We quit our jobs to build a cabin • Hacker News Board

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#211

Post by marktangotango » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:39 PM UTC

mdavidn wrote: post #78

look_lookatme wrote: post #63

It does not surprise me that these guys are writers. This reads very much like a project intended to produce a content product as much as a cabin. It's romantic and they have plenty of meticulously framed videos and photos. Maybe they did some youtube videos with dramatic moments -- maybe even the moment they open the piece with -- anger, violence, frustration boiling over. But now they are taking woodworking courses…

YouTube's recommendations may be more a reflection of your watch history than a shift in content or a change in the algorithm. I have not seen any van life, off-grid, or tiny home videos on YouTube.

I carefully curate my youtube viewing by using lots of incognito windows to view things I don't want showing up in my recommendations. All it takes is one errant click to throw the whole thing off. Oh why did I not incognito that terrible comedian?

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#212

Post by 0xffff2 » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

julianeon wrote: post #56

Seems like they should have documented the process much earlier. It could have gone viral, with people following the developments, plus pictures, week by week. I could easily see that cabin, in a bidding war, going for $150,000. Then sell an ebook documenting How to Build Your Own Cabin for $100, to bring in an extra $50,000.

I think for that kind of thing to work, they would have had to actually know what they're doing.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#213

Post by TomMarius » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

endymi0n wrote: post #188

sushshshsh wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet there are people who have built cabins in Alaska with nothing but some metal and a lot of ingenuity and muscle. I think that if you have to build a cabin that conforms to certain building guidelines, bank standards, codes, mainstream retail expectations.... then for sure you are going to encounter expenses and risk. But I really hate this notion of "just pay someone to do it correctly", because this propositi…

I can clearly see both sides by now. I've built a high sleeper in my old apartment from scratch (which is kind of an understatement as it was effectively half a floor on top of a whole room including real stairs as a concession to my then-pregnant wife). After 3 months of advance planning, I finally realized the gravity of my mistake when the delivery truck lifted half a ton of wood onto the sidewalk and drove away.…

The software is only in our heads. It's mind blowing, but you can't see and feel it. I also love to build physical stuff - last month I built a bed into my car, now I can go anywhere and sleep there - what an awesome thing it is, and my girlfriend loves it too. She appreciates software as well (being a genetic biologist/data analyst/programmer), but the bed, a comparably simpler thing, is what we talk all the time about. The second thing - when was the last time you built a piece of software that helps you do fun stuff? I didn't do that for years, maybe never - all software I build is for "serious work stuff". To be honest, I don't know what program could I make that would bring me joy comparable to the car-bed.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#214

Post by richjdsmith » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

asurty wrote: post #164

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #119

I knew a real estate agent who specialized in cabins and mountain properties. He had a constant inventory of what he called "Divorce Cabins". They were half-finished DIY cabin builds or renovations that turned out to be way more stress and work than the couples expected. This tended to lead to divorce, which lead to a forced sale of the property. Experienced contractors would pick them up at a discount, finish the wo…

This is exactly why I decided against purchasing a cottage (thats what we call it up here in Canada). I realized I would be spending at least 4 hours in traffic every weekend to double my house work. Instead why not just put all that time in making my home in the city as habitable as possible? Maybe some day but it would have to be a permanent and only residence.

Fun little side-note but Cabins are called cabins in Western (BC & Alberta for sure, and I believe Sask as well) Canada. It's only Eastern Canada that calls them cottages.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#215

Post by new2628 » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

janee wrote: post #182

sushshshsh wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet there are people who have built cabins in Alaska with nothing but some metal and a lot of ingenuity and muscle. I think that if you have to build a cabin that conforms to certain building guidelines, bank standards, codes, mainstream retail expectations.... then for sure you are going to encounter expenses and risk. But I really hate this notion of "just pay someone to do it correctly", because this propositi…

> And yet there are people who have built cabins in Alaska with nothing but some metal and a lot of ingenuity and muscle. You're forgetting time. Not sure if you've seen "Dick Proenneke in Alone in the Wilderness" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG3fUIoXQ5A ). It's a great watch, and a good example of what I think you're referring to overall...that said it looked like an extremely hard way to build and from persona…

Another great series is Advoko: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRSUxRUZb0I

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#216

Post by newintellectual » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

Measure twice, cut once.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#217

Post by cynicalreason » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

nwallin wrote: post #135

> The first thing he did was host a long-weekend work party to fix it up. I flew up from my home in Oakland, California. With a group of friends, we tore out exposed nails, cladded interior walls, built a deck and an outhouse, and hung shingles. At night, covered in sawdust and grime, we drank too much and huddled around a propane stove to keep warm, eventually falling asleep and breathing in noxious fumes all night…

Amen ... I've started building a shed (10x10) 1.5 months ago with 0 woodworking experience.

It's the most fun I've had in a decade .. my joints are swollen, I've got bruises and scrapes on my hands and feet, skin on my hand is actually rough.

I work from home nine-to-five, software. I can't wait to finish work to actually go outside and work on the shed.

I've actually considered quitting my job and doing this full time .. but it won't pay nearly enough as I'm making in software and my financial commitments won't let me.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#218

Post by freetime2 » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

Johnny555 wrote: post #88

When we had nothing but the floor, we were still sketching and debating ridiculous design ideas over our morning coffee—curved, pagoda-style rooflines; walls that folded down into decks; a spiral staircase wrapping around a tree trunk to the loft—as if we were made of money and time. I wonder if they told the buyer that the cabin was built by 2 underfunded inexperienced guys with no plans? They aren't out of the wood…

Yup and as a buyer I would be very hesitant to spend $100K on a home that wasn’t built by a licensed and insured builder... much less a home built by two complete amateurs.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#219

Post by marktangotango » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

huntilio wrote: post #186

look_lookatme wrote: post #63

It does not surprise me that these guys are writers. This reads very much like a project intended to produce a content product as much as a cabin. It's romantic and they have plenty of meticulously framed videos and photos. Maybe they did some youtube videos with dramatic moments -- maybe even the moment they open the piece with -- anger, violence, frustration boiling over. But now they are taking woodworking courses…

There's nothing left to worship, so you're seeing a confluence of 2 forms of modern worship: a return to nature / primitive living (where we can imagine away the distractions of modern living), and worship of the self / fame, where we create these myths of ourselves and tell that story / get a bunch of people to be interested. I suspect neither one is very fulfilling, but I understand the impulse (especially the firs…

One need only cite Emerson and Thoreau to see this has in fact been going on for quite some time.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#220

Post by Kosirich » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:43 PM UTC

I have a friend who did something similar to this but in his case he did it in his spare time (he works remote/flexible so spare can be during the day), mostly taking inspiration from guys like this that document the process and mistakes that they make or happen along the way. He was fortunate to have a plot of land in the middle of the woods large enough to allow him to build what the law here defines as "support house" that can be maximum 26 m2 (most people abuse it). Another benefit he had is that his uncle owns a lumber mill just 2 km away and he could get wood beams and planks very cheaply and conveniently. For insulation he used mud and straw he got for nothing from nearby farms. After painting the facade you really couldn't tell.