Building from afar with the future in mind

Hello builders!
It has been suggested that I start my own blog about our experience with building. The below comments are located on another page as well. I will try to add to this as we go thru the building process. I will send pics also in the future. Lita Jones

We are just starting on our house in Western KY. As with everyone out there planning to build in the future, it can be a daunting task. My husband and I are both employed by the State Department and live overseas. I started this process when my husband was serving in Baghdad and did most of the design planning while I was stationed in Pakistan this last year. I made many early morning/late night phone calls back to the states to my Heritage Log dealer, my builder (10 hour time difference) and to my husband who is posted in Slovenia (4 hour time difference). Not to mention the hundreds of emails to finish the plans. All of this and still working 60+ hours/week. We had to coordinate our log delivery and loan closing with our one month of vacation in May in the states. So long story short, I traveled 4000 miles in 31 days across Western Ky and Tn buying and storing all appliances and light fixtures (catching sales at Home Depot and Lowes), picking out everything from tubs to tiles and planning for the electrical plan. Our logs were delivered on time on 13 May and are gorgeous. Our foundation was poured last week and the building will commence very soon. My husband and I will be posted in Malta for the entire construction and are so blessed that we have family in the area to oversee and check on things and so lucky that we have a great builder whom we trust. He has a great reputation with our neighbors (he built most of their log homes) and companies in the area who sing our builder's praises! I had one month to get as much done as I could. The only thing I couldn't finish was picking out the granite for the kitchen and bath and the paint colors. Thank goodness for a sister with great decorating taste to lend a hand and thank goodness for email as I finalize my kitchen and bath designs.

So here's my lessons learned-
1. Finish your plans early so the builder is not under the gun to finish his estimate before log delivery. Keep checking with the bank to make sure the loan is a go. 3 months ago when we qualified, everything was set then the mortgage crisis happened. All the log home magazines say that now is the right time to build-maybe so if you have a million dollars in the bank and on hand to build. The banks are leary of everyone now-even those with outstanding credit credentials. 4 days before the log delivery, the bank completely backed out. The morning news headlines that day read "mortgage crisis" and the bank flipped out even though we were putting a great deal of money down. We did not use a log home financing bank because our chosen bank, BB&T, had been in the business of financing log homes in our area. In May 08, suddenly building a log home was a big risk. The problem is that comparables are hard to find because all that are built are custom and people don't sell them. This coming from a bank in a 2 county area with 5 log home dealerships! Needless to say, everything worked out the day before log delivery with the bank but at a higher interest rate because it was a log home and the banker's boss was not educated in financing log home.
2. As for design, plan for enough courses of logs on the first floor to allow for 9 1/2 ft ceiling clearance from the the bottom of the log supports to the floor. This will make shopping for ceiling lights so much easier. After scouring the stores for ceiling lights, I finally found some gorgeous pendants that can be recessed into the logs. My ceiling clearance is 8 1/2 ft. I had planned for more, but somewhere, this detail was forgotten. If you have a second floor, this is not a problem. If you are like most folks, spending $400-500/ceiling light is a crazy notion. If you work closely with your builder, you can come up with some creative ways to achieve the lighting you desire.
This is my first blog and have enjoyed reading the other comments. Keep them coming.

More comments regarding planning-my husband and I are 45. However, since this log home will be the retirement home, I planned for large open plan, larger master bathroom, comfort height toilets, a walk in shower with no curb, a bench in the shower, shower head and adjustable sprayer, no door on the toilet area, the bathtub, toilet area and shower that will be fitted for grab bars now and all door ways are handicap accessible. Neither of us are handicapped, but our parents are aging and you just never know when your old knees will give out or you might twist your ankle while clearing brush on your land. You can find great looking grab bars on the internet (overstock.com) that will look lovely holding a towel until time needed. My parents will be the testers for the location of the grab bars in the bathroom. In addition, I am planning for the electrical plugs to be placed higher on the wall for easier access as we age. I will install the microwave in the island and a double wall oven for easier access as well. I also decided to install composite decking (less maintenance)now after consulting with my older neighbors who wish they had installed it at the time of the build. All my friends our age or younger think I am crazy planning for these things now. I hope I will have the last laugh. Cheers!