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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >Don's question is what is easiest. I think the answer is qualified by
> >the skill of the builder. Masonry, carpentry, finish carpentry,
> >roofing, stuccoing, plastering, and the rest are all easy for those
> >with large experience but hard for novices.

Yes, but I understood the question to not be academic nor rhetorical, but 
that Don is going to really build the house.  Don is no novice around wood.

I built my house 99.9% solo.  Denise was the only significant helper but 
predisposed being the mother of infants at the time.  It's built much as a 
frame 
house but using rough sawn timbers rather than commercial dimensioned lumber. 
 
Sometimes the rough sawing was really rough and the hand plane was used to 
shape many a structural piece.

The construction was accomplished using a system of 'dead men' and a lot of 
patience.  While doing the roof structure, I could build one truss 'in situ' 
in 
a day.

I don't altogether recommend the method of building nor necessarily doing it 
solo.  It has advantages and disadvantages.  The chief disadvantage is that 
it 
took a long time, the chief advantage was that when the door was shut for the 
first time, it was paid for.  But I just mention it to show what *can* be 
done.