How Did You Find...?

Your Builder

Finding a builder, especially one that isn't booked two years out, can be tricky! I talked to quite a few builders that were just out of my price range. One was a long time family friend and he tried very hard to talk me out of the Aframe. Then, he said at my price range I would only get all the basic finishes - laminate counters, etc, which absolutely did not appeal to me, so I continued my search. After that, I thought I had found a potential builder from an online forum. We talked emailed back and forth, I sent him my plans, but after we starting talking about setting up a time to meet, I never heard from him again. I spoke with my friend's dad, who works for a contracting company here in town, and he recommended two different guys. I gave them both a call and they were at least willing to look at my plans. Both of them asked me to leave them at a local building supply store here in town. A gentleman in their design center said he had another contractor that just had a job fall through and he could scan over my plans to him as well, if I wanted. I said absolutely! I needed to check out all of my options. This builder called me the next day. I got a good feeling from him. He had actually never built an Aframe, but he loved doing unique builds and he was very excited at the possibility of building this, and he ended up being the one to build my Aframe. So, I literally found my builder from one of the local building supply shops. I had never thought to stop into places like that and ask for recommendations! He let me totally customize every piece of the build, was creative and innovative and I am so happy I ended up choosing him. The local building supply shops are the ones that work most directly with these contractors and have a good idea of who to recommend. So ask! They'll at least give you a place to start.

Your Property

I had some pretty specific boxes to check when it came to property. I had a price point I needed to stay within, I had a desired acreage that I was looking for south of town and ideally I wanted a view. Probably more importantly, since I was a single female planning on living by myself, I needed to be somewhere with cellphone service as well as somewhere off a county maintained road for snow removal. I did not want to rely on someone else to plow when I knew I needed to get to work early every morning. Finally, because I was getting a contruction loan, I had to have a water hookup or well already in place. When you get a construction loan, the bank will not include or finance wells because of the overall uncertainty of wells. You can very easily go way over the budget or possibly not hit water at all and banks do not like that uncertainty. In the end, I got a piece of property directly off a country maintained road that had cell service and had a water hookup. It was a smaller amount of acreage than I originally wanted, but was still very private and didn't feel like I was right on top of my neighbors. It didn't have a view, but it has beautiful, giant trees and gets the greatest sun! Finally, it was the cheapest piece of property on the market. So the pros outweighed the cons for sure. You might not get everything on your checklist, but decide what is the most important for you and find something that checks more boxes than not. And most likely, you'll find some little hidden pros about your property that you would have never thought of!

Your Finishes

I got my finishes from literally every place you could think of. I was on a budget so I shopped around. I talked to many different people about where to go and where you could find deals. I got the most amazing solid wood interior doors second hand. They were ripped out of a house during a remodel. I got my solid hardwood flooring from an online auction out of Seattle for a little over $2 a square foot. I had only seen pictures, so it was a little bit of a gamble, but they turned out to be better than expected. I had a shipping company pick it up from the auction warehouse in Seattle and deliver it to my doorstep in Idaho. I got some vintage and handmade light fixtures off Etsy. And of course, because the price is often right, I got some finishes from Home Depot. I got the tile for both bathroom floors and the downstairs shower, as well as all of my appliances, from Home Depot because of the good price. So shop around! That's part of the fun of building.

Your Plans

I looked at hundreds of plans online. I had looked at tons of different Aframes on Pinterest and Instagram. There was one Aframe account on Instagram that I followed that I loved the layout of, but they didn't offer their plans up for sale (until after I started building, of course). I could never find exactly what I wanted. So, I finally decided I would take all the pieces of the different plans and houses I had seen, and design my own. My dad had found a draftsman in town that did plans on the side and was reasonably priced, so I had him draw them up for me. I sent him a very poor sketch of the layout and size I was hoping for, and he helped make my dream come to life. I wanted something functional for every day living and something I would hopefully be able to stay in and grow in for the foreseeable future. And by designing my own, I got something that works for me! If you think it work for you too, the plans are for sale on my 'Shop' page. :)