Driveway and house pad layout

Standing on the spot where our house will be built

Mission accomplished for this weekend. We have successfully mapped the layout of our 300ft (91.5m) long driveway and 80ft X 80ft (24m X 24m) house pad. 

Clearing the area for our house pad

We rented a brush cutter, cleared the underbrush along the driveway and marked it by tying red marker tape onto the bushes lining it. This involved intensive labor on the part of Dreadknot who handled the brush cutter while I swept up the foliage behind him, clearing the debris and tying the tags. 

Gathering the cuttings

....and tossing them to the side of the clearing

Along the way we also marked all the well-established trees we want to save with green tape.

Marking the mature trees we want to protect

In addition we cleared a path along one of the boundary lines to enable us to establish how far from the boundary our driveway and house pad would be set. There are legal requirements as to the set backs from the borders you can develop.

Cutting and marking the driveway

It took a full morning just to mark halfway on one side of the property border which we also did with red tags. When we had the land surveyed and staked, we opted for 6 stakes, ( 4 Corners and 2 midpoints). In retrospect I would have gone for 8 or 10 stakes, it would have made establishing our boundary line much easier.

King of our jungle

Once we had cleared and marked off exactly how we would like the layout to be, it was time to get quotes from a  couple of excavation companies to bulldoze and excavate the hard volcanic rock which lies beneath a thin layer of topsoil. 

Beautiful ohia lehua blossom

We feel that we have chosen a very professional company who will do the job right. Everything is set in place for dozing and grading and soon we'll actually be able to drive onto our land which is so exciting! 

Standing in the middle of the house pad area

Green taping the trees we want to keep

The plan is taking shape and things are moving forward one step at a time. We are believing in ourselves, going for our dream and doing whatever it takes.

Dream it. See it. Be it.