If I didn't pay the membership to HMF every year I'd feel terribly guilty because I also use it constantly. It's a small price to pay for what you get. Thank you for the info, vmr423. It will be interesting to view other rose sites. Ingrid

I went looking for some info on Hostas, and now I can say I am a hostaholic. From there I discovered the Winter Sowing forum and also discovered that I have a very addictive personality. Now lets see, I go to the pond forum, annuals, Canadian forum ect. ect. ect. I really need help. lol Hubby doesn't know what to do, know I have bags of potting soil stashed in the basement, containers coming out the wazoo, Hostas that I don't have room to plant, seeds drying all over the house, plans for a pond next year and a new garden bed that I'll be starting any day. He just shakes his head. I really hope I get this second job I applied for. Brenda

Dont be discouraged if you have time before your planned second build to learn. Research as much as you possibly can as well as take with you what you learned on your first build if you were involved with it. A good place to start would be with financial institutions to see what is possible. Check in with your local building dept. concerning everything from site planning/prep requirements, permitting, plans, engineering, inspections and the order that they take place. Find suppliers who are willing to give estimates off of materials take offs and compare, not necessarily taking the lower bid. Concerning lumber packages, often times it's better to pay a higher bid price if the wood is better quality. Seeking out quality subs will allow you to get references from them where quality products are sold and who they deal with, but you will also want to shop around for yourself on certain items, especially finish items. You can take from your first build things that you are pleased with and dissappointed with concerning the work of the various subs. seeking out reputable ones by looking at their work on other projects as well as checking references will help. Learn the steps of the build and the order in which you will need that particular sub scheduled and you dont want subs tripping over one another if it can be helped. Otoh, you will want to get the timing of scheduling down to the most efficient manner as possible which sometimes involves several trades in at the same time. You dont want your project not worked on as much as possible. There will be inevitable delays concerning weather, supplier/delivery hold ups, sub scheduling conflicts, etc, but you will need to know how to deal with that as best as possible. Even the most experienced builder is faced with dillemas, but with experience comes wisdom. One avenue would be to seek out a retired reputable builder who might be willing to give you consultation at a reasonable rate and be on hand for any problems that always occur where you might not have the confidence to solve. A retired builder would be invaluable concerning quality control as well. It's either that or an onsite supervisor but being full time, might get a little costly. A retired builder that would be able to consult as needed might be a better way to go. Bottom line though is that you need to understand as much as possible about the process and have the confidence to move forward so it's really down to you!

If you use Notepad you will need to write it using html. If you use Word you don't have to know html, just save it as a web page when you are finished. I will be online tonight so if I can help, just e-mail me.