Here's what it actually looks like — from someone living it right now.
You've bought rural land, or you're about to. You want to build something real — a glamping property, a retreat, a life that looks different than the one you have now. And you're tired of courses that promise everything and deliver nothing useful.
What we spent, what we made, what things actually cost in Alberta right now. No estimates dressed up as facts.
Permits, builds, setbacks and seasons. How long things actually take when you have a full time job and limited hands.
What we got wrong, what we would do differently, and what saved us time and money when we least expected it.
People doing the same thing, at the same stage, with the same questions. No gurus. No upsells. Just honest conversation.
We are three weeks into 152 acres, a house half torn apart, 20 bell tents waiting to go up, and permits in progress. This is not a finished product. It is an open invitation to follow along with something real as it unfolds.
You are not buying a course. You are buying a front row seat to something being built in real time. We will make mistakes, change our minds, and figure things out as we go. You will see all of it.
We are not developers, influencers, or people who got lucky. We are a trades worker and his wife who bought 152 acres east of Edson, Alberta and decided to build something real.
We took the courses. We read the books. We kept hitting the same wall — information that was vague, outdated, or built on advantages the instructor never disclosed. So we stopped looking for someone to hand us the answers and started documenting our own.
This is that documentation. Updated as it happens. No filter.
Six weeks into owning the property, 20 guests arriving Sunday morning, and a bathroom that needed to go from disaster to welcoming. Here is exactly how the 36 hours before the first knock at the door went.
Read moreEveryone talks about the purchase price. Nobody talks about what comes after. We bought 152 acres east of Edson and thought we were prepared. Here is what the first month actually cost us — the demo we didn't plan, the fuel nobody budgets for, and the number you should have in cash before you take possession of any rural property.
Read moreWe had this property on our watch list for over a year. Three years on the market, a financing wall that took an accidental referral to break through, and a house interior that was a disaster. Here is what we paid, what surprised us, and the honest answer on what we would change.
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