build a house

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a carpenter who started a small business with a friend a couple years ago. I basically started doing custom work as a hobby to earn extra cash for college, but it has now grown into a pretty big thing. We do really expensive, intricate, custom projects for people, including finish work and furniture.

Our most recent client wanted a 6000 sq/ft, 5 bedroom house on an 8 acre lot done as elaborately as possible. We got to design and build the entire interior of the place. All Brazillian Cherry inlayed hardwood floors, curving staircase, curved balcony, crown moulding, 6 ft fireplace mantles, built-ins, a full service bar, and a few pieces of furniture. It was the most interesting (as well as profitable) project we’ve ever done. It took us about 3 months, but in the end we got a front page photo & subsequent article in the paper about the house. The developer is selling it for about 1.8 million, a little out of my price range, but it gave me a chance to explore what I might do in my house. We just started the second one.

I’ve been a carpenter for a few years now, and we’ve done a few houses from the ground-up. Unfortunately I haven’t done one for myself yet. I have a piece of property set aside, but college classes and grad-school plans won’t allow me to settle down for a little while. Very satisfying though. Also much cheaper than buying from a realtor if you do it right.