Help with my yardscaping plans?

[zmotorsports]

I guess that's a premium, and I'm not worthy.

Holy CRAP!

And I thought my 3/4 acre lot was expensive @ $109k. Daaayyyyyuuuuummmm.

 

[Bart]

Yep, people like Marc don't come along every day. Neither do culdesac lots.

 

[mbryson]

I guess that's a premium, and I'm not worthy.

Holy CRAP!

And I thought my 3/4 acre lot was expensive @ $109k. Daaayyyyyuuuuummmm.

Lot availability in Bountiful is pretty rare so it's difficult to price a bare lot like this. We struggled with the price we paid (and we helped finance some of the development of the cul de sac) but after looking at "competitive" lots available, the $270k isn't to far off being that it's almost a half acre and on a cul de sac with good access. That's part of the reason we took the smaller of the two lots. Some folks have started buying $250-275kish homes, razing them and then building. I wanted to take our equity cash and move to Loa or Malad or something and just BUY a house/lot. That kind of got shot down quickly by the family.

 

[zmotorsports]

Lot availability in Bountiful is pretty rare so it's difficult to price a bare lot like this. We struggled with the price we paid (and we helped finance some of the development of the cul de sac) but after looking at "competitive" lots available, the $270k isn't to far off being that it's almost a half acre and on a cul de sac with good access. That's part of the reason we took the smaller of the two lots. Some folks have started buying $250-275kish homes, razing them and then building. I wanted to take our equity cash and move to Loa or Malad or something and just BUY a house/lot. That kind of got shot down quickly by the family.

Agreed. Availability, or lack thereof, will definitely drive the price. The other thing I noticed is that the further south along the Wasatch front you go the steeper the housing prices get and most come with less property. We were first looking around the Kaysville, West Layton even Farmington area to keep closer to my wife's work but soon realized we were able to get much more home for the money if we went the other direction. Plus I was about fit to be tied with the congestion of Davis County already and wanted out. I really couldn't see myself there much longer especially closer to retirement so when we decided on buying our forever home and building my dream shop I knew it wasn't going to be in Davis County or anywhere further south so bit the bullet and went north.

When we bought our 3/4 acre lot in Weber County, a friend of my wife's bought a home almost identical to ours as far as floorplan and square footage but on just under 1/4 acre and they paid just over $125k more than we did in South Jordan area.

Also, I never thought I would like living in a cul-de-sac nor on a corner lot but I have to say I love both. Our subdivision is a single entry/exit with 4 off-shooting cul-de-sacs and only 20 homes. Our is on a large corner lot and I LOVE it. Only have to share a property line with one neighbor on the west side and the neighbor directly behind me to the south. You'll love the cul-de-sac life.

 

[Homefryy]

Place is coming along nicely Marc.

I about choked on my coffee when I read that they are asking $270k for the less than 1/2 acre lot next door to you. WOW!

Agree. I bought a house in Salt Lake City this spring for just under that.

 

[mbryson]

2 houses ago, we lived in a multi-level home in a cul de sac. REALLY liked the cul de sac. This cul de sac we are on has a bonus in that it only has 5 homes on the street and is just a block off HWY 89 and a quick run (1-1.5 mile to 2600 S freeway ramps and 2.5-3 miles to the Hwy89-Beck Street-I/15 ramp) to the freeway. 1 of the families in the cul de sac we've known for 25 years and really enjoy spending time with them. The area is not far up on the hill (I don't want to deal with winter driving in those areas) and keeps my daughter in her Jr High/High School boundaries.

Just talked to contractor. We're going to cut down the window well about 16-18" and put a small rock wall along the garage entry. Due to the raising of the foundation, we'll have to put a small retaining wall in the front along the front door approach anyway and we've got a load charge for the rock wall anyway.

 

[mbryson]

This is more what I thought I'd get with the garage exit. Due to Bountiful City code, if I have a taller than 4' retaining wall, it requires engineering. This wall should be 3.5' or slightly less? We'll see how it goes. We will be putting boulders/rocks in between the windowwell and the garage exit. I guess we just sawzall the window well down, pull the rubber strip off the top and move it to the new height. I think we might only have 18-24" of window well at that point? Much more betterer in my opinion. I kind of like the way the yard looks from the walkout below.

They are scheduled to start framing on Thursday. We'll see how the weather goes?

Just under my gooseneck of the trailer is where I've got a pad prepped for a 10x16 shed. Hope to get that built over Thursday-Saturday? We'll see if I can pull that off skillwise and see how the weather works out.

Here's the trees I left on the lot. Not exactly what I was after but they are the size I want rather than what I want. You can't beat the cost. The kids want a firepit in there. I think that could turn out really cool? I'm not much for paver bricks but I will likely make an exception for a path to the firepit area (wife's request). I'm sure I'll do a whole new thread for the paver tech? I'm sure there's a cool way to do those? I've only done 3 patios with them and they were pretty painful. That was almost 30 years ago now, so I'm sure there are good techniques and such at this point.

The front is starting to shape up. They'll be compacting around the foundation today and I can have them rough grade a little. There will be another rock wall headed straight east from the front porch. I think we plan (that's what I'm wanting) to put the rocks just on the north side (right side as pictured) of the sewer cleanout right near the front porch. Hoping to have the front yard at natural grade to the curb until it hits the rock wall. In my mind it looks nice. We'll see how my communication skills work out for talking to contractors. The back rock wall turned out exactly how I explained how I wanted it (with some compromises that I'm not real upset about and a couple are good changes from my ideas), the front less so but maybe after compacting it'll be right on the money?

 

[Hickey]

If there is any way you can saturate that backfill dirt with water you should try. They will compact it with the machines, but I promise you it will settle more once it has a fair amount of water soaked into it. It can wait until just before you put your landscaping in.

 

[mbryson]

If there is any way you can saturate that backfill dirt with water you should try. They will compact it with the machines, but I promise you it will settle more once it has a fair amount of water soaked into it. It can wait until just before you put your landscaping in.

I'd like to hit that pretty hard with some water and still leave a bit of settling factored into the grade. I was thinking it would settle about 4-6" after compacting?

 

[skippy]

Lot availability in Bountiful is pretty rare so it's difficult to price a bare lot like this. We struggled with the price we paid (and we helped finance some of the development of the cul de sac) but after looking at "competitive" lots available, the $270k isn't to far off being that it's almost a half acre and on a cul de sac with good access. That's part of the reason we took the smaller of the two lots. Some folks have started buying $250-275kish homes, razing them and then building. I wanted to take our equity cash and move to Loa or Malad or something and just BUY a house/lot. That kind of got shot down quickly by the family.

This makes me love my half acre that I paid $38k for 3 years ago!

 

[Hickey]

I'd like to hit that pretty hard with some water and still leave a bit of settling factored into the grade. I was thinking it would settle about 4-6" after compacting?

It's definitely gonna depend on your soil type, but I'd lean toward the 6".

 

[mbryson]

Driveway additions today

 

[Hickey]

View attachment 124159
Driveway additions today

Great idea to include a suspension cycling device in your yard. Now you can check bumpstop clearances without leaving home.

 

[Hickey]

Great idea to include a suspension cycling device in your yard. Now you can check bumpstop clearances without leaving home.

I had to use my suspension cycling device just this morning.

 

[mbryson]

I should find some sandstone

 

[Hickey]

I should find some sandstone

I've been thinking about filling my dump trailer when I come through Moab next month in my way back from Texas.

 

[mbryson]

So our “rough grade” is complete. Framing is supposed to start tomorrow.

This is shot from my fire pit area. If I had some water, I’d wash off the rocks a little but it’s MUCH more like I envisioned. We can cut that window well down 30” or so




The garage exit is not too bad at this point. Still higher than I wanted but pretty functional.



I will likely need to place 25-30’ of rocks so I don’t push up against the neighbors vinyl fence. I’ve driven back there a few times and will be hauling my Gooseneck off to get aligned tomorrow. Should be a good test.


Here’s how the front wall turned out. Should be pretty cool once we get cement steps on it. I assume that will be a few months?

I’m kind of curious if this is needed between the driveway and the walk up but it’s there for now



This load of lumber will supposedly become a framed basement and floor for the main floor. Looking fwd to seeing this go up tomorrow.

 

[kmboren]

I have some of those flex rocks also.

 

[Bart]

Nice progress Marc and thanks for the updates.

 

[mbryson]

This happened this morning. I'm hoping to see how things take shape over the next week or two (or three?). Any guesses on how long to frame? I'm guessing 3 weeks? We'll see how it goes.