We Didn’t Build Our House the ‘Right’ Way — Here’s What We Did Instead

When people picture building a home, they usually imagine a pretty straightforward process:

You hire a builder.

You pick your finishes.

You wait.

You move in.

Clean. Organized. Predictable.

That was… not our story.

We didn’t follow the “right” way to build a house.

Not even close.

And honestly? I think that’s exactly why it worked for us.

We Didn’t Hire a Traditional Builder

Instead of handing everything off to one builder and stepping back, we took a much more involved route.

We were in it. Every day.

• Working with our architect to build custom plans

• Coordinating schedules

• Talking to subcontractors

• Making decisions constantly

• Problem-solving in real time

Was it more work? Yes.

Was it more stressful at times? Also yes.

But it gave us something we wouldn’t have had otherwise: control.

Control over costs.

Control over decisions.

Control over what mattered to us, and what didn’t.

And more control over timelines.

We Worked Full-Time Jobs… the Entire Time

This is the part people still don’t fully believe.

We both worked full time while building.

Not “checking in occasionally.”

Not “taking time off to manage it.”

Full. Time.

Which meant our days looked more like:

• Early mornings

• Long commutes

• Calls during lunch breaks

• Site visits after work

• Late-night decision making

  
  

It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t balanced.

But it was temporary—and we knew what we were working toward.

We Moved in With My Parents

Instead of renting or trying to juggle two homes, we moved in with my parents while we

built.

Now I'm well aware not everyone has this opportunity. We are forever grateful for my parents welcoming us with open arms, and are forever in debt to them. This could be an entire blog post on it's own, but I digress...

But doing this allowed us to save more money, stay flexible, and fully commit to the process.

It also forced us to stay focused. There’s something very motivating about knowing your current situation is temporary.

We Made Fast Decisions (and Trusted Them)

If you’ve ever built or renovated, you know how many decisions there are.

It’s endless.

And if you let it, it can completely overwhelm you.

So we didn’t.

We had to make decisions quickly, based on what fit our vision and what made sense financially.

You know what would have made this process SO much easier though? This checklist. If I had the chance to fill this out BEFORE we broke ground, maybe we would've been in the house even faster!

I built this after going through it myself. It has everything, room by room, on every little decision you should be thinking of.

We Accepted That It Wouldn’t Be Perfect

This might be the biggest one.

We let go of the idea that everything had to be perfect.

Because when you’re managing a build like this—while working full time, while juggling life—perfection isn’t realistic.

Things go wrong.

Delays happen.

Mistakes are made.

And instead of letting that derail us, we adapted.

We figured it out.

We kept moving.

And you know what? It turned out even better than we imagined.

So… Was It the “Wrong” Way?

Maybe...

By traditional standards, we did a lot of things differently.

But here’s the truth:

We built a home we love.

We stayed within our priorities.

We proved to ourselves that we could do something really hard.

So I don’t think it was the wrong way.

I think it was just our way.

If You’re Thinking About Building…

You don’t have to do it like everyone else.

You don’t have to follow the “standard” path. In fact we sold our previous home on Facebook Marketplace! Talk about against the status quo.

There is no one right way, only what works for your life, your priorities, and your season.

And sometimes, the unconventional route?

It’s the one that gets you exactly where you always wanted to go.