Last month, my family and I spent a week in Guatemala building homes for families in need (see picture below). The experience made me reflect on the expectations we have for our own homes.
The families in these Guatemalan villages were overjoyed...
One of the first questions people ask a custom home builder is: “When can you start?” or “When do you have an opening in your schedule?”. If you have ever asked some form of that question, there’s a good chance you’ve followed up with another one:...
You’ve probably heard that an ICF home is more efficient than others. Here’s a quick crash-course about ICF homes. Maybe you’ve even come across figures like 32% to 44% energy savings. But how accurate are those claims? And is a net-zero home really...
You can’t unknow something. If you are happy with the status quo, maybe it’s best to skip this post and move on. If you read this, you may end up like me: convinced it is unethical to build a home you know will have hidden problems.
You’re...
Interest rates are high, and both material and labor costs are high. It’s an election year and the political climate and stock markets are unstable. Is now a horrible time to build a custom home in Michigan? Should I wait for a better market, for...
Some people would like to be involved in the construction of their new home beyond just writing a check and picking out colors. If that's you, this is the blog for you.
Maybe you have that can-do attitude that built America that we see all over...
R-Value Homes is pleased to show off one of our 2023 Homes.
The home dubbed "Burken Punt" features stunning detailed craftsmanship and unique custom features. You cannot help but feel the difference when standing inside an R-Value home. This West...
I need to start by qualifying these comments. The problems below are mostly unique to custom home building. Semi-custom and Production Home Builders, or “spec” builders are structured differently, and can often achieve higher accuracy with square...
An unfortunate reality is that many folks get blindsided with the actual cost of their home. We seem to think the only things that make a home costly to build are the flooring and countertop choices. In part 1 we looked at design, in this blog we’ll...
Recently I encountered an interesting study on the real cost of home ownership. I’ll look at the data below, but suffice to say I found it quite interesting, because it reminded me of the main reasons my wife Missy and I purchased our 1893 Victorian...