We knew once paying the land off, starting to move forward by developing the property for an approved house site was going to be a challenge.
Because Thirty Acres was considered raw undeveloped land a percolation test also referred to as a perc test needed to be completed before obtaining a building permit. With other homes on the mountain, we were confident the land would pass but not totally sure. Additionally, the access easement needed improvements which would be costly. At the time the easement was only an old logging road. So before taking on this expense and wanting to be sure building would be possible we had a preliminary perc test completed in the off season to give us peace of mind that we were headed to the right direction. The preliminary test passed, “Yes!” (June 2017)
Early in the 2018 we requested the official perc test be completed and as expected it passed. The test was completed just in time, as the rest of the year and early into 2019 we received record rainfall, which would cause us our first time consuming set back.
Second to purchasing, our next expensive endeavor was to improve the easement. The project started in May 2018 but due to the aforementioned record rainfall in the mid Atlantic area and other smaller obstacles, the project was not completed until February 2019. We were able to lay the conduit for the electric lines and the internet cable lines during the easement improvement period.
Digging hole for Electric lines 
Early Easement Improvements
During this time, we began to seek out the custom home plans, secure a builder, and secure additional construction loan financing. Done 🙂 Now if it would only stop raining or snowing.