The author and his wife chose to build a log cabin following the Norwegian stabbur design: raised foundation, small windows, low door, and wide eaves. PHOTO: BILL SULLIVAN Living in a cozy little cabin nestled in the woods is part and parcel of the classic Thoreau-inspired lifestyle most folks dream of now and then. But the romantic vision of log-home life…
You’ve probably heard it time and time again: It’s not a matter of if a natural disaster is going to happen, it’s a matter of when. So it’s important to prepare your family for emergencies by learning how to organize and build your own survival kit — for when danger knocks at your door without an invitation. Summer is tornado, wildfire, hurricane, and even flood…
This course has been offered since 1980 and is the heart of our curriculum. It is appropriate for a range of individuals, from the person who wants to do it all to the person who simply wants to be informed enough to have meaningful and productive conversations with his or her architect and builder. Students will learn through hands-on construction projects…
Get a construction loan if you want to build a house to your specifications. The best way to get everything you want in a house is to have it built to your specifications. Financing the entire project involves several steps and requires an outlay of funds before you can even approach a lender for a construction loan. The more prepared you are with your loan request…
What affordable options are out there in the Kenyan market? The model that a prospective home owner chooses – from a detached house to a high-rise apartment – depends on a number of factors, which include but are not limited to taste, preferences and available funds. However, each of the housing models has special requirements in terms of special planning and…
Building a home can be a very exciting time. It can also be stressful, expensive and daunting if you’ve never done it before. For most people, building a home doesn’t happen every day, so it’s important to feel as comfortable as possible along the way. We asked Rob Stewart, CEO of the Master Builders Association (MBA) South Australia, how to get started when…
If you dreamed as a child of someday owning a home with your own dance studio and ballet barre, or a personal game room with a Skee-Ball machine alongside an indoor putting green, then a custom home may be your best option to making that dream come true. While buying a home fulfills a big part of the American Dream, building a home to your specifications elevates…
What every owner-builder aspires to receive. Photo courtesy of iStockphoto Becoming the owner-builder of your own house is a great adventure. It gives you the freedom to design and build what you want, provides great personal satisfaction if you do the work yourself, and can save a lot of money along the way. But for many people who dream of building, it’s hard…
If you follow some basic lighting principles, you can get impressive results from even the cheapest of lighting kits. This is great news for businesses with smaller budgets or folks just starting out with video. As an experiment, we went to Home Depot and built a lighting kit with clothespins, clip lights, and LED bulbs. While this is not the be-all, end-all…
The interior design world isn t lacking in options—we ve perhaps never had better access to a range of raw materials and technologically advanced surfaces—but sometimes the most interesting options are right under our noses. As in, on the shelves at your local hardware store. As proven by some of the best in the business, what are commonly thought of as cheap…
You kind of, sort of, mostly know what a budget is, and you are pretty sure you don’t like it. Or at least that it will be very hard. As such, it’s always been pretty easy to come up with an excuse to avoid budgeting altogether. You tell yourself that you “just aren’t good at money, ” and you never will be, and therefore, a budget will never work for you. Or…
A lousy economy, rising unemployment and a dismal long-term outlook translate to ideal financing conditions for new-home buyers. A general malaise bordering on depression is wreaking havoc on consumer confidence, another factor fueling financing opportunities. The tentative real estate market amounts to an ideal window of opportunity for adventurous contrarians…
Last week’s post introduced you to Ashleigh Sergeant, our #FWOTM that lives the yogi talk, naturally and sustainably. We learned she not only teaches people to “build a life you love” in spirit, but also in physical form with the example of the beautiful sustainable home she and her husband Justin recently built in Costa Rica (pictured above). Fueled by a love…
LaMar Alexander had the perfect life before things came crashing down around him and he had to find a new way of living. Sometimes it’s the things that life throws at us that make us into who we are actually meant to become. Such is certainly the case for LaMar. Read his story down below of how he went from a normal life to homelessness, then to off-grid self…
I m building a house, will be moving in about a week from now. The house 2412 SQ FT. in Palm Coast, 1, 150 SQ FT garage with tall 11 Ft garage doors, granite in 3 baths, and kitchen, solid wood cabinets in all 3 baths and kitchen, 10, and 12Ft flat ceilings, Whirlpool Stainless Appliances, Travatine (stone ) back splash to ceiling, All Tile everywhere, jetted…
…. .. Can you really build your own home or addition? But don’t you need a license? These are two of the more frequent questions I get from friends as a professional builder. The quick answer is yes and no. But if you are serious about wanting to build your own home or addition, we should talk a little more about it. Requirements to Build Your Own Home Let’s…
Builders, both large and small, offer a variety of building programs to meet your budget and needs. Check out the one-of-a-kind homes available from small boutique builders. Do you already own the lot? Investigate build on your lot programs. And if you want to do it all your way,compare custom building options. Build your fantasy home on your own Field…
I’m working on a project that’s about to be delayed by seven months because we’ve discovered a bat colony on site. Bats don’t like being moved and, what’s more, they are protected by legislation. 4 Don’t leave out the landscape A lot of people just don’t get landscape, but if a house’s quality is not reflected in its surroundings, it looks like a piece of fluff…
Building a house takes many things– tools, patience, several cases of beer, and most importantly, a plan. In the last couple of years I’ve worked with a number of tradesmen and contractors, and even though I only threatened to bury one of them in the backyard once, I still recommend that anyone undertaking a project like this has an understanding of what it really…
Finding the money to build a new home differs from taking out a conventional mortgage on an existing home, because to build a home, you essentially need three loans: one for the land, one for the construction phase, and one for the permanent financing of the home after it is built. But the process is not nearly as difficult to navigate as it may seem, as many…
Building your own home from the ground up can be an incredibly rewarding process that can give you considerable control over cost. Carefully choosing functional yet inexpensive material, doing the labor yourself, acting as the general contractor (GC) and hiring subcontractors for certain aspects of the job, all will hold down the cost of building a home. Paying…
Keep construction on track with helpful checklists Turn your dream of a custom home into reality! Thinking about building your own home? This easy-to-follow guide shows you how to plan and build a beautiful home on any budget. From acquiring land to finding the best architect to overseeing the construction, you get lots of savvy tips on managing your new investment…
“Mars is our next nearest destination, ” Jekan Thanga, a professor at Arizona State University who has worked on U.S. and Canadian space missions, explained at MIT’s New Space Age Conference. “It’s our most practical destination for long-term colonization.” And when that colonization of Mars happens, Keegan Kirkpatrick wants to supply the tools to carve out a…
Pole-barn buildings are simple to build and have the added benefit of design flexibility. PHOTO: STEVE MAXWELL If you need to add shelter to your homestead easily and economically, pole barns are right for you. They’re the fastest, most cost-effective way to build permanent, solid shelter to store equipment, house livestock, or function as a garage or workshop…