I'd like to add my two cents. I just finished cutting my 9,000 bd ft frame on Friday (1st one). No it's not done, it still needs to be put up and there is a lot of work left to do. At any rate, I did it, and with very little help. I spent alot of money on this project, but can honestly say, I needed everything I bought. I mention this because safety was previously mentioned. I truly believe you need the right tools if you're going to safely and "Efficiently" do the job. I hurt my back lifting these monstrous timbers at the begining of this project and learned my lesson.
Here are some ballpark figures from my experience.
- $3,000 - $4,000 for tools (if new)
- $750 Workshop(Fox Maple)
- $10,000 piece of equipment with forks. (you don't need to spend this much, but I used mine to clear the lot as well).
- $5000 Lumber (I logged it, someone else milled and planed it). I didn't have much left over, besides a lot of boards.
Total around $19,000 or $20,000
I'm not trying to scare you with these big prices, but it is very realistic for someone taking on a project like this. Like I said I truly feel I needed everything, especially for safety sake. Someone could drastically reduce these numbers if they tried hard enough. I got a quote for around $40,000 to cut my frame. I just did it for less than half of that and I own all of the tools. By the way it took me 4 straight months to cut the frame. "You can do it".
