building a big ass vacation home
 

so i bought a really beautiful ski-in/ski-out property awhile ago.

jesus h christ this project has me shitting myself. how the fuck do you build something like this right from scratch? i can build pretty much *anything* i want... that should be good. but it isn't - there are way too many possibilities. i'm such a control freak motherfucker - i go crazy over details. this is the grand fucking poobah of macro/micro details.

i've been so pre-occupied over it the past week, it's been affecting my work.

i'm beginning to wonder if i should just back out (getting a little late for that though). seems like way too much to take on. especially when it's just me doing it all. i have a business to run hehe.

argh.

I'll live their and make sure no one breaks in while you arent using it if you want....

Hills and valleys.

i'll live there too and make sure detoxed doesn't break anything.

Just say "fuck it" :thumbsup

You can't really go wrong with a luxury vacation home. You could probably pick what you want by making up a list of your options and throwing darts at it while blindfolded and still be happy with the finished product.

you gotta try and let go a little and give the details over to the contractor and the architect... trust in that they know what they do.... I try to micro manage everything too, but sometimes it's better not to.

best of luck with it though...

If you need home theatre prewire help you can ask me, I've been there, done that.

why dont you get a contractor to build it for you

What ideas did you have anyway?

Ski country makes me automatically think warm big fireplaces...

Sounds complicated but fun.

:)

Building from scratch is one of the most unpleasant experiences you'll ever experience.

When its done you'll say to yourself, I'll never do that again. It's too time consuming, too aggravating, and if you are a details freak / control freak quiet, (I'm the same) you'll go stir crazy catching all the little mistakes the contractors make and then wondering how many you might have missed.

yeah, this is what i said earlier on. and i thought it would be the greatest to have free reign on the entire project. but now that i have to start looking at just some basic decisions, it's driving me crazy. i won't start breaking ground till early March '04 (less than 9 months) so there is definitely some time to think i guess.

very true. i want to do that, but for various reasons i've been much more sucessful when keeping my thumb on absolutely everything... in the past at least.

of course i'm getting a general contractor to build it. but he isn't going to tell me what to build. and because it's on a mountain, i have to also hire an architect for the entire project.

also, everything has to be approved by the resort, which makes things more complicated...

I'll live there too and make sure FlyingIguana doesn't fuck detoxed.

I'll also make sure they don't drink all Quiet's Heineken.

:glugglug

argh. there is so much i could list it would be huge :glugglug

that's encouraging :glugglug

I spent a year and a half doing one. I'm just a perfectionist which is a problem because most contractors are not precise. I was going everyday checking things from top to bottom, and I was floored by how many things weren't aligned exactly right. The marble floor really was a pain. I went through several general contractors and then got so fed up I took over managing the subs myself, which turned out to be a headache also.

Don't get me wrong. If you want everything exactly to your personal tastes and spec, there's no better way. But just know, its so much easier and less stressful to just buy a finished house.

http://catalog.com/uvlight/images/detailedmap.jpg

the mountain is facing west. the main gondola is a couple hundred feet to the west. my property is #2.

#2 eh?? If you lend any credendce to feng shui, you're fucked from the start.....bad lot shape, bad chi.



just playin' (sorta)...best of luck :)




oh and you are right to be wary of contractors....only a select few have the commitment to quality that you are looking for.

EXACTLY, I started building one and the fuckin bullshit just was sick, I think after car dealers contractors are the biggest liers and bullshitters

the reason i bought what i bought, is because of the south west exposure (for the pool and hot tub that will be built in the back yard), the perfect backyard view of the entire mountain, the large building evelope size (4500 sq feet for the first floor not including the garage) and the accessibility to the gondola.

what is in 19?

a mansion. they all sold in 48 hours :glugglug

if you're planning on including a deck, look into this stuff... http://www.trex.com/

it's what I'm gonna re-deck my deck with.

hell yeah.

can't wait to see some of your first pics man.

cheers.

:glugglug

Screw it, just build a Yurt

http://www.lavahotsprings.org/bristo...tions/yurt.jpg

I was just kind of messing with you... The lot shape, while not exactly the best isn't that bad at all. For comparison, lot 8 is a complete disaster from a feng shui standpoint. Also, having the mountain at your back is excellent chi :)

yo thats awesoem man! good luck with that, i just started snowboarding this year got pretty good at the end of the season, fucking fun! :thumbsup

How big is youre lot?

i'll check it out...

i suppose if i bought into or was concerned with feng shui, i would have taken it into consideration when i bought the land. feng shui reminds me of my ex-girlfriend...

:glugglug

cheers bro :glugglug

if i'm to build this thing, i can't wait to have you two out...

14,208 square feet.

One would be absolutely silly to pass up that wild time.

:glugglug

nice - #2 look like one of the best lots

indoor or outdoor pool?

holly shit - LOOK AT THAT DECK!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW

i'm ready to kill my contractor - I wanted trex cause I'm lazy and hate staining and he talked me outa it cause when I built my deck there wasn't enough data on whether or not it could handle cold weather. (i use the deck in -30 for the hot tub) - initial reports say it can handle it... damn it - i went with wood.

Trex is the fuckin shizzle bro.... you shoulda bitchslapped your contractor man....

But, in the end, this will be yours.

And, make the list. Make it long and detailed, with everything you've ever dreamed of having.

If the contractor fucks something up, that's okay. It can be fixed or altered.

Turning a dream into a reality doesn't happen often. Revel in all the aggravation. :)

someone has one of those here - with a matching dome garage. i think it looks horrible

oh, i have a list. with over 120 items on it. and it's barely scratching the surface. i can't even decide on the color of the stone used for the exterior.

:glugglug

one of the many big questions. the architect i'm talking to (not hired yet) says i can do a winterized outdoor pool if we just put a massive mechanized insluator over it whenever it is not in use.

if i opt for in door, he wants it to be separate from the rest of the home, with a walkway to attach. there can be lots of problems with moisture if it is directly attached to the home...

Only 120? :)

I know it's hard....so many colours and textures......I so love the look of stone...from the tawny fawn coloured taupes to the varying shades of grey..and everything in between....

My personal favourites are the taupes.....no pink hues....they go so well with mountain.

mositure and smell. I'm looking into an indoor pool myself and most I see have that distinct clorene ordor. no biggie when hanging out in the pool area but not something you want in your house.

the only thing that would deter me from a mechanical insulator would be how it would fit an irregular shaped pool. rectangle pools are boring. Also snow - it's no big deal to get the snow off my hot tub cover but a pool cover might be another animal entirely? how do they work in that aspect as a ski resort would liky have a lot of snowfall that would need to be removed from the cover. I'm rater curious about that.......

other than that an insulator might actually be a really cool idea.

agreed. the walkway/indoor will cost much more immediately. but the cost of running a winterized pool will be nasty. we already talked about about smoothly shaped pools. he says they can run a cover that is retangular, but larger than the pool (meaning a customized pool would not be a problem). basically it would cover the pool plus some of the patio when covered.

what about snow on the cover?

if you're talking about snow on the pool, it's a none issue.

simply sweep it off the cover every couple of days if it's snowing hard (which it will - kicking horse was a heliski operation before they started buliding the resort).

i wonder if it would be possible to gain most of the heat for the pool from a heat pump running lines through the ground or from well water?

There are curling rinks here that use that kind of a system to freeze and heat their buildings - the initial cost is heavy but operating costs are penuts- it might be possible to use it on a pool.........

i'm giving myself ideas here... hummmm. I need to look into this for my own backyard... I hadn't considered the idea of a cover on a pool and using it year round.

you are giving me a headache (not that i haven't already had one for over a week). for some reason i don't think it will work though....