'kitty-corner' corner. It had been owned by a common rural type - a crotchety eccentric. He completely encircled his boundary with trees over the time it took us to build ours (weekends over five years). He passed away a few years back and it is now an Airbnb, but we don't ever realize it's rented, lol, unless they wander over to see our horses.

As for the house down the valley, a few more have joined it. I have come to realize it's nice when our power goes out to know whether we should check the circuit breakers or it's a valley-wide problem. And lights on a snowy evening are rather a pretty thing.

Last, solar power wasn't much of a thing when we bought our land but luckily we planned for it in siting. We use it for our outbuildings and hope to add it for the house in the near future.

Best.

At the end of my second solar design class in college, the professor informed us that Michigan is one of the worst states for solar energy because of the amount of cloud cover. I assume technology has improved over the years that make solar energy feasible in some cases.

Solar can depend on cost. In Michigan electricity was $0.11/kilowatt. Today that gone to $0.18. Future cost will be more. Used 250w panels are $50/ea. from Signature Solar. Plus shipping. Tesla chose Longi 400w panels for their new factory in Austin. Better sun there.