After sending a follow-up email asking James Edwards if he had received my request for a bid, I got an email response today. The bid was $3100 for an 840 SqFt house, which worked out to about $370 per foot. This was over twice the theoretical national average, but a bit lower than the verbal estimat... [More]

After reviewing the Fire Department list of approved vendors I found that there was only one in Yucca Valley. Most were in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, or further away. I called a few of the big companies who gave me general square-footage costs that were higher than the what was shown in the National... [More]

The Bighorn technician came by and checked the pressure at the meter and at the end of the pipe. With no water flowing the pressure is 39 PSI, but as soon as one valve is opened it drops to 29 PSI. According to the water agency, they are required to provide only 20 PSI, so they are covered. but we h... [More]

Victor ran a one-inch pipe 600 feet from the new water meter installed by the Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency to the building site. He needs the water to soak the ground during the grading operation, and to fill the septic tank when it is installed. Unfortunately, he reports, the water pressure is... [More]

Today Victor picked up the decision from the Fire Department. As expected, they will require a sprinkler system. We can now start getting bids from licensed sprinkler installers. Although there is nothing involved in this kind of system that the average plumber and electrician couldn’t do easily, th... [More]

The fire code apparently specifies that you have to install a fire sprinkler system in all new construction if your driveway is more than 300 feet from a fire hydrant that is capable of producing a flow of 1000 gallons per minute at a minimum of 20 PSI pressure for two hours. We don’t have a h... [More]

I’ve spent the past few days in the Yucca Valley area. I met Victor, our building contractor, for the first time. I like him and have confidence he will do a good job. He took me around and introduced me to some of the suppliers and sub-contractors he works with. We also visited the local building... [More]