This is how our hawk house looks the second summer.

The mews really is built plumb (straight up and down). It just looks a wee bit jabber-wockied as the photo was taken with a cell phone camera - functional, but not the best as it introduces some parallax error (true vertical lines don't look truly plumb).

You can just see the black, plastic, rain caps on top of the corner posts. They will help to keep the end checking, etc. under control.

The only other thing that I intend to do is to change out the door trim on the far right edge. There is a piece of 1"x2" rough cedar in place now. It doesn't match up with the 2"x4" trim piece of top of the door. I'll put in another 2"x4" piece of rough cedar, but will have to cut it down a wee bit to fit properly and match at the top.

A major change from the original plan is the "trim" at the top. The housing association will not permit a flat roof covered with anything else but shingles that match the house roof shingles. By modifying my design I am able to hide the white EPDM rubber roofing, and everyone is happy :-)

I used beveled cedar siding, and fastened it with screws. It is more costly than Hardy Board siding, but it is so light and easy to work with that to me it was worth the added cost. The biggest pain was priming and painting it. One can buy primed cedar siding; however, it is not available in our market area. The reason for using screws was in case we move in a couple of years. I can take it apart and bring it with me.

What would I do differently the next time, if there is a next time? I'd use 4"x6" rough cedar for the foundation beams instead of just one on the right side with the door and 4"x4"s on the other 3 sides. The 4x6s are easier to work with, IMO. I had to set the door into the foundation beam some 2" in order to bring in the total height to less than 8' as required by our Housing Association. It measures 7'-11 & 3/4" in height. It is easier to be nice to the HA and work with them than to knock heads with them :-) I would also use cedar wood throughout. I did use some yellow pine for some of the inside framing. It was not worth the added effort as cedar is so much easier to work with.