tallwookie , 9 months ago

you cant just build a house anywhere you’d like - like legally, you arent allowed to do that. once you pay an architect to draft plans for the house then the plans have to be inspected to make sure it’s safe & wont collapse and kill someone once constructed. then you have to pay to bring water, gas, electricity, sewer, etc to the property. sometimes you also need to pay to have a road constructed to the property. then you have to pay for a contractor to put in a foundation, and basement if you’re going that route (which will require a geological survey, especially in a location which may have had earthquakes at any point in the last century). bunch of other contractors have to get involved - carpenters, electricians, roofers, etc. at each point during the construction, an inspector has to sign off on it so it’s “legal” and “safe” - and you have to pay for that too. finally, once construction has finished, the building has to be inspected again - usually by the city, county, or both.

for these and other unrelated reasons I’m just building my own RV and moving to sunnier climates.