If you never want to own a handmade home,
then always let your first thought be “how much?”
for surely… the answer will be more than you want to hear,
and then,
you can easily dismiss the dream.
But,
if you really want to have that dream home,
let your first thought be…
“I WANT that handmade house, what do I need to do to make it happen?”
I’ve seen the young get their dream home, and I’ve seen the old, I’ve seen those financially challenged do it. (BTW… I’ve never seen a lottery winner do it)
Dream big, take small steps.
Yes, it does take effort.
Is it worth it?
Oh yes. So much so.
Just don’t get caught in the trap that so many do…
Of expecting someone else to do all the work… of designing a beautiful home for you, of picking out the best materials, and taking the greatest care in building that home to the highest level of skill… and doing all that, at the same price, or less, than the mass produced vinyl homes being built by the thousands today. It’s just not going to happen.
But please, don’t let your dream die! You can have that wonderful home.
The reality is that future handmade house owners need to either open the wallet wide… or put the toolbelt on.
I’ve built over a hundred one-of-a-kind homes for individuals who wanted me to do all, or most, of the work. I’m so thankful for those people. I’ve created some masterpieces and paid my bills in the process, and those same clients now have wonderful homes.
I’ve also taught hundreds more how they can do the same thing I do themselves and I have seen them go on to claim their dreams and create wonderful memories. Not to mention many now having incredible homes with little or no mortgage.
There are few things in this life that I love more than designing and building a handmade home and I believe that if you give it a try that you will feel the same way. The process is methodical… one step at a time… everyone in the building trade at one time built their first house. Many who build homes for a living have no more education than a high school degree. It’s not rocket science… it’s carpentry… it’s masonry… it’s plumbing. Yep, nailing boards, putting one stone on top of the other, gluing pipes together. There are tons of how-to books and videos out there.
You can do this. You are qualified.
Whether you choose to do it all or just some of the work, is something that can decide as you proceed. But at least start the journey by becoming fully informed on the options and the steps. And take the first few yourself… start the design work… seek out the materials… read up on the trades. I can’t tell you what decisions you will make as it progresses… but I can tell you that you will love the final destination!
Noah
PS… yes, the Handmade House Academy course is still being finished up. I’m so sorry for the delay… but be looking for the big announcement soon for all those on this site’s email list! There you will learn how to make this future home of yours a dream home… a home that will amaze you and everyone who visits.
Originally posted 2016-05-12 13:32:52.
Hello Noah, hope you are well. I just watched your videos and will take the course in the next week or so. My plans are for the next two to three years to build a log cabin and would like to get your opinion of what I have in mind. I am in the process of following your suggestion of designing my home but I found a layout that will be really close to what I have in mind.
Please let me know if this will be possible for me to build with the proper training of course.
I tried to upload the picture here but is not letting me. I will tray to send you by email. Thanks Noah
Hi Ivan, thanks for getting in touch. By all means shoot me an email and I’ll take a look at it.
The Academy course is great step for you to take. I like to help people out whenever I can and the course offers about eight hours of me going through what I know, from there I can better answer questions that folks send me because I don’t have to try to piecemeal and answer without bringing them up to speed on the how’s and why’s. For instance I recommend that the elevations of a set of plans be drawn first (what the cabin looks like from the outside), before the floor plans. Anyway… I look forward to hearing more from you! Noah
I love your homes you have been showing us! I wonder how much 1 of the cabins cost to build? Thanks for all that you do.
Thank you Regina, costs vary greatly on cabins depending upon many factors, so there is no way to say without going through a lengthy process. I find that when people ask me this question first that what they are really saying is “I want one of these but it probably cost more than I’d like it to”. And to that I would respond… “There is a cabin in your future, the perfect one… it just needs to become priority number one until it arrives.” Cabins take a lot of work to put together, it’s a LOT more efficient for the homeowner to do a some or all of that work, than it is to work at a job to earn money to pay someone else to do the work on the cabin, while the government, the banks, and insurance companies grab as much as they can in the middle of all of that.
So, as I read it, these are so expensive that if you have to ask how much it costs, yo can’t afford it.
No, not at all!
I built my first home for $20,000.
I built my second one for less than $500.
Certainly those are figures within anyone reach.
I achieved these homes by first discovering what I wanted and then figuring out how I could do it in my budget… which meant that I had to do a lot of the work myself and do without a lot of the options that one can have in a new home.
And those homes that I’ve built for clients… they came to me with a budget in mind and asked how we could work together to achieve a home in that price range. And all of them got their dream home… some helping, some not.
But those who see a single photo of a home, not knowing any of the details that went into building it, and the only thing they want to know is “how much?”… rather than “I like this… I want you to help me build something like this… How do we begin?”… well, I never hear back from the How Much? folks.
Please, please, please… if you want a handmade house, know that you can have one. But if price is a concern, you’re going to need to do a lot of the work yourself… and that’s my whole purpose here is to teach and encourage people to do just that.
And remember… in the long run quality is a bargain.
I’m a construction tech teacher in Texas. Just happened upon your site. My son is very interested in building his own with help from dad. I’ve not done a log cabin but very interested in the process. I really enjoy your site. Trying to talk my son into doing your handmade house academy. Thanks again for your site.
Hi John,
Thanks for the note!
I built my first home with my dad… and it was a great bonding period for the two of us. It was worth building the home just for the experience.
The Handmade House Academy… all that is within in it, and all that will be added to it as the months and years go by, is all that I’ve learned in a lifetime of studying and applying the best of new construction, historic construction, and alternative methods. I can’t take credit for inventing any of it… but I can pass on my observations and cut decades of a learning curve off of anyone who signs on.
Your knowledge as a construction tech teacher and combined with what is in this course will fit together nicely.
Noah