In the fall of 2003, Colin and I purchased a piece of property about 30 minutes from the center of downtown Portland on Clear Creek in Estacada Oregon.  Himalayan blackberry and Scotch Broom had taken over the land in areas that had been disturbed by a poorly managed logging operation.  The former owner had occupied a dilapidated mobile home on the property which was filled with mold and mummified field mice. When he moved he left behind garbage and belongings including a rusty inoperable well digger. 

        Despite initial challenges, the site has much to offer.  The property boarders a fish bearing creek and has mature cedar, fir, maple and pacific yew trees.  Thanks to the placement of the trailer, the electricity, septic and well were already in place.   Our goal was to build a sustainable home that incorporates a variety of green elements in a place that feels like we are on perpetual vacation.  We just needed to find a builder to help us meet our objective.

    When we met Stephen Aiguier, owner of Green Hammer Construction, we had been unsuccessfully looking for a builder for about two years and were concerned we would not be able to find one that was compatible with our sustainable building goals.  However, once we enlisted his help things began to fall into place, including finding our architect Matthew McCune of McCune Designs.  He shares an office with Green Hammer and reviewed the initial set of plans we brought in for an estimate.  The construction estimate for our first plans was cost prohibitive and not very green so we asked Matthew to design us something more suitable for our budget and needs.  Once we had a working set of plans we the process could begin.