It’s really our waste water laws that hold back single family homes, but I’m with you on act 250, it needs hefty revisions to modernize it.

Thumbs up for the Lunos system, very easy to retrofit.

Don’t forget about Bradley down near Hartford CT, less than an hour from brattleboro.

Check out the Bud Barn in west Brattleboro.

I’m familiar with the broader scope encompassing pole barns, their nickname is due to most of these being built from pole barn kits.

If this is going to be a full time residence I would suggest you look into a different style of construction. Stick framing a code minimum build is still fairly affordable, easily modified later on and will yield better results in the performance of your home.

Also to discuss your original question where abouts in central VT is the site?

It’s a pole barn typically on a slab, converted into living space. Big in the south and Midwest, not ideal in our climate.

As someone who’s knee deep in the trades I’ll give you some advice.

First, exercise patience. As you’ve found out anyone worth hiring is committed and contracted to more work than they can handle right now. That means you’ll have to play the long game which will actually work out better for you.

Second, find a respectable GC in your area that can handle the entire scope of work. Sure it will cost more than finding and scheduling the trades yourself but there’s a very important aspect to hiring the GC, their network of subcontractors. Most subs won’t even return your calls but they’re in a committed working relationship with the GC, you’ll get actual results and often times better quality.

Third, the long game. Since you’ll most likely be looking at a start date in the later half of next year this allows you and the GC to come up with a solid plan, budget and schedule. The time invested before the project begins will determine the success and increase the odds of coming in on budget.

Trust me when I say this is much less stressful and productive path than managing a bunch of cowboy subcontractors that owe you nothing past the warranty of their scope.

Down in my corner of the state land is outrageously priced for anything worth building on and only sold in ten acre plus parcels. It’s really one of the main reasons our average new construction is at $400k, only the wealthy can drop $100k on a parcel then actually budget a build as well.

Or even one acre parcels, the septic restrictions kills subdividing larger lots.