In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:
I've got our window sticker as well. Original retail price was $26,414. Current version (as close as I can get it) is $44,100 minus some silliness of offers and deals and such bringing it to $40,452. We got ours for $24,100 with discount back in 2006. That's a $20k price difference in 11 years on sticker price. 60% jump. that's nutso.
kevlarcorolla wrote:frenchyd wrote:So your house has 105 windows and 31 doors??. Also why would you waste your time,fuel and abuse your own truck to haul all that stuff when the suppliers deliver for free?.MDJeepGuy wrote: Here's the issue, if I need a truck, I need a truck. Not a car, van, or SUV. What's my option? Gotta pay the price. I will also buy a full size Ford, nothing else, so a cheaper truck from another manufacturer is irrelevant. If any manufacturer wants to get in the "cheaper truck" game, all they have to do is look at Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma, and Nissan Frontier sales. Those are cheaper and don't sell close to the numbers of the big boys.My 1997 Chevy pickup died Wednesday, 371,000 miles on it. I spent a little over $1000 in repairs to get it there. (Not counting normal wear items etc..) It worked for 3 companies in it's lifetime and with allowances given to me by those companies for it's use it was paid for three times over. In addition it built my house. Hauling 55,000 board feet of timbers and wood, countless tons of stone, rock, and masonry. 105 windows, 31 doors, wooden shakes for the roof, All the S.I.P.s all the ICF's, wiring, plumbing, tubs, sinks, fixtures, furniture, and nearly every bolt, screw, and nail used in it's construction. In addition it's hauled race cars around the country, across the mountains, and over the ocean (in a ship of course) I paid $22,000 for it in 1997 (new) and averaged nearly 18 MPG.. I'd say I got my money's worth out of it.. Wednesday night I bought a New Ford pick-up and paid $33,000 for it. If it serves me nearly as well as my Chevy did it will outlast me.. Oh by the way I've averaged 22.7 MPG on my first 1/2 of tank of fuel.. Yep V8, 4X4, whistles, and bells. The old one sits in my driveway waiting to be hauled away by a scrap dealer..
So you believe in free lunch? I'm sorry but "free' delivery doesn't exist.. The reason I buy my wood at the sawmill and haul it home is the difference in final cost. At the sawmill I was paying 17 cents per board foot for Black walnut, 40 cents for white oak, (no I didn't transpose those numbers or misplace a period..) In those days prices for black walnut were around $7-8 dollars a bd.ft. and white oak was $4-5 I could buy Hardwood cheaper than the best discounted pine/fir price I could find at either a lumberyard or the big box stores.. In fact I bough hardwood cheaper than I could buy sheetrock!!!!
Now there is more to that story but bottom line the closer to the source you buy the cheaper things are.. Wood has between 8 and 15 middlemen and I cut out all but one, the sawmill.
Yes, 105 windows and 31 doors. (you can afford it if you cut out enough middlemen)
In reply to frenchyd:
So, you believe your labor is free? 
Every hour you spent at the sawmill is an hour you could have been installing windows. Even if construction is not your revenue stream, every hour you spent transporting is one you could have been earning money.
I get your point, but you are underestimating the cost of the time involved, and the value of the networking opportunities with those middlemen vendors. You are also comparing the value of a new truck to the value of a $1000 beater truck, which is pretty irrelevant to this conversation.
In reply to frenchyd:
Hang on... I know you! 
Also, Sawmill wood was probably uncured...
Keep in mind rebates.
My 2014 F150 xlt stickered for 43k and some change. My price BEFORE trade in, Before taxes, Before down payment was 32k. .. that's 11k off of the price...
SVreX wrote: In reply to frenchyd: So, you believe your labor is free?
Yes my labor is free, isn't yours? I mean do you charge yourself to watch TV or play golf (or whatever you enjoy doing?) As for hauling wood home? I set my sales territory up so that I finished at the sawmill and then loaded my truck for the trip home.. Those middlemen you spoke of turned me onto the sawmill I used..(and I sold them equipment to earn the money I used to buy the wood)
However truth be told I sorta went way overboard with building this house.. A typical new home takes around 2500 to 3000 man hours to build.. (for perspective a 40 hour work week job is 2050 hours per year.)
I have in excess of 30,000 man hours so far. With luck I'll be finished the day before they start digging my grave..
Incidentally when I started hauling wood home from the sawmill it was a near new truck.
Mad_Ratel wrote: Also, Sawmill wood was probably uncured...
Not only uncured, (the correct term is not dried to under 18% moisture content) but rough sawn, and at the sawmill. So I hauled it home, stickered it up and air dried it down to under 6% moisture, surfaced it, edged it, jointed it. Cut it to length, milled it if needed, shaped it and installed it..
Basically I bought 55,000 board feet of hardwood, paid about $30,000 and turned it into over $750,000 worth of beautiful wood.. My real bargain was a pile (1000+ bd.ft.) of Fiddleback maple for only 10 cents a board foot..(specialty shops charge as much as $450 for enough to build a violin (about 1&1/2 bd.ft.)
PS yes you can legally build your house with "uncured" wood. It's in the building codes and if you look it up be sure to tell your building inspector the correct chapter because most of them aren't aware of that provision..
How many indestructible 500hp 500k mile jaguar v12 motors did you haul and build at the same time?
In reply to frenchyd:
Yeah, I know you. Looks like yupididit does too.
You and I have very different approaches to time management.
I've been in the construction industry for 42 years, so I don't need any code lessons.
You didn't turn the wood into $750K worth of wood unless you sold it. If you did, congratulations. You are in the lumber seasoning and dressing business. You should be processing that much about every 6 months to keep your business going. But again, that's about time management.
I have no desire to argue with you, but I would like to set the record straight for others who may be reading this and led astray. The building code (specifically the IBC used throughout the US) does NOT permit lumber to be used for structural purposes that does not have a grade stamp. You can use it for decorative purposes (and it sounds like you have invested wisely in some very fine decorative wood).
I'm also a licensed carpenter with a couple dozen additional buiding code course certificates along with being a building inspector for a few yrs(went back to the tools....much less bullE36 M3 to deal with) and for sure you can't do anything structural without a grade stamp.
There is no provision to allow ungraded lumber in a dwelling,maybe you called your house a barn I dunno.
It's really off topic I know but I am very interested in how you built this massive house using $750,000 worth of ungraded lumber and got it inspected to boot.
I didn't even know structural lumber needed to be graded before this thread so I'm not really doubting as much as looking to learn more.
In reply to ebonyandivory:
I can't answer your first question.
The second part isn't hard. All lumber you buy in a lumber yard or home center already has a grade stamp on it, so it is somewhat irrelevant for most of us. It only comes into play when you are milling your own lumber, or re-using old lumber.
In reply to ebonyandivory:
BTW, there are also grades for finish materials, cabinet grade lumber, plywoods, etc., but that doesn't have anything to do with the building code.
It makes perfect sense that it needs to be graded.
The idea of getting rough-sawn wood from a sawmill and building a house with it was a surprise to me
I'm pretty sure it's not possible to air dry lumber to 6%. That's kiln or oven territory.
Construction grade materials are typically installed in the 12-16% range. Furniture grade materials are 5-10% WMC. Green freshly cut trees are up to 200% WMC.
Air dryed wood in an area where the average RH is 70% (like MN) would hit its equilibrium point at about 13% WMC.
Crap. I said I wasn't going to argue about this. OK. Let's talk about trucks.
TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS
I can't wrap my wallet around a new truck....so I go in the morning to fetch a new to me '07 Nissan.
Far from fresh but even further from the 50k + needed for a new one.
Sticker shock occurred to me today. It wasn't a truck, but a 2017 Toyota Highlander. It was a limited platinum I believe ...So probably fully loaded. It stickers at 47k and change. Holy hell...Almost 50k for a family hauler Toyota.
Oddly, my current lust, a 2017 Camaro SS 1LE is about 43k...And that, given the performance offered, seems like a steal to me. Perhaps it's all perception.
Bought a new car in 1982. $14,600. Never again, barring the lotto. Too many good, easily repaired wrecks out there.
I was looking at my race budget from the last ten years, which involves stock car and road race championships, and a couple of competitive chump races. All told, less money than a new diesel pickup truck.
In reply to SVreX:
Hmmm are we seeing OMGuar v2? I missed that guy.
Wait should I not have named him?
SVreX wrote: In reply to frenchyd: Yeah, I know you. Looks like yupididit does too.
We all know Frenchyd is the most capable man on earth. His feats rivals Robo-Jesus.
Of course we are. It's been mostly respectful. Hopefully it stays that way. Trucks trucks expensive trucks.
I've been to Frenchy's house, and it is pretty amazing...he has a lot more energy than I do. 
But yes, back to expensive trucks.
SVreX wrote: In reply to frenchyd: Yeah, I know you. Looks like yupididit does too. You and I have very different approaches to time management. I've been in the construction industry for 42 years, so I don't need any code lessons. You didn't turn the wood into $750K worth of wood unless you sold it. If you did, congratulations. You are in the lumber seasoning and dressing business. You should be processing that much about every 6 months to keep your business going. But again, that's about time management. I have no desire to argue with you, but I would like to set the record straight for others who may be reading this and led astray. The building code (specifically the IBC used throughout the US) does NOT permit lumber to be used for structural purposes that does not have a grade stamp. You can use it for decorative purposes (and it sounds like you have invested wisely in some very fine decorative wood).
The UBC (Uniform Building Code)and it's replacement both have provisions for alternative construction where you will find the authorization to use ungraded wood. That's how timberframes (both new and recovered wood)are allowed. I'm pretty sure you are confusing chapters regarding commercial buildings with private homes. If you doubt me, please stop by I'll show you all my building permits. The community I live in is extremely upscale and accordingly stickler for code conformity.
With regard time management, Normal business hours are from 9-5 Monday through Friday. Those of us who wish to work both before and after those hours can within noise restrictions work whenever we wish. I choose to use most of the remaining 24 hours to work on my house. 3-4 hours nightly was all the sleep I required.
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