My husband works part time as an Engineer from home (so 20-30 hours a week) and then he works on the house as much as he can but I bet it is more than 40 hours a week. My brother is only there maybe 5-10 hours a week. This is why it’s going to take us 2 years to build it instead of 6-9 months like most contracted houses. My husband LOVES the project and is enjoying it. I don’t love the build and would pick a contractor if I could. Ours is kind of a money thing too, because he can do the work and we have some time to do it, we’ll save about 50% on the house (though we’ve put in all that time), but out of pocket it’s going to be a lot less expensive. It is literally so much work and I would tell you that very few people could put in the time time/dedication needed to see this kind of project through, my husband just happens to be one of those people!

You saw it, you saw it!!! Next time I hope you’ll stop in! And we’ll plan it even better and we can have lunch at my house. I love having company and friends come on their way through the parks! That’s so cool, thank you for sharing!

After reading this I am convinced that we drove past your house last week! We had driven across the lower part of Zion, stopped at a junction where we bought drinks and sandwiches before driving on to Bryce where we had lunch in the car about an hour later. As we drove through a small town between that junction and Bryce, I thought of this post and said “Wow, that looks like Melissa’s house!” and then kept an eye out for a grocery store, which was on the other end of town. Am I right? Was that your new home-in-progress in that gorgeous part of the country? I hope so because my husband couldn’t understand why in the world I would think I knew who would be building a house along a road we had never before traveled…haha

I’m in Utah and southern Utah is a pretty easy place to build in luck for us. I’m so glad you left a comment because sometimes I just need to know we aren’t alone in the madness. LOL. I have 5 kids and my laundry is currently in our rentals’ basement so I’m pumped to get it on the main level. We are doing a commercial kitchen in our downstairs apartment too! I’m hoping to be able to make and sell goods at the grocery story my in-laws own and at farmer’s markets and things, who knows! It’s so fun to me that you all are self-employed too. I wonder if there’s something about the kind of people who can build their own house are also the kind of people who can be their own boss?!?! And 8 babies! That’s amazing. When you want a vacation sometime in the future you are going to have to come and visit Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon National Parks, we are right in the middle of them and you can stay in the house when it’s done. PLAN ON IT!!!

That would be wonderful! We don’t get to travel much, due to our business ( we have our county’s contract for the “meals on wheels” elderly feeding program), bit if we ever get out your way (I’m originally from Idaho) I’ll take you up on your offer! I forgot to mention that we’re putting in a drinking fountain too! Great minds think alike! ?

We live in northern Wisconsin, so we are quickly running out of time before the snow flies. The regulations here in WI are obviously different from TX (I’m assuming that’s where you are), for the cerement work, electric, plumbing, & well have to be done by a licensed contractor. We could have done the dirt work ourselves, but we don’t have the machinery for it. Besides, that amount of clay they had to take out was ridiculous! After waiting 6 weeks for dirt work to be done (grrr!), $26,000 worth of fill & sand later, the cement slab was poured, & things have been hopping since.

We are having in-floor heat in the cement slab, with no basement or upstairs. We have 9 children & I’m so done hauling baskets of clothes up & down these stairs! Lol We were able put up the outside walls & sheeting this past weekend & the trusses are due to be delivered this week sometime. Hopefully, those can go up this coming weekend and maybe sheet the roof too? We’ll see… It’s a 40′ x 80′ structure, with 2/3 of it being the house & 1/3 being our commercial kitchen (we own a catering business), so those trusses are cavalier & 48′ across (there is an 8′ porch running along the front of the house 2/3 of the way with our attached garage being the remainder 1/3). Our bank requires a licensed general contractor for our construction loan (we were able to purchase the land from our savings, as well) & we are so thankful that a good friend has a general contractors licensed, so he’s a GC “on paper” & we’re doing all the work that we can. It’s fun & exhausting at the same time, isn’t?!

Anyway, sorry to leave such a long post (I actually came to get your granola bars recipe! 🙂 ), but I’m quite excited with all that we are doing! And I just couldn’t help leaving a comment about your building project, too.