I am in the process of buying 7.5 acres of beautiful woods, that hasn't been logged in over 50 years. There are many very large trees, and it is quite crowded. From what I can tell, there is Redwood, Sugar Pine, and Douglas Fir (one just fell in a storm about 2 weeks ago, about a 60 footer) among other species. This gave me the idea of building a timber frame instead of a typical home. I intend to build it myself. I have been reading up on it a little for the last few weeks, and while I understand the concepts of design, I am obviously going to need some engineering done. Some questions I had:

Do most counties require that timber cut from the site, be graded by an engineer? Is this expensive?

It seems that design can get caught in a catch 22. Before I can cut (or have cut) the logs, I need to know the design and the cut list, but before the design can be done, the engineer will need to know the wood I intend to use, correct? Is there a time tested process to get from here to there?

Please recommend any books you suggest as well.

No big hurry, it will take me probably more than a year to save up for the house. (now that I paid everything I had for the land) So, I figure I have about 9 months or so to get my plans together.

Thanks
Jim