Posts. And Beams. Hopefully.

Our designer, Peter Carr, commented recently that contractors are in high demand now, but in a few years the demand won't be so great. He's right. Economies change. Interest rates rise and fall. Those contractors who are providing poor service and low quality products in this economy are going to disappear when the demand decreases. Until then, we're in a market where the demand is incredibly high, so we're dealing with a boatload of companies who simply don't *need* to return our call. Argh. I know I'm repeating myself, but it's a very large, looming issue at the moment. How many times should I call? Will I completely tick the guy off (and they're all guys)? Do I need to start talking tough? (Everyone *knows* I can hold my own in terms of using profanity.) Should I lean on that crutch? Is it like every single time I've tried to buy a car: Should I get a MAN to call? Ah, forget it. Suck it up boys and call me back. Pronto.

On the bright side, we've found people like Peter Carr, who are responsive, professional and very skilled. I've known Peter from my hometown for many years, but didn't know until recently that he has designed thousands of homes of many different types around the world and continues to do so in his "retirement." I'll share the plans he has designed for us in a future post.

These are a few images from the homes we visited with the timber framer this Spring.

Several sub-contractors are still not in place, but we're scheduled to begin right away. The strawbale part of our home won't actually start until September because it takes several months to prepare the timberframe. Patience. Patience. Patience.

I wonder why I keep waking up at 2am?