An owner-builder is someone who both owns a property and acts as their own general contractor on the job. They either do the work themselves or hire employees or subcontractors to do the work. When we built our last custom home in 2003, we hired a general contractor. While we sincerely appreciate that he was [...]
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Today I went to City Hall to find out how we go about submitting the plans for approval. When my ancestors came to American, they looked for some empty land, cut down some trees, and had at it. Today the process to build a home is incredibly complex. I understand safety concerns and conformity issues, [...]
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I just picked up the final blueprints from the engineer. These incorporated the custom engineering done by the truss manufacturer. Finally, we are on our way. Next stop, Lindon City Hall.
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The conventional wisdom about building a home seems to be to choose your house plans and then find a lot that fits. Even though I’m far from a building expert, I’m going to completely disagree. I say find your perfect piece of land for your custom home, then choose a plan that fits your lot. [...]
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In 1992, we concocted a lease-to-own deal with a moderately desperate homeowner for our first home. In June 1997, we signed a contract with a builder for our second home. They called it “semi-custom,” which really meant, you pick one of the three models that will fit on one of these four lots, then you [...]
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Moving your residence is one of the biggest projects you’ll ever undertake. This is amplified exponentially when you have children and/or a home business (or two…or three). And when you have a huge home, it’s worse. Even if you are organized, all the extra space makes it easy to justify keeping all sorts of unneeded [...]
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We’ve long been wanting to build an eco-friendly home. It’s all the rage. It’s cool. It’s hip. But that has nothing to do with it. If I really wanted to be hip, I’d get rid of the peg-legged acid-washed high-waisted jeans in my closet. And stop using the word “hip.” I’m not building a green [...]
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Whenever we are building, we make it a habit to attend the Parade of Homes in both Utah and Salt Lake counties. I can’t get enough of it. Sam was overdosed about three years back. But it was at the Parade that we made a remarkable discovery. Remarkable, at least, for custom home builders who [...]
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