[quicksilver]

Rented this bobcat today so I can level out the pad for my pole barn. Its level toward the front and middle, but back where I'm standing i have to remove 2' of soil and push a bank way back to get some usable area around it. I could push it forward to reduce the amount of grading I have to do, but that leaves me with less than 20' in front of the pole barn before I have another steeper grade. This will be my weekend project.

 

[4.3L XJ]

Nice

 

[wjlizard]

Looks like fun to me.

 

[quicksilver]

Well, that was a lot of work, but I enjoyed doing it!

I dont ever take good before photos, but trust me when I say that before hand it looked like garbage up here. I found a ton of garbage, concrete, aluminum siding, etc, that had been dumped up here then haphazardly buried by other debris. Most of the photos show where I moved all of the dirt to, used to be a giant bowl wlfilled with scrub brush. Now its cleared and all level, which is way nicer. I feel like this will cut down on the tick population behind my house now.

I ended up moving a metric f***load of soil to make this happen, and toward the end, I was exceeding this machine capability to move anymore dirt back. So now I'll end up bringing in a skidsteer to move the banks back more, its not quite to my liking yet, but its a damn good start. I ended up putting 16 hours on the machine over the weekend.

I will continue to update this thread as more progress is made. Now its time for me to go to the village to get my permit for the project.

 

[4.3L XJ]

Great progress. I know what you mean by moving all that soil. I have done a few projects like that myself

 

[wjlizard]

I hear ya on the amount of dirt also. Hard to keep on task when you have a Jeep and your playing in the dirt...lol

 

[quicksilver]

Village zoning officer called me today, he went through my paperwork finally, I turned that in a couple weeks ago. He needed me to pay for the permit so that he could deny it and send everything to the planning board, since I paid for the variance for the structure already. Lots of red tape involved in this process, but in the end I should have the permit to build, looking to start the construction when the snow melts.

 

[4.3L XJ]

I hate all that bureaucratic BS

 

[quicksilver]

It truly does suck ass

 

[wjlizard]

Personally, I would build it and put a tire on each corner and told them it is a mobile structure..... no permit needed for that here ...hell as far as the county is concerned I dont have a garage 🤫

 

[4.3L XJ]

I built a shop on a steel frame that was portable No permit for that either

 

[XJSuperman]

Don't even need wheels, just skids! Stake it down, pour concrete inside, call it good. Glad to see you making some progress though, even if it is slow.

 

[quicksilver]

One happy camper right now!!! Got my building permit approved! Went and got 15k out so my guy could get the materials for the barn. In about 3 or 4 weeks they should begin to build it. So pumped about it!

Next steps are to make a list of materials in going to need to make a driveway, build the pad, run utilities and stuff to finish off the interior. Theres a ton of things to bring into consideration, but itll be good regardless. This will be one sick shop.

 

[4.3L XJ]

Congrats. Every guy needs a good shop

 

[quicksilver]

According to my buddy, material should start showing up in a week or two now. Im getting pumped to have this started. Got a lot of other material to acquire still, but there's time yet.

 

[4.3L XJ]

All I can say is "get her done"

 

[quicksilver]

Conex is gone! Now I have a baren pad ready for the barn to go up, I'm getting antsy now!!

 

[quicksilver]

There have been a few hangups with getting material around for the barn, hard to believe, but the cost of lumber has skyrocketed from when I got my quote originally. The good news is there's a work around to keep the cost the same, I will be using rough cut lumber where possible, yet still using pressure treated lumber for posts.

Thats not an issue though. I wasn't happy with the leveled area in how much space I'd have around the barn, so I brought home a skidsteer and went to town. Ill try to post some videos after I load em up to youtube, but I put in some hours to get this where it is, and now I'm happy! The intent was to be able to have a bay door in the side, had I not brought home this machine, it would not have been possible. It was a beast, moved dirt like no tomorrow and I pushed over some large trees with it.

 

[Gluckmysock]

Yeah lumber here has skyrocketed too. Not exactly sure why. Glad work is progressing. Skid steers are awesome!

 

[4.3L XJ]

Must be because the trees got covid