Hello everybody. This is my first post. I am a Physical Therapist by trade in northern Saskatchewan Canada. I am looking for insight on potentially building a cabin. Current building estimates are in the 200.00 a foot range. I had a patient who is a GC recently tell me that 200.00 a foot would get me a basic house. I have been reading on here and discussing cost with my hardware store (I just recently finished generaling a 80 000.00 home reno for my house) and I can not begin to guess where this money is going. It is a typical per foot cost for the region...labour is extremely high!!!. Can a person general a small (1000sqf cabin with a loft) on there own as a first build? How would you build a treated lumber crawl? For this weather what wall structure would you use for performance and cost? Thank you. I hope to pick all of your brains

you have several options.
#1. You can go onto a site and ask for free advise from a variety of people --all who would consider themselves worthy of giving free advise. Some of those will tell you unequivocally how it should be done in Northern Canada when the only experience they have is in Florida.(thus proving their advise is worth every penny you spent)
#2. You can access free advise from a recognised expert with experience in the type of climate you live in
http://www.cchrc.org/
The choice is yours, grasshopper. Choose wisely.
I suggest #2.

Thankyou for the link! I will begin my studies.

Posted By FTDA on 22 Jan 2012 11:38 PM
Hello everybody. This is my first post. I am a Physical Therapist by trade in northern Saskatchewan Canada. I am looking for insight on potentially building a cabin. Current building estimates are in the 200.00 a foot range. I had a patient who is a GC recently tell me that 200.00 a foot would get me a basic house. I have been reading on here and discussing cost with my hardware store (I just recently finished generaling a 80 000.00 home reno for my house) and I can not begin to guess where this money is going. It is a typical per foot cost for the region...labour is extremely high!!!. Can a person general a small (1000sqf cabin with a loft) on there own as a first build? How would you build a treated lumber crawl? For this weather what wall structure would you use for performance and cost? Thank you. I hope to pick all of your brains

People in Estevan consider P.A. northern Saskatchewan while people in P.A. only consider themselves to be in the middle :-)
Do you have all trades and suppliers available or are you in NORTHERN Saskatchewan?

I have all the trades available to me. I hope to do an ICF crawl , which I would do. Higher a framer, dry wall, HVAC and electrical. I will do the finishing and plumbing. I will also do the insulation with 2 inch xps exterior. What do I do about the wall traping moisture? I will have to have an interior vapour barrier, no inspector will pass a house here without it.