Thanks Ray..... also I dont have a lot of friends... outside of all the guys I know and like from work....my crew, plumbers, painters, electricians.....we all go back a ways and the daily interaction with them will be missed. Oh....and I dont golf...never have and never will. The company truck, gas, and credit cards they've given me will be hard to give up.

Then there is the financial aspects of retiring.....carpenters in general do not make big money, and although I live modestly I dont think Social Security Income will keep up with INFLATION, property taxes, and our medical needs.....and the SSI is also taxable....which is unfair tax on seniors.

I resent paying all these taxes and dont approve of how my tax money is spent by our government.

Amen brother! :smash:

Especially the money taken from the hard working people.....and given to those who have chosen not to work in favor of government support. The men who donate sperm to conceive children should be FORCED to pay for them........not you and I.......we supported and raised our children to be self sufficient with no assistance from the taxpayers.

Not the only waste of taxpayer money.....but this is getting worse by the minute.
Exhibit A: warning explicit and disgusting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLTTX35LNJo

These folks on public assistance seem to be mocking us working people....for being so stupid...not paying attention and letting this happen. I cant believe this type of behaviour is celebrated in some circles. Most of us raised by good parents would find this shameful. Mine are already in heaven and still guide most of my decision making. Hope my children would never disgrace my wife and I with this immoral life style we see on display. I've taught them to work to survive....and to not accept handouts. I wonder how Chapter Jacksons parents feel about her disgusting videos? If it were my daughter...I would let her know how strongly I disapprove and that it must stop!
Ok ....rant over....now back to building homes.......and paying my taxes.
I've always liked the cape cod style houses ....like this one we did not too long ago.
Our current subdivision of 50 something houses is just about sold out. Ongoing bidding wars on the last few.....boring cookie cutter houses on tiny lots. Congested area but with quick access to rt 24 on ramp. Hope we can get back to building the bigger custom homes after these are done.

Interesting ear boards …. Beauty of a house

I dont get a lot of exterior pics.....i must have liked this one...with the stone work.
Dont care for the electric meter being so visible up front...

I like the one with the stone work.

Another with some stone

Are those actual individual stone faces or the stone face sheets?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

It's stone veneer in individual pieces, Stonecraft is the brand.....you can buy boxes of the corner pieces.

Stone veneer was used on this retaining wall for the pool.
Also... you can see an outside shower we put in on the left side of the house. No enclosure just a valve and shower head.

Just to show how close together these houses are....there ll be a lot of fences going in....we will be done with the last six or seven in this subdivision by august....after that is uncertain

When we started this subdivision a couple of years ago...the houses were selling in the high $300,000 range.....same house now is mid $600 g's.

Somebody made a #^&#^&#^&#^&-ton of money...im at the trickle down end...
but ive heard rumors that my boss is going to take his twenty mil and say adios. Things might be slowing way down as the interest rate keeps rising.

People these days want smaller yards as equals less maintenece.
They pack houses so tight to maximize profit.
We did a couple of finished basements in a development in dighton the past few years in brand new developments. 600k houses that u could literally pass your neighbor butter through the window
They just packed a couple of houses near sawdy pond right on busy rt 177 in Westport. Giant houses on top of each other that are up for almost a mil.
Not my ideal setting. Need some level of separation so don't hear neighbors tv or fighting.
My wife's grandmothers house was sold to investors 6 mths ago for 300k. Small lot on corner of worst busiest intersection in Westport. They completely renovated it. My guess 100k total investment. Looks nice. On market for 600k !!!!!!! Heard sold for over asking in first hour of open house. Insane.
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Same thing happend at Franklin CC, The club sold the land the old driving range was on and a developer build houses so close you literally can touch each other. Went for $500K 5 years ago. Now in the $800K range.

Our last 25 houses were mostly sold preconsruction...the rest had customers buying on the spot or trying to outbid each other.
I would not want to live there.....way to close to each other.....I can only see one other house where I'm at......can't even see the street I'm so far back.

We live in the middle of 15 1/2 acres. Our house is 1000 feet from the road and I can't see anyone!:btu::btu:

Sounds perfect, although I’d miss my view of the bay.

Wow 15 1/2 acres! Thats great!
I grew up in the inner city....a tenement apartment....with ten of us in my family....and neighbors had ten kids. I was ok with it then, but as I grew to adulthood, I yearned for a place of my own with privacy and solitude. Sounds like you have an abundance of both. . Mine is only an acre and a half but surrounded by state forest. Neighbors are great when you have enough distance.

Looking out my front door

Looks wonderful. I also grew up in a little place in Greenville RI. 50X100 lot.
Bought this place in 73 so we've been here 50 years. Built a 1.5 acre pond in 76. Spring fed and I stock it. Been offered insane money but where would we go??

Just stay put.....how in the world would you ever think of leaving your beautiful...one of a kind homestead?
Wouldnt you feel a huge sense of loss? I would feel totally out of place anywhere else but here.:o
I have no interest in retiring to Florida or any other retiree mecca....heaven for me is right here....in a house I built with my own two hands.......and my separate building and workshop... I'll never give up.....until they pry it from my cold dead hands.:huh:

Our course sold all the land our range sits on, but nothing permitted yet so one more year of getting some warm up in ahead of rounds.

Yes smaller lots to maximize profits.....this company has made a killing doing this as opposed to one off custom homes on estate lots.



Iv'e left most of my property of over an acre totally natural.....i dont rake leaves or water grass. Our developement houses....even with the six foot high fences..... the neighbors can hear anything above a whisper....and nosey ones know your business like its theirs.

Building houses on small lots like we are doing is only possible when municipal water and sewer is accessible. With a private well and septic system you need much bigger lots to maintain distances between them.

When the housing market slows down in the near future due to inflation and higher interest rates, the many commercial properties owned by this company that need rehab will keep me busy. We need to replace every window, each about 6' x 10' high....cant even guess how many....on their 4 story 200 year old granite mill which has been converted into offices and light manufacturing spaces. Lot of state agencies already renting large portions of the building.
Latest refit on fourth floor will be leased to Mariot Hotels as a training facility.

Price of building materials are at an all time high......people bitching about prices contractors are charging.....have no clue how little it has to do with profit. For work... I pick up what I need and pay with company credit card. Every trip has me thinking there must be some mistake when I see the total........hundreds of dollars buy next to nothing. Add to that the increase in the interest rate.....things are not looking too good for the new home market going forward. Glad Im not contracting anymore.
Now Im doing some remodeling at my own home... buying materials myself and experiencing the shocking reality of the historic inflation... wondering how much higher prices will go before leveling off...if that is even possible.

It's certainly NOT sustainable. Almost getting to the point of not able to stay in business myself.

On a side note.... renters are blaming landlords for higher rents and there are local groups trying to pass rent control. How about the rising property taxes, insurance, utilities, depreciation, and maintenance...how about some controls on that.
If I were a landlord I would raise the rent now before something stupid like rent control is passed.
One guy told me that a tenant didnt tell him about the toilet running and the water bill was astronomical.

Customers in general have no idea the amount of overhead a legitimate construction business has to absorb before a single dollar of profit is to be made. For instance....just truck and tool expenses can add up quick and thats just the beginning. I just had a set of new tires put on my heavily used work truck and a few other minor repairs......bill was over $2,000...and thats just minor stuff....eventually that truck will be junk and will have to be replaced. Tools also break or wear out and are a constant expense.
Dont forget all the taxes, insurances, fees, permits, licences and employee expenses Where is all that money supposed to come from...my paycheck?

Most think labor + materials = price. Try running a business that way and you wont stay afloat for very long....and if they think you are trying to make a profit on their project they are offended or asking for a break or extra work thrown in. You will be bidding on jobs where customers are getting prices from fly by night hackers.... be ready to be told that you were the highest price...and they will ask you to lower it to match the other guys. F'that.

A good contractor I know refers to his night job of submitting proposals for elaborate remodeling projects as "entertaining peoples fantasies". Never suggest to them the idea of dropping some of the more expensive options they have chosen to lower the cost......not what they want to hear.
Especially the ones with six figure salaries living in the exclusive zip codes and gated communities.

I call it “illusions of grandeur “ or call it “ get real “.
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