UP A MOUNTAIN...
Work on the shit shack is done for the year.
I'm exceptionally fortunate to have been referred to my timber guy by my "Aunt and Uncle", an older couple who own a local business I frequent. I got excellent vibes off the guy during the introductions and runup to the clearing and road laying, so I decided to trust him with a lot of details, believing that he personally gave a fuck about his work.
Boy, that trust paid off.
He could have cut the road to make it as quick and easy as possible to get minimum access for the log trucks. He did not. He cut a beautiful road along a piece of shallow ledge rock, angled at the power cut to break line of sight from the road, and took it all the way up to what he saw as the best building site nearby where I'd mentioned I was hoping to build. It's got a foot of rock at the base and another 3 inches of staymat, and is aligned to the natural contours of the land to work with the natural dips and drainage paths. There's space for a culvert at the lowest spot, just in case, which aligns with a natural shallow trench in the land.
Towards the end of the season, I asked him to lay me out sixteen select spruce logs, sufficient for me to cut the timberframe from them come springtime. He saved me off some real beauties, and stacked them up next to where we'd talked about the concrete pad going in next year, so I could put down the bandsaw mill on it and use it to cut the frame.
After the cost of the road, I'm netting enough on the timber to pay for the septic survey and permit, the electrical hookup fee, and excavation for the pad.
I might not have running water next year, but there will be flush toilets and electricity.