Building a log cabin in Walker! (Phoenix, Mesa: house, neighborhood, construction)

[HX_Guy]

Very exited to start this adventure! Wife and I bought a 2 acre piece of land off of Walker Rd and Big Bug Mesa Rd and are doing a true log home, should be starting site work next week.

We kind of just stumbled on the area after looking at the area east of Payson for a bit, which was a 2.5 hour drive from out house in NW Phoenix. The lot in Walker is only a 1.5 hour drive (have made it there as quick as 1:22 door to door before). Am amazed that such a difference in scenery exists so close by, love that Lynx lake is less than a 10 min drive and that Costco is right there as you come up from Phoenix.

Was pretty surprised at some of the prices, both for land and what it costs to actually build a log cabin but going ahead full steam!

Anyway, looking forward to it and our new community!

[HX_Guy]

Going to turn this into a little blog thread if anyone is curious to see the process.

A little bit of backstory first. We considered both log cabins and stick-built homes, but for me, it's log cabin or nothing. I want something truly different than what we live in in Phoenix. Want it to be an experience, from the building of it to spending time there. No super high soaring ceiling, minimal drywall, want it cozy and comfortable. Looked at a bunch of different log cabin companies and went with Southland Log Homes. Chose one of their floorpans and then modified it to our liking.

We hired a company out of Texas to come and put the cabin together. Apparently log cabin builders are not a dime a dozen.

Ok, enough typing, on to some pictures.

This is the lot. It's 280 ft x 310 ft. Has a seasonal creek that runs through it, and two mine shafts!






Marked off the location of the cabin. The site work starts Wednesday, they are doing the driveway, the culvert over the creek, and the building pads to start. Should be done in 7-10 days with that. Septic needs to go in after, along with pulling power from the transformer (which is right on the corner of the lot), and pulling water from the well (well is already dug and ready go to, just needs a pump installed).



Had some fun with the drone...








Nearby Lynx Lake. 7 minute drive. Its pretty awesome.






Surrounding area...






And the cabin. We ended up at 2,380 sq ft, 3 bedrom + Sunrun + office/den. 2 1/2 baths. 1,640 sq ft of decks/porches plus a detached, log sided 36'x24' three car garage.








This is all the stuff the log cabin company provides. Then a log cabin builder comes in and assembles it all onto the foundation. Then the interior is done just like any other house. After permits for the cabin are in (which apparently is going to take months :/ ), it's about 8-10 weeks to get the cabin to "weather tight" status and then we can start the interior work. Projected completion is sometime next spring.




The inspiration. We tried to put an offer in on this cabin but were too late, the seller had already accepted an offer from someone else just hours prior. Loved everything about it, and especially the inside. Looks like its 100 years old! We want to basically copy this, including the brick fireplaces, outdoor gazebo, and even the interior furnishing.

[snebarekim]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Going to turn this into a little blog thread if anyone is curious to see the process.

A little bit of backstory first. We considered both log cabins and stick-built homes, but for me, it's log cabin or nothing. I want something truly different than what we live in in Phoenix. Want it to be an experience, from the building of it to spending time there. No super high soaring ceiling, minimal drywall, want it cozy and comfortable. Looked at a bunch of different log cabin companies and went with Southland Log Homes. Chose one of their floorpans and then modified it to our liking.

We hired a company out of Texas to come and put the cabin together. Apparently log cabin builders are not a dime a dozen.

Ok, enough typing, on to some pictures.

HX_Guy,

All very nice, and seems an exciting project for sure.

Personally, I like home build blogs (I have followed a few) but be careful of oversharing in your excitement.

Not everybody online wants to simply enjoy your progress.

What I know now of your build so far:

1- Your exact location (semi remote)
2- Your timeline
3- Your builder details, such as they are not local
4- It is highly likely your new cabin will be empty part of the time.
5- You are monied to some degree, so your cabin will likely have nice things in it


Do you see some potential issues here?

Just a cautionary word.

[like-2-hike]

Originally Posted by snebarekim

HX_Guy,

All very nice, and seems an exciting project for sure.

Personally, I like home build blogs (I have followed a few) but be careful of oversharing in your excitement.

Not everybody online wants to simply enjoy your progress.

What I know now of your build so far:

1- Your exact location (semi remote)
2- Your timeline
3- Your builder details, such as they are not local
4- It is highly likely your new cabin will be empty part of the time.
5- You are monied to some degree, so your cabin will likely have nice things in it


Do you see some potential issues here?

Just a cautionary word.

It's good to provide a word of caution, and indeed I suspect I've found the location (although I can't for the life of me find the actual parcel in GIS - I think because they don't assign physical addresses until there's a building on the property?). I'm not interested enough to dig through the Recorder's records to find it that way, but I imagine you could in five minutes or less.

That said, from my limited experience in Walker and surrounding areas (Potato Patch, for example), there are people who live year-round, and they are well aware of their neighbors and the status of their properties, and they do a good job of watching for anomalous activities. A true neighborhood watch, without the fancy signs.

I look forward to reading more about HX_Guy's experience - the property looks beautiful, the cabin floor plan impressive, and if I had tons of money I'd be interested in doing something similar (and I assume from the floor plan and bringing in an out-of-state builder that this will indeed be quite expensive).

As for the assumptions above, I think #4 is somewhat irrelevant given good neighbors and a few security cameras connected to the Internet.

[snebarekim]

Originally Posted by like-2-hike

It's good to provide a word of caution, and indeed I suspect I've found the location (although I can't for the life of me find the actual parcel in GIS - I think because they don't assign physical addresses until there's a building on the property?). I'm not interested enough to dig through the Recorder's records to find it that way, but I imagine you could in five minutes or less.

That said, from my limited experience in Walker and surrounding areas (Potato Patch, for example), there are people who live year-round, and they are well aware of their neighbors and the status of their properties, and they do a good job of watching for anomalous activities. A true neighborhood watch, without the fancy signs.

I look forward to reading more about HX_Guy's experience - the property looks beautiful, the cabin floor plan impressive, and if I had tons of money I'd be interested in doing something similar (and I assume from the floor plan and bringing in an out-of-state builder that this will indeed be quite expensive).

As for the assumptions above, I think #4 is somewhat irrelevant given good neighbors and a few security cameras connected to the Internet.

I too would love to do something like this (although I am an introvert,my wife is not, so no get away cabins in the cards for us), hence my interest in a log cabin build.

But he has posted enough info here that I was able to find his plot very quickly, hence my caution.



I have seen two other online builds (one a vlog, the other a blog) result in strangers simply showing up at the property in a creepy way. The blog owner took his offline after that happened.

I work in technical security and CI, so perhaps my nature is a bit, well jaded. It drives my social butterfly wife a bit nutty sometimes, but as Popeye would say "I yam what I yam".

That all said, I too would enjoy a build blog like this. I drove though Walker with my wife on our own potential house hunting expeditions a couple of times years ago, and yes, residents will watch you if you drive through slowly, lol. That is a good thing for sure IMO.

I don't know how good/reliable internet is down there though.

[Code Stemi]

HX_Guy, absolutely stunning property and cabin. Living the dream life. Hope to be at the point you are one day in the beautiful Bradshaw mountains as well. Congrats

[HX_Guy]

Thanks for the concerns, I'm not too worried.

[snebarekim]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Thanks for the concerns, I'm not too worried.

Ok then, looking forward to your build photos/progress!


By chance is the HX in your name for heat exchanger? My former career was in HVAC&R, I am currently interested in building a low maintenance indirect solar thermal loop for a large hot tub.

[HX_Guy]

It is not, it's an old car I used to have, a Civic HX. :P

[HX_Guy]

This is so cool haha :grin:

Got our first set of plans via email today, guess they are also FedExing out full size prints that we can then mark up with any changes we want to make then they will do a revision before final construction plans.

Don't really have any big changes. We want to add a couple dormers to the garage to give it a little more charm and a side window. Also want to do a patio cover off the right side, will be doing an outdoor fireplace there.

Everything else looks pretty good. I'm a bit perplexed by the "Storage" shown on the second floor. Love that it has the storage...how the heck do you access it?? :P




















Changes we want to make...