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Build Your House Yourself University

Wish you knew more about the biggest investment you will most likely ever make? Build Your House Yourself University (byhyu) will teach you to save money and make smart decisions about the construction of the place you and your family will call HOME. We will help you understand residential construction— simplify and demystify the design build process. You’ll come away with successful strategies for building your own house, with or without a general contractor. Become an educated consumer, even if you prefer to buy, rather than build a new house. Complex construction jargon and best practices will be explained in easy to understand terms. It’s not the typical DIY (do it yourself) show. You will learn how to MANAGE the labor, not DO the labor for your new house. Join me, Michelle Nelson, host and fellow informal residential construction student. I’ll share the research I find on home design and building as I prepare to build my home. Together, our community of future home builders, will learn the tips, tricks and trends of experienced contractors and industry experts. I’ll interview owner-builders and construction professionals. During our mini lessons, I’ll inform you about framing, flooring, windows, insulation, kitchen cabinets and countertops…almost anything having to do with new construction homes. You’ll hear about energy efficiency and green building too. There will be product reviews in which you will be introduced to cutting edge, as well as, tried and true products and services. And in keeping with the university theme, episodes will end with short, fun quizzes. If we do our due diligence BEFORE we start construction, we will actually start construction with the most difficult part of the project behind us. Let’s put in the time, effort, preparation and research BEFORE we break ground and building our homes will be much easier and more enjoyable.
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Now displaying: April, 2019
Apr 24, 2019

Most of us want to get the biggest bang for our buck, and, if possible, we prefer making purchases when items go on sale.  And that goes for things that we’ll need for our homes. So, I read a few articles on the best times to purchase certain homebuilding and household items. 

To be honest, after reading many sources on this subject, I found no solid agreement as to the exact best times to find sales prices on different items.  One source would say sales occurred most often in May, and another article would say November, but what I’ve compiled for you in this week’s episode, is a list of the most often sited best times for buying things for the home.  Although there will be sporadic sales throughout the year for different homebuilding and household items, there are certain, predictable times of year when specific products and materials can be bought for significant discounts.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Apr 17, 2019

As I go through my homebuilding process, I’ll be letting you know what I learn in my preconstruction and construction meetings and what tips I pick up on the job site from contractors.  Last week I met with my architect and construction manager to clear up a few last details before sending plans off to more subcontractors for bids.  Although my experience and my house will obviously be different from yours, I’m hoping what I learn through my process will help you with yours.  So this week I have a short list of quick tips that I picked up in my meeting.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Apr 10, 2019

Well, we’ve made some progress.  We finally got our foundation and structural plan from the engineer and our building permit has been approved.  Hallelujah!

I’ll tell you more details about our progress, plus review a couple of construction terms.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Apr 3, 2019

Putting in some time and effort to get organized before we break ground will help the construction process go more smoothly and be less stressful, for us and our contractors.  It’s important to get information out of our heads and out of our numerous piles of magazines and papers and off of our scattered sticky notes and instead, organize all of our design and construction information into an easy to use system. This week we’ll talk about how we can organize all the information we’ll gather before and during the construction process.

Show notes at www.BYHYU.com

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