Yeti's Very Long and Slow NC Home Build

[THE YETI]

Figured I'd better start one of these as well, although mine will be MUCH less exciting than @pwtr02ss Tennessee build.

Long story short, we lived in NC from 2006-2011. We loved it, but work was here in FL, so we moved back. Since retirement is coming soon, we started looking back in 2020 about buying lakefront property on Lake Norman in NC. We had a really hard time finding anything that didn't get into bid wars through the Covid era, and just kept waiting. Late last year (2025), we ran across a lot for sale with pretty much all our checkboxes done. We were looking for a western exposure, off the main channel but not on it, over an acre, 200+ of shoreline, semi-flat land (nothing steep), and with an old home or no home on it at all. We ended up finding this 1.3 acre lot, fairly gentle slope (20' grade from the roadway to the shoreline), western facing, old single-wide on the lot, and 3 lots in from the main channel of the lake, but the solitude of a wide cove lot with not much vessel traffic. The elderly couple that lived there were the second owners of the property. It took almost 5 months to get them to finally ink a deal, but they eventually did.

This is the lot when we first bought it:

 

[THE YETI]

So, this brings me to the dwelling itself. We had never seen the inside of it when we bought the lot, because it was listed at $0 value. The old people wouldn't let us inside. We figured we would just bulldoze it and leave the lot empty until we decided to build in 4-5 years from now. After we closed, Mrs Yeti and I flew up to spend a few days at the property to check things out. To our surprise, it was indeed a dump. But we met with a super nice contractor that gave me a solid deal on essentially gutting the entire place and putting everything new inside. New floors, new paint inside and out, fix the rotting fascia, new lattice, stain the deck, new kitchen, new bathroom, etc. The AC unit blew ice cold, so we didn't need to touch that. Here are some pics of the before:

 

[THE YETI]

With the help of AI, I sent these pics to my contractor and firmed up the total costs, which was pretty much right on budget with what we wanted to spend. Now, mind you, this is just to make this place livable for the next 4-5yrs until we decided to actually build. We wanted a small cottage/lakehouse to hang with the family (kids and dogs) and enjoy the lake until it was time to cut the big checks. These are the AI generated images:

 

[THE YETI]

Crazy what AI can do... about 4 weeks later, and some minor changes to colors, we ended up with this.

 

[THE YETI]

As of today, the house is pretty much where we want it to be. The water pressure is "ok," and that would be my only gripe. The water is hot, oddly enough the hot water heater is original from 1986! The AC is cold, and its actually pretty quite inside. We dont get much noise from all the lake critters at night at all.

So the plans for now are mainly the dock. When we flew up back in May, we met with a a dock builder who we eventually inked a deal with. I can't believe I contacted SEVEN dock builders, of which 2 showed up, 1 wanted me to go to their store front (we did), one responded and never set up a time to come, and 3 never replied at all.

Anyhow, we decided on doing a brand new dock and ripping the old one completely out since it was all original and in disrepair. We went back and forth on second level docks, floating docks, fixed docks, you name it. We decided on a new floating dock with a metal roof. We decided on 2 wave runner ports and a cable lift for the boat. Signed the deal and fast forward to this past Friday when I got the call that we were about to get the engineering plans done. Mrs Yeti and I spent the last 8 days up at the lake house and honestly didn't get a good feeling seeing the floating docks in different stages of age. Most, if not all, were crooked, partially sagging, or just not matching up to my OCD. So, we started looking at fixed docks and began to question our initial decision. I called the dock builder Friday and told him to scrap the entire dock plans and go fixed pier and no floating dock. To my surprise, he took a breath and said that it wasn't a big deal and would make the change. I guess the floating pontoons under the floating docks slowly take on water at different rates over 10-15yrs and need replacing. Since the floating dock we were doing had 15 of them, TODAYS cost would be around $900/ea to replace. Since I am one to not have to deal with maintenance, I think we made the right choice. Here is the current dock, and I'll post the build pics as those happen over the next few months. We aren't slated to start until September with a November/December completion.

I forgot to add this lot had a grandfathered in boat ramp. Super happy about that!

 

[Geotrash]

That's quite a transformation!

 

[Bigburb3500]

I love these single wides for nice livable places. They are easy to work on and can be made “nice” for relatively little money. They get such a bad rep but with today’s tools and YouTube help they are GREAT!

Enjoy! NC is a great state!

 

[THE YETI]

That's quite a transformation!

Thanks. It's pretty cozy for a getaway place. I'll probably really start enjoying it more once we get the new dock built and the wave runners up there.

 

[THE YETI]

I love these single wides for nice livable places. They are easy to work on and can be made “nice” for relatively little money. They get such a bad rep but with today’s tools and YouTube help they are GREAT!

Enjoy! NC is a great state!

Thanks. Hopefully it lasts the next 5yrs until we start building.

 

[pwtr02ss]

Looking good broham!

That lot is really nice and will require minimal work. Fixed dock is the right call, imo. Refreshing the place helped a ton.

What ai are you using? I've not messed with anything except grok and its image generation is terrible. Looks great, just doesn't follow commands very well.

 

[THE YETI]

Looking good broham!

That lot is really nice and will require minimal work. Fixed dock is the right call, imo. Refreshing the place helped a ton.

What ai are you using? I've not messed with anything except grok and its image generation is terrible. Looks great, just doesn't follow commands very well.

ChatGPT. I pay for it tho. I had to learn how to give it direction but once that happened it seems pretty good. Sometimes it doesn’t listen, but neither do my kids sometimes so it is what it is.

We perc tested for 5 bedroom, 6 if i wanted it, but im not trying to build a fortress. The septic permitting is being applied for shortly, just working on getting it loaded onto our survey.

New house will probably end up 5000sqft 1.5 story with walk out basement. 5 car garage. 5/4 bed bath.

It will sit behind the trailer closer to the middle of the lot. I’ll try to upload pics of that shortly

 

[pwtr02ss]

ChatGPT. I pay for it tho. I had to learn how to give it direction but once that happened it seems pretty good. Sometimes it doesn’t listen, but neither do my kids sometimes so it is what it is.

We perc tested for 5 bedroom, 6 if i wanted it, but im not trying to build a fortress. The septic permitting is being applied for shortly, just working on getting it loaded onto our survey.

New house will probably end up 5000sqft 1.5 story with walk out basement. 5 car garage. 5/4 bed bath.

It will sit behind the trailer closer to the middle of the lot. I’ll try to upload pics of that shortly

Ask it to draw a 6 bay, 40x80 shop with 10x10 doors, 12' wall height, 6/12 pitch on the roof with white board and batten siding and a black, standing seam roof. Curious what it spits out. I'm too poor to pay for ai

Be aware that septic permits, at least mine, can not be modified. Just applied and paid for a new one.

Sounds like an awesome place you'll have! Look forward to future stays and keys to that boat! Just keep er gassed up for me...

 

[THE YETI]

Ok so serious question. My dock builder just called and asked if we wanted a second floor on the dock or just a metal roof. I’m torn. Price is almost the same.

Downside.. roof on the single floor metal sits about 9.5’. The second floor would be about 12’ high. Photos for reference.

The blue one is my neighbors. The 2-story is one my builder did.

 

[THE YETI]

Ask it to draw a 6 bay, 40x80 shop with 10x10 doors, 12' wall height, 6/12 pitch on the roof with white board and batten siding and a black, standing seam roof. Curious what it spits out. I'm too poor to pay for ai

Be aware that septic permits, at least mine, can not be modified. Just applied and paid for a new one.

Sounds like an awesome place you'll have! Look forward to future stays and keys to that boat! Just keep er gassed up for me...

Septic permit is non-expiring. We can make it smaller (4-bedroom) if we apply for the 5 bedroom. But we can’t do vice versa.

We will probably be letting people use this place as a vacation spot. Friends and family. I don’t trust strangers. lol. But once we build the big house, I’d love nothing more than company every weekend.

 

[Tonyv__]

Ok so serious question. My dock builder just called and asked if we wanted a second floor on the dock or just a metal roof. I’m torn. Price is almost the same.

Downside.. roof on the single floor metal sits about 9.5’. The second floor would be about 12’ high. Photos for reference.

The blue one is my neighbors. The 2-story is one my builder did.

View attachment 463667View attachment 463668

2nd floor for sure. Nothing better than looking down at the peasants

 

[THE YETI]

2nd floor for sure. Nothing better than looking down at the peasants

LMAO.

 

[Bigburb3500]

ChatGPT. I pay for it tho. I had to learn how to give it direction but once that happened it seems pretty good. Sometimes it doesn’t listen, but neither do my kids sometimes so it is what it is.

We perc tested for 5 bedroom, 6 if i wanted it, but im not trying to build a fortress. The septic permitting is being applied for shortly, just working on getting it loaded onto our survey.

New house will probably end up 5000sqft 1.5 story with walk out basement. 5 car garage. 5/4 bed bath.

It will sit behind the trailer closer to the middle of the lot. I’ll try to upload pics of that shortly

I would also inquire how much it would be to add one garage stall that is extra tall. If you get a boat and pull it out for the winter, boats are hard to garage.
Pontoons, you might be able to but if you are building, including an oversized and tall garage bay might be relatively inconsequential.

 

[pwtr02ss]

Septic permit is non-expiring. We can make it smaller (4-bedroom) if we apply for the 5 bedroom. But we can’t do vice versa.

We will probably be letting people use this place as a vacation spot. Friends and family. I don’t trust strangers. lol. But once we build the big house, I’d love nothing more than company every weekend.

I'm talking about septic location. Just be 100% sure you won't be moving it. Not a huge deal to get another, just a waste of money and time.

I'm just messing with you about the vacation thing. You guys will have a beautiful spot for sure tho!

 

[pwtr02ss]

Ok so serious question. My dock builder just called and asked if we wanted a second floor on the dock or just a metal roof. I’m torn. Price is almost the same.

Downside.. roof on the single floor metal sits about 9.5’. The second floor would be about 12’ high. Photos for reference.

The blue one is my neighbors. The 2-story is one my builder did.

View attachment 463667View attachment 463668

Quick answer would be 2nd level.

 

[THE YETI]

I'm talking about septic location. Just be 100% sure you won't be moving it. Not a huge deal to get another, just a waste of money and time.

I'm just messing with you about the vacation thing. You guys will have a beautiful spot for sure tho!

Ah yes. The location of the septic we are applying for is at the front of the lot. That’s where the soil was best for it. It leaves us with a 100x120 building pad to play with. So we won’t be moving the septic.