When Joanne decided to tear down her family’s lakefront cottage and rebuild on the same lot, she knew building a custom home on a small waterfront lot, with her nearly 97-year-old mother living with her, would be anything but simple.  So she joined BEFORE YOU BUILD℠ because she knew there would be a lot to […]

Are you in the process of creating your custom floor plan and want to learn from someone who’s already been there? You’re in the right place because I’m sharing five things I wish I had included in my own custom floor plan — a home I designed and built back in 2013, over a decade […]

I’m answering a GREAT question I got from someone attending my free on-demand class. The question was this: How can you best create a realistic custom home budget before you meet with a builder? I LOVE this question because the person who asked it is already thinking about planning for their home build the RIGHT […]

If you’re planning to build a custom home, you’re probably worried about the typical things … you know, like staying on budget or making the right design decisions so you don’t have regrets. But guess what? There are other things you might not even realize you need to think about until you are already in […]

I want to start with a question … ‘Do you know how to prioritize your home build budget?’ More specifically, do you know what YOUR family’s priorities are?  Do you know exactly where to spend your money and where to pull back … and do you know this now, BEFORE the decisions start flying at […]

One of the biggest concerns I hear from people who are building a custom home is going over budget. (You can probably relate!) But here’s what I want you to know … it is possible to build within — or very close to — budget. It all comes down to knowing where to splurge and […]