Inception
Nearly a year ago, I began “talking” to Sandi about designing and building a new desert home for us in the Phoenix valley. Initially, she was not interested because she loves our current home and definitely wasn’t interested in a “new project” for us. However, in late 2023, I realized there was another reason a new home could make sense for us. My obvious main reason was giving Strataz and me an opportunity to design our first project. The newly realized second reason (or opportunity) was creating a “family” home where Sandi’s parents, Joe and Sandy, could join us. Sandi became immediately willing and interested, as long as we could get her parents to join us. After some discussions and alignment between me and Sandi, we then floated the idea to Joe and Sandy. In a remarkably short time, they were both on board with the idea of joining us in Phoenix on the same property. They were even excited. It was at that moment that I realized this idea now had life and I needed to figure out the best way for two couples to cohabitate on the same property. We needed a solution where both couples lived in an independent home and yet had the benefits of being together.
Where?
Searching for a site can be difficult and we definitely found it challenging. There were different ideas about location, size and most definitely cost. This challenge gave me the opportunity to help guide us. It didn’t take long for me to learn from Sandi what was important to her in a new home site. I then began to dig into what each of us four would want for a new home site.
Sandi
- Her parents needed to join us and commit to the project
- Walking distance to mountain trails
- A land cost she could accept (didn’t know what this meant yet)
- Native desert landscape including saguaros, other cactus and desert trees
- Large enough to house us and her parents
Joe
- A size sufficient for his shop, accessory building and outdoor equipment.
- Saguaros and other desert landscaping
Sandy
- Slow paced smaller community
- live closer (or in this case very close) to family
- Views of mountains
- A feeling of space and distance between neighbors
Greg
- Virgin desert land
- Close proximity to desert hiking and mountain biking trails
- Large enough so we felt like we had plenty of space
- A “mid priced” lot.
- A site with some challenges.
- My first Strataz project
The Site
As you can see, by the photos, we have selected a lot. We purchased a 1.25 acre lot in Gold Canyon. We are located on the NE corner of GC in unincorporated Pinal County. Currently living in Wyoming, Joe and Sandy have visited the site and are very excited. Sandi and I are as well. One of the first things we did was to vinyl tape all the cactus and trees for the surveyor to locate and map for us. Our goal is the minimally impact them, design around them and relocate the few we need to relocate. We had a fun time putting yellow vinyl tape on 27 Saguros, 14 Palo Verdes and 7 Ironwoods. Very cool.
The early design process has begun. In my next post, I’ll explain the process and where we are in our journey. Stay tuned.
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