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We quit our jobs to build a cabin

outsideonline.com

191–200 of 402 posts

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#191
post #6

They got the property for 3,000 and sold for 115,000 (with cabin) Where can you buy so low for so much land?

Index WA is meth central and incredibly dark and dank in the winter so that might explain the cost.

Literally every locality I have ever had any interaction with on the West coast falls into one of two categories:

1) Is a major metropolitan area (LA, OC, SF, SV, Seattle, a few others)

2) Self identifies as the meth-capital of |the US| the world

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#192

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…

Well my youtube recommendations have certainly gone that way too, but I think it is a reflection of my growing hatred for IT as an industry and my desire to leave it behind forever.

I feel the same way. If i am going to continue in this business it's going to be "very freelance", "very on my own terms" whatever that means.

I am in my thirties, and a career shift seems more and more inevitable. I seem to have swallowed several blackpills about various industrial complexes and see no bright future of the internet/tech in general, rather the opposite.

What's your age and what is you plan? I am actively looking for some kind of path at the moment for ex-tech people..

If anyone has any input i am all ears!

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#193
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a few years doing under the table construction and also picked up the skills to work on mechanical things around the same time. Then I went to college, got a career and spent some money picking up the skills required to work in metal. Electrical and plumbing (not just for water) are things you kind of have to pick up along the way. I'm no means a professional at any of these skills because I don't get 40hr of…

I agree with throwaway0a5e: I became a homeowner as a never-interested DIY with EE/CS degrees. We had an unfinished basement that we paid the builder to finish only the electrical, plumbing, and framing. I'd always heard drywall'ing was easy so I left that for me to do. At the time I knew nothing about lighting, fixtures, eletrical work, etc. Ended up agreeing to J-boxes for basement lights rather than cans, and a fe…

Electrical and plumbing are relatively easy compared to anything that requires accurate measuring and cutting.

The latter can really kill a project if you can't get it right consistently, preferably first time.

That's where the skill comes in - not just the physical labour, but the experience needed to make allowances for material tolerances and other possible gotchas.

Professionals (should) have that knack, amateurs rarely will.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#194
post #67

I usually just roll my eyes at stuff like this, despite being dangerously close to the stereotype (however, most of my family is working class, so I actually worked with my hands before becoming a developer), but this line made me angry: > Sometimes, during those months of toil, our anger burned so intensely that we thought the boards we threw into the woods might never land. To paraphrase Gandalf, next time throw yo…

I took two long journeys in my life, one for 11 months and another for 5: https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/perspective/minimalism/ https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/perspective/a-tale-of-t... I lived out of two bags the first time and a car the second. I learned a lot about myself and the world. I had a good amount saved up, but I've met people who've done similar trips and haven't. I got the idea from a guy I…

Did that for a while in my early 20s. Spent a few months in Asia with just a 35L backpack of clothes on my back and the odd book. This was before wifi and smartphones. Happiest time of my life.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#195
post #181

My family owns multiple cabins, mostly built by family members with the occasional framing and finishing work by friends of the family and/or a local contractor. The one my father owns was framed and roofed by contractors, but the closing, finishing, deck and float construction, and 30 years of repairs and renovations were done by himself and us kids. It sits on a steep hill, so putting a 60x20ft deck on 15ft stilts…

I do think I could build a house. First one might not be great, but like software or any skill iteration matters. The patience to spend years learning to build something and doing it badly several times is probably the factor that prevents people from just building a house for themselves. It takes years to grok a complex software system, this is not transferable to grokking a house. It takes similar years to grok a m…

Iterating on software is nearly free. Iterating on home construction is not. Permits, materials, the cost of land, etc etc.

That's one reason you see more planning, training, apprenticeships, and established guidance in construction than in software. Iteration isn't a great technique.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#196

My family owns multiple cabins, mostly built by family members with the occasional framing and finishing work by friends of the family and/or a local contractor. The one my father owns was framed and roofed by contractors, but the closing, finishing, deck and float construction, and 30 years of repairs and renovations were done by himself and us kids. It sits on a steep hill, so putting a 60x20ft deck on 15ft stilts…

I agree with you that some of this comes from snobbery and ignorance, but I think it's also motivated by a naive form of human curiosity. There's a line in East of Eden about one of the main characters (Samuel Hamilton) that talks about how he abhorred the sprawl of knowledge and increasing specialization of the human race. That trend has of course led to an immense improvement in the quality of life of our species, but I think it is a really disconcerting and slightly sad feeling as a curious person to realize there are huge realms of knowledge and skill that I will never live long enough to explore and enjoy.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#197
post #6

They got the property for 3,000 and sold for 115,000 (with cabin) Where can you buy so low for so much land?

"so much" land is a quarter acre. I don't know about Washington, but in Texas, they would have grossly overpaid - I know relatives who got entire acres for half that.

Depending on the exact location, you can get land for as little as $1000/acre in central Oregon. $12,000/acre isn't impressive at all for off-the-grid non-farmable land.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#198
post #78

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've noticed that watching literally part of one video will cause youtube to recommend a lot more of that category of content.

For one recent example, there was an article about Elon Musk and his girlfriend who releases music as Grimes. I clicked play on one of the embedded music videos and watched about half of it. Ever since then youtube has recommended tons of Grimes videos to me.

I've also noticed that videos my wife or kids watch get recommended to me sometimes.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#199
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can you that the amortized cost of a septic system could easily work out to $300 bi-monthly over a decade or two. Managing your own sewer is not trivial or inexpensive. For me, the tank plus installation was almost $10k CAD, and then the septic field itself would probably run between $30k and $50k CAD. So to be generous we could say $50k total for the full install. So that's about 8 years at $300 bimonthly just to…

Yeah, septic and well are definitely not something you do to save money. They're things to do because you can't get water or septic at a location.

My overall point is... let's dispense with the libertarian yeoman self-sufficient fantasy: if you want to save money, live in the place where economies of scale have been achieved... towns. People have been doing it this way since the neolithic.

Should you really like nature and having space and big gardens and farming and the like, then be prepared to pay for it.

Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin

#200
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is probably true.

See "Mozilla project exposes YouTube's recommendation 'bubbles'" https://www.engadget.com/mozilla-youtube-bubble-200045382.ht... (and many others, I'm sure)
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