calling MOPAR , Lord of the Southern Marches

As I believe we agreed that moving ahead on Battleford build was appropriate I suggest you do some planning as per the Castle Guide which you can download here
http://search.4shared.com/q/1/the%20castle%20guide?view=ls

As I understand the description of the most viable ford we have a 60 ft wide, river that tends to be no more than 4 ft deep at the ford, the land on our side is flat light forest and mixed scrub, soil not rock. The opposite bank has slightly thicker forest.

As I figure it , the build cost multiple would be 1.25 or more, if you stick to wood and earth but if you decide to go with bricks from Cirdastan your multiple will jump to 1.69 or more You'll find the reference to this in the construction section, Do your own estimation and clear it with the DM however my guess is just so you can ball park cost before finalizing a plan.

It's your call, how big, materials, design and how you plan on manning it and whether you wish it to be just a fort, a fort/town, or a fort/town/trading post to ease tensions with the orcs.
We can share the costs or try to convince/pressure Libram that his own digs on the edge of the wilderness would be most beneficial for his career of Ranging. This would also be the obvious forward base for the diminished Orcs bane. Bossy Rild will make no comments, this is all yours as is location and planning for the seaside watch tower.

When costing and timing out the fort/town take into account I'm willing to NOT adventure for as long as needed to build these things if that is what the party wants. This is our home and I have a squeeze and a purpose, so Rild as a character is not against hanging around for extended periods of time to build Cirdastan
This means we have our labour available to add to the production rate as long the party agrees. That said Ulthor as a newly minted 8th level priest also is able to build a castle and attract troops at this time. Division of town labour between projects needs to taken into account and the farther from town it is the less unpaid labour will be available for long periods.

We do have 1 porta fort available for assembly as a base of operations during construction, you can even cheap out and just go English Injun fort on us.

Actually Ulthro can't build his castle yet that's at 9th, This means he will build a church in the city now to attract his followers/defenders, and can always build another chapel in his castle at the duck blind or elsewhere later.

This means Battleford gets priority