So, now what?

[whiddle]

I need some help figuring out what to do next.

I currently live in a condo in sunny FL but we own some acreage in MO. Our property is located on a county-maintained gravel road (not paved) with electric and phone access already piped in (or whatever it's called).

We've decided to put a small steel building on our property that we will live in while building a larger (less than 1,000 sq ft) log home on the property. We will keep the steel building even after the log home is finished.

It's not off the grid but it is country living. So my question is: where do I got from here?

Do we just drive out to MO and hire a contractor to build us a foundation for our building? We don't even have an address and the county is so small that I can't figure out how to get one! We need one though to have our building delivered. Confused! Anyone in MO know how to get an address?

[Denvergirlie]

I would start with calling the county office and asking about what your address will be or how you establish an address (maybe you need to call post office), any building codes the county has (are you allowed to live in "shed", etc). They might be able to give a referral. Call the chamber of commerce in your town/ county as well.

good luck

[PenelopeJune]

Hi! *waves from Missouri* Yeah, call the county offices. My teeny tiny county has all the offices in the courthouse, so if you can even find just one number for the courthouse, they'll know the number you need. (and even my podunk county can be found online, so I'm sure wherever you are moving to will be Googleable.)

I'm sure you'll also need to see about a building permit, and you can probably find all that out at the courthouse, too.

You'll probably need to get a water meter. Find out what water district your land is on, and call and see about getting a meter. That would probably be where I would start, waaaaay before building, because some of these small water districts can have long waiting lists for meters.

It's doubtful that you will have access to gas lines, so you'll need to look into a propane tank if you don't want electric heat or a wood stove. (That's usually no biggie, though.)