Arnold, CA…Hewn is a journey to see if we can turn a 5 acre parcel that not many people seemed to want into a workable little property and mini-pioneer homestead. There are many of these builds now on the in the internet and people are doing amazing work. Most however are in extremely remote areas. They are more escapism than reality.  This project is different. It is located on the Western Slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains two hours or so from the Bay Area.

We will also find out how cumbersome and expensive California bureaucracy really is. Many of the building codes, zoning laws and more are really designed to protect people from themselves. They can also make permitting and oversight an impediment to putting even a rudimentary roof over your head.

Recently though the housing crisis has forced may areas to make accommodations for mother-in-law quarters and owner builder programs provided the builders are willing to accept all risks for their own health and safety. No one to blame but yourself if something goes wrong, the roof leaks or your water system goes out.

This is a real life lab experiment to see if we can build a livable little home or homestead close enough to major metropolitan areas for no more than $100k in total cost which would make it possible for anyone to do.

The whole point of this project is to see if even those working at minimum wage jobs could do this. Even those earning minimum wages should be able to afford a mortgage of about $100,000 and still be able to live with no more than 25% or so of their take home pay being dedicated to lodging. The figure below is an estimate of $473 per month for a $100k Mortgage on July 5, 2021. I am paying a little more than this during the construction phase and plan on refinancing once improvements are made.

We don’t now how this will turn out and almost everyone I have talked to has said it is impossible. So we will just have to see if they were right.

A bit about me. I am 57 years old and work 12 plus hours a day in the news business. So this project will be done by someone working 70 – 90 hours a week at his “Day Job”.

I am not a contractor and haven’t done any real sustained physical labor in 40 years. I have also estimated that this project will probably take at least 1,000 hours and probably closer to 2,000.

The inspiration for this is my father Jay Hamilton. In the 1970s he built a custom home in two years and paid for every piece of lumber as he went along.  As a youth my “contributions” were basically holding the ends of boards and staying out of the way.

In the pioneer era of U.S. History some settlers set out with only an axe head in their knapsack. They didn’t even take a handle but made one when they started their homestead. They knew they had to get something built before winter. Let’s see if we can do the same.

Let the games begin!

John Hamilton

July 5, 2021