OK.
I knew going in that building a house, even a little itty bitty house, would be a challenge- I just didn’t think the challenges, and that’s what I’m gonna call ’em- would rear up this early.
I hadn’t heard from Dominion Power so I called today to see what was up. The very lovely I am sure Lauren, told me that she had been wrong and that Dominion Power couldn’t just willy nilly install power poles and bring electricity to empty lots until they saw some movement, some construction goin’ on.
And I was like. OK, that’s cool.
So I asked the very lovely I am sure Lauren what Dominion Power needed to see from me to install electricity. Did they need to see a building permit? Backhoes digging and laying septic? What?
And the very lovely I am sure Lauren said that Dominion Power wanted to see construction taking place and then she squatted and laid the bomb.
And you’re gonna have to pay for it. She said.
PAY FOR TELEPHONE POLES TO BE INSTALLED TO BRING ELECTRICITY TO MY HOUSE? WTF? YOU’RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT?
And the very lovely I am sure Lauren said- YES.
When I came to, after I regained consciousness, and the paramedics had left I called and asked the very lovely I am sure Lauren just how much Dominion Power Trucks and Crews were gonna cost.
And the very lovely I am sure Lauren said she didn’t know and couldn’t possibly calculate the cost until she engineered what had to be done AFTER I started construction.
And I’m pretty positive the very lovely I am sure Lauren was surprised by my invective, because she said she’d have a ballpark figure for me next week.
In the meantime I’m going to the NC state utility commission to fight it.
THEN.
One of the reasons we were forging ahead with the build was that we were given about twenty new Crestline windows. I had designed our new little house using just about all of them.
Come to find out- they don’t have the coastal DP (design performance) rating required so we can’t use any of them which meant I spent a good part of the evening re-designing our little bitty house and the rest of the night knitting my very lovely I am sure Lauren and Crestline Window dickhead dolls and poking pins in them.
Back to square one.
Building a house is tough.
oceandoggy.com 
–>I hope you told Lauren to JAM IT.
Please share the love shack house design, version 2.0.
~deb
I did. And I am and I will.
Actually the umpteenth iteration of the drawings, the very most final of the drawings might be the next installment.
Love shack. I like that.
(Also, I like the new blog look.)
Thanks.
They say once you go black you never go back but we’ll see.
Like the new look ~ very cool.
I wish you much luck with dealing with DVP. I use to work for a builder….I can tell you some horror stories. You look up ‘slow to get it down’ and ‘expensive’ in the dictionary and their company logo is pictured. Hopefully you will have better tales to tell.
Think of all the money you’ll save on electricity bills.
You’re not kiddin’- looks like it’s gonna by candles for light and a fireplace for heat.
This is great. I have been researching the best way to build a modest house in North Swan for years. I have even toyed with the idea of placing a ” Park Ranger ” cottage , already built, up on pilings. I have searched the Tiny House sites and many others including the Topsider pre fabs that go on a pedestal. I will be checking in regularly and hope to get down there to check my land and your progress. By the way, are you in the X Zone and where is your lot. Thanks – Kevin – Putnam Valley / White Plains – NY
I’m hopin’ I can prove you can still build a little house in the US.
So yeah, stay tuned.
We’re in X Zone in Carova, but we’re in a flood zone in Knott’s Island- lots of sand and fill.