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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: July, 2019
Jul 31, 2019

Although you may have thought about the color and material you want for your roof, the typical homeowner puts little thought into the actual design of their roof.  And roof overhangs specifically, forget about it.  Roof overhangs haven’t even crossed most people’s minds.    

In this week’s mini-lesson, I’ll tell you why overhangs shouldn’t just be an afterthought.   And why almost every new home should include them, where possible.

Check out ZTERS.com  for all your construction site services 

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Jul 24, 2019

Where you place your dishwasher can increase or decrease your kitchen’s functionality and flow.  And although there is no one exact right place that dishwashers should universally go, this week I have a list of quick tips that you should think about before deciding where to put your dishwasher.  If you haven’t heard our Dishwasher Buying Guide Quick Tips, you might want to go to episode 80 and take a listen.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Jul 17, 2019

In recent years, homeowners have been opting for fewer upper cabinets to give their kitchens a more open, airy feeling.  Some people want completely empty walls, maybe with a window, where traditional upper cabinets would have gone.  But many homeowners are requesting open shelves, sometimes called floating shelves, in place of some or all of their upper cabinets.

People are typically either adamantly for, or adamantly against open shelving in the kitchen.  You’d be surprised how much emotion is stirred up by the subject of open shelves. Some people claim they are one of the most beautiful and most functional features you can put in a kitchen, and others say that open shelves are not only unsightly but unsanitary.

So let’s get a bit more insight about when open shelves are a pretty and practical solution for a kitchen, and when they should be avoided.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Jul 10, 2019

I have a couple of pocket of doors planned for my new house and when I was talking to a contractor about them, he said: “I hate pocket doors.” That is not an uncommon statement.    Some people love pocket doors because they’re sometimes the only small space door solution available, but pocket doors also have some problems.  So let’s talk about the pros and cons of pocket doors and let’s briefly discuss some pocket door quick tips.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Jul 3, 2019

One of the first things you’ll have to decide when building a house is whether you want to want to be an owner-builder or use a general contractor for your project.  If you are considering building the home yourself, episodes 2 and 7, called “You Can Save Money, Lots of Money, But Should You Build Your Own House?” and “Build Your House Yourself, But Not All By Yourself” will give you some insight on acting as your own general contractor. 

If, however, you want to use a builder to construct your new home, you’ll have to choose between a custom home builder and a production builder.   Much of your decision will rest in how many choices you wish to make and how much input you’d like to have during the construction process. In this week’s episode, we’ll talk about the differences in production home builders and custom builders and I’ll give you the pros and cons of each.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

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