I've been following Wburke2010 Build thread and enjoying seeing the progress so I thought I might start one of my own. Will post in stages as we progress, and hoping some of y'all get some enjoyment from following our progress.

We started with raw land and purchased in early 2015. The big bonus was the previous owner had brought water and power to the property, so these huge expenses were out of the way by time we acquired. Regardless, the land was mostly mesquite covered pasture, but with some great wooded areas for cover. Here is a photo of what the land looked like, and we added the caliche drive just a month or two after buying the place.


When we first started, we were staying in our travel trailer, and I did not want to just leave it outside, plus we had big plans, so we started out with a 32 v 40' shop. I had the building done by a contractor, but my dad and I ran the electric and plumbing over the Memorial Day weekend in 2015. I don't have a great photo of the shop, but we have 3 large roll up doors, it is insulated and built large enough to fit the TT inside, along with machines.



More to come...

Progress a few years - we decided that we are indeed going to retire to our property, so took the next step in building something a bit more comfortable than a Travel Trailer. Sold the TT and built a small, but comfortable, apartment. Single bedroom, kitchenette, bathroom, office, dining area, and large loft which serves as guest bedroom, or media room based on need. We went with stained/stamped concrete floors, and I think the loft railing gives it an great industrial look. FYI - my wife picked the wall color, so no need to tell me it is purple.




Hard to remember the place before, and it has changed a bunch, even since we built the apartment. More to come as I gather some photos.

Looks great sir! Keep the progress coming.

Thanks! I am enjoying going back through the photos. Here are a few more from 2019. Once the apartment was complete, I continued to clear the land around our future homesite. Mesquite is a big mess, so I have a process that has worked for me. I spray them with Remedy, and then once dead, move into burn piles.


This is pretty time consuming, so I hired a company out of Waco to come out with a forestry mulcher and clean up several areas - mostly mesquite that had already been sprayed the year before.


The 2 acres around the homesite are now clear and I've fenced that area.


We are now in the early process of building our home and will share as we progress.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Looking awesome. Look forward to the progress. It’s never ending work!

We have utilized skid steer mulching units a couple of times now. Very effective. We just follow up with Sendero and Dawn when it gets hot again. You may end up needing to spot spray at times, but that won't be difficult.

Thanks! Your build post inspired mine. Appreciate the comment.

Fast forward a bit...we are now to a point where it is time to start on our permanent home. Since we'll soon be empty nesters, we've decided to move ahead earlier this year. I'm a work from home sales guy for a global marketing company, so can work from anywhere with internet connection. That was a problem, but I have huge hopes for Starlink and have pre-ordered our dish.

So earlier this year we hired a builder, got plans drawn up, and pre-built a pad. We are along a seasonal creek and when it is flowing, the water can get pretty high, so we are building the house up 2' from grade. We sourced the clay from our own property, so I got a double bonus, a pad + a new, but small, tank.



They used this dirt and then a layer of rock fines to build the pad.


We are not building a huge house, 3 bedrooms, large living and kitchen, but with large porch and patio with outdoor fireplace and kitchen. There will be a carport attaching the two buildings over where the pickup is parked in the photo above - and we are going to retro-fit the original building with a rock wainscott to match the new house. Hoping it ties it all together for a single build appearance. Along with the apartment, we'll have plenty of space for visitors and when the kids come to stay. This week the plumbers finished the rough in, and concrete guys have forms and rebar in place. Guessing we'll have a pour in the next week or so and I will get photos.

Yessir - regrowth is not terribly difficult to manage. I'm now working on the two closest pastures to the house and have about 10 acres sprayed and dying. As soon as they have sat a year or so dead, I will get the mulcher back for a couple of days to get those pastures clean. And then the next, and the next, etc.....

Cool thread, thanks for sharing.

Very awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Verge nice sir

love these threads, thanks

Very much

As i mentioned above, plumbing in and finishing up steel for foundation pour. I don’t think they’ll make it this week, but probably next.


We are still getting in some bird hunting and getting ready for deer.


Lots of projects in the works with the build though - sourcing propane tank, picking out appliance early due to long order backlogs, windows ordered, and the list goes on.

Y'all shoot birds with a rifle & scope

I really hope you plan on getting your subgrade cleaned up better.

There's a gun in that picture?

Already done - this was taken while the plumber was there setting lines. All good - thanks!

Foundation poured! Next will be the porches and then the carport. As much as we need the rain, everyone glad that the storms stayed to the east of us as the front moved through yesterday.

Really nice

Looking good. How come they didn’t do it in one pour? Just curious