Sourcing Material for a Passive Solar Build

So You Want To Build In The Bush.

As we near the closing date of our house sale, March 28th, the reality of the build has really begun to sink in. Our circumstances (unheated living at a northern build site) means a two month apartment rental here in Hamilton before we head up to the property. That means in addition to packing up our household contents, while attempting to pare them down, we are trying to source out the build materials and the obstacles of our location are becoming clear.

Here is a partial list of materials/services for which we are trying to source out local connections and the associated hurdles. We must preface this by saying that when we first looked at our property we knew no one in the area. But, thankfully, we have made a few friends, and continue to make more through the wonder of social media, who have been extremely helpful in our search to find locally sourced items.

The first hurdle we have to overcome is that our road has weight restrictions for vehicles after the Spring thaw. That could be removed as late as July 1st. At this point we are not certain of exactly what materials that are to be delivered to our build will be delivered via a vehicle that is on the weight restriction list. Once we have that worked out we can begin to schedule deliveries.

The next hurdle is getting small items to the build site. We are on the lookout for a reasonably priced used 4x4 pickup to allow us to do our own small deliveries.

On site water delivery - As easy as that is down in Southern Ontario, in Cochrane there is only delivery for non-potable water. We may have a connection for potable drinking water now thanks to our new found social media friends.

Solar panels, batteries and other electrical - we have tried to connect with local installers but they seem most interested in grid tie-in. They do not appear to have an interest in selling small off grid systems. Looks like we may be much better off building our system from scratch ourselves. If you have any connections to suppliers of solar systems/parts please leave us a comment.

A few other considerations for the interior of our home. 

Bottles and cans - our plan is to use the local schools as a point of contact.
Appliances - we are planning on a wood cookstove, a freezer and a freedger (a term coined by Shane of Canadian Dirtbags for a chest freezer converted to a fridge).
Hot water - working out the details of a thermosyphon with our cookstove and an electric water heater tied into the battery system overflow.
Composting toilet - at this point we are looking at a build your own.
Plumbing - thankfully we have a plumber in the family.

Here are some general build tasks/materials we are still sourcing. 

Hiring someone to clear the building site 
Wood for frames

Finding someone who does spray foam insulation Insulating materials for under the structure 
Sand 
Bags for building 
Materials needed for inside the bags

In Cochrane proper, which has a population of 5,500 and is about 25km away, there is Castle Building Supplies and Canadian Tire. Many of our materials can be purchased through these vendors. Timmins is the closest large center being about 105 km away with a population of close to 45,000. There you can find what are known as 'big box' stores however we choose to stay away from these vendors whenever possible so will avoid purchases in Timmins if other local sources exist. Kapuskasing is another small town, at just over 8,000 people, that's about 120 km away. We have actually chosen to use the U-Haul drop off depot there, for our rental moving truck, over Timmins mostly due to the more pleasing drive.

As we have no building experience we are extremely grateful for all the guidance we have received and will continue to share our experiences as guidance to those of you inspired to consider what's possible