I am going to repeat myself a bit. Sorry. But it is necessary it seems. People build backwards and then run into trouble. Trust me, I know. I am still trying to move forwards after taking so many steps backward. And I was reminded of that the other day when we met another couple whose story was a litany of doing step five before steps one, two, three and four were even considered.

The tendency when planning and building a cabin is to spend all your time designing and dreaming of the exterior shape of the cabin and the interior decor. The fact that one is building a cabin as a place from which to enjoy the outdoors seems to be, temporarily at least, forgotten and, instead, much time is spent choosing flooring, kitchen cabinets and floorplans as if the cabin was just another tract home in the city. As if being inside was the focus.

The idea is to be ‘outside’!

That wrong perspective would be the most common mistake and tho, goofy in retrospect, not fatal in the long run, just goofy and a waste of energy and sometimes money. But, just to be clear: you likely do not need extra floorspace, you probably do need extra covered and open deck space. You likely do not need extra rooms but you might need outbuildings for all the ‘systems’ you will employ and maintain.

But even that is putting the cart before the horse.

Firstly, you should look to the property and see what it has to offer other than just as a building site. Cabin property is not usually just another niche in a subdivision of niches. It is usually larger, unique and more natural. If it isn’t, get out of there!

I tend to think of recreational property now as having say, 6 zones. The outside zone may not even be in your property but it includes the blackberries, the creek, the lake and the wildness of nature that drew you there in the first place. You don’t necessarily interact with it all the time but it is close and creates the character of your neighbourhood.

Zone five is that area closer to home that is still wild but is useable. It hosts your walking trail and is what you psychologically consider ‘your territory’. Your dog wanders there. Zone four is your yard. It may have a bench or a gazebo, a dock or some outbuildings or it may be left wild but it is definitely within your property line. This is yours.

Zone three is your outside-in-the-summer living space and zone two is your semi sheltered space that allows you to be outside but under cover and out of the wind. Zone two should be huge. Verandas, covered decks, BBQ stations, patios, seating, lounges, benches, potted plants.

Zone one is the cabin and is increasingly functional as the weather deteriorates and virtually unused (except for sleeping) when the temperature and conditions are considered perfect. Think: December and January I am in zone one, the cabin. July and August I am everywhere but. And the rest of the time is distributed proportionately coming and going through the zones.

I won’t bore you with all the things to look for (some are obvious like access and slope and how far from the building supply store) but view, wind direction, sun exposure, trees, rock outcroppings, rain run-off and soil conditions are just a few of dozens of influences that will have an impact on your life should you ever get to build and live there. But when you think about it, they will impact the zones in different ways. Even more than they will the actual cabin.

By the way, there is an interesting but odd syndrome that seems fairly common in cabin situating: “Let’s tuck the cabin out of sight. Nestle it in a crack or something”. I have no idea who these ‘tuckers’ think they are fooling but a B&E artist will find it regardless and usually tucking a building away in the shadows just makes for dark living, extra maintenance and more mosquitoes. I say (and it is just my opinion) keep your cabin open, airy and sun-filled.

The real consideration people get wrong is in the timing of the infrastructure. They build cabins and then build the stairways and pathways needed to get to it afterwards. Just think how much easier it would make building the cabin if the workshop, decks, driveway, pathways and stairs are erected first?

But an even more primary step is a good power source and system. It seems we all start by dragging stupid Coleman or other junk gensets around when we are building and then, later, build a nice genset shed and put in a spankin’ new Yanmar diesel that would have made the jobsite a better worksite from the start. Then we add solar panels and wind turbines and extra batteries. Then we add a larger gas tank that we can get filled by a delivery truck. Then we add a larger propane tank similarly supplied. All those ‘temporary’ measures suck building energy from you when you need it the most. They cost more in the long run and they rob you of the fun of building. I say, get whatever you can get established properly, delivered and get it in the largest quantity reasonable. Water, power, propane, etc. And do it before you build the cabin.

And water? Ohmygawd! We did with packing blue totes for a year. How stupid is that? Piping water from the creek should have been ‘work-reduction’ effort number 1. Believe me, after the first day of work you have used gallons of water and then there is the absolutely essential ‘shower’ and washing up necessary. And each gallon of water weighs ten pounds! Job #1: water supply and storage.

I decided to write this again because my son asked for more ‘basics’ on construction and getting started. If this is a tangent, tell me and I’ll limit it.