Now I know why

there are so few small farms in Florida. The state makes it impossible for anyone of moderate income to build a house without first taking out a mortgage and leveraging your soul.

On the phone yesterday talking with a man that has a Ph.D. in architecture, I was informed that a 36' square, dirt floor barn for livestock would cost roughly eight grand for the plans. The ones we bought from Stable Wise are now useless because they have no Florida licenced stamp of approval. That no one that has a licence would risk authorizing use of these plans (which are CAD drawn and up to codes of just about every state) without completely redrawing them and assessing a hefty fee.

The past week, after getting our letter from the mortgage company, I've been optimistic that we have a place to go, that with a little work we'll be okay. We'd be on our land, how could things be bad then? We've been uplifted by the support of strangers. We started stingily doling out the little resources we've been blessed with by buying things to make the shabin habitible.

Before buying the land we did our due dilligence and found out what it would take to get a house built. The packet from the building department seemed pretty straight forward. The papers from the sale were cut and dry. The building department never hinted that anything they told us to do would be tens of thousands to accomplish just to get a hundred dollar permit. We didn't delve into the real meat of building a house. We never imagined that Florida's new laws would make building the small home and livestock barns utterly impossible.

So, where do we go now? What do we do? We're looking into mobile homes, looking at amassing a debt we didn't want. Then even contemplating leaving the state, selling the land and heading to areas where laws are less restrictive. We wanted security with buying land, a place to weather out the stormy economy, a place to leave our children when we die but lawmakers and beurocrats have decided that unless we have hundreds of thousands of dollars at our disposal, we're not entitled to have that security. The hurricanes a few years ago have left the state in ruin. No one wants to accept responsibility for buildings and those that will step up to the plate (mainly architects) are going to want a lot of money upfront for "putting their necks on the chopping block" when disaster strikes. The insurance companies want a scapegoat and have somehow goaded the lawmakers into making that happen.

According to the architect I spoke with, there are no "stock plans" to purchase, that each home needs to be evaluated, the soil tested for stability, wind loads calculated by the new standards. Even without a mortgage or insuring the house, or ever intending to sell it the state won't allow for anything to be built without these restrictions.

So, today I will research more, scour the Earth for a solution. A mobile home on the land might be a possibility, I have some calls out to different places to see what will be.

We have BARN plans!

At www.stablewise.com you can purchase a variety of barn plans for little money. You can also download them instantly for even less. (Photo above is from Stable Wise website).

This barn houses four 12x12' pens a tack area and wash area and stairs to a hay loft. It measures 36x36' square. The barn is supposed to be for horses but I think it's about perfect for our goats and milk cow. Between the stalls I'll build a U shaped channel on both sides of the wall where they're normally divided into 2 pens. Here I'll be able to slide in 1x8x12 boards to create a chest high wall that will be removable. This way I can let the goats all live together and sanction off a section as needed for kidding, illness or bucks. The tack and wash areas are also convertable to pens. Since I don't really need tack for them I might make the part with stairs to the hay loft both the tack and wash leaving the other 12x12 side available for more livestock. The beauty of the plan is it the modularity (that's a word, right?)

I've emailed a guy that has some 25 and 30 foot long telephone poles (this is a pole barn btw) for sale and he delivers. I'm waiting for a quote.

I want to submit these plans with the house so we can work on what we want as materials, time and money permit. Having the large barn available for building materials and shaded workspace might be a bonus to have in the sweltering Florida sun. Plumbing will come in the form of rain barrels which will also be used for watering the animals. Positioning them on the North facing wall will provide shelter from the sun, keeping them cool. This will also eliminate the need for plumbing permits, inspections and additional costs to build. I'm also thinking solar for the lighting as I'd only need it when I went in to see them.

This barn is where the pallets will come heavily into play. If we can figure out how to pull of the boards without cracking them (we've been having a problem with that) I'd like to use them for siding the barn. A coat of paint and no one would know the difference. Light colored or tin roofing will help deflect heat. We'll build the barn doors ourselves with scraps unless we can get a good deal on them or find them used. Up there is Ag country and a plethora more resources than we have in the city. At least I hope so.
Right now we're finalizing the house floor plan. I'll be making calls this week to find out about permit prices. We have a lead on a bus which might pan out to our benefit. Not exactly what we're looking for but in our price range. Stay tuned, much more to come!