Build the home
you designed,
for what it should cost.

Building Blueprint is the owner-led system we used to finish our own architect-designed home 33% under budget. It works whether you’re hiring a GC, self-managing, or somewhere in between. It assumes you'll do the thinking; it gives you the framework for what to think about.

The Garrison House
Hudson Valley, New York
Vol. 01  ·  The Owner-Led System
01
Position
Most of what you’ll read about building a custom home is written for someone else: the client with an unlimited checkbook, or the hobbyist who wants to swing every hammer themselves. We built this for the rest of us: owners who want a well-designed house and a clear-eyed understanding of what it actually takes to get one built.

In 2018 we began designing a 3,000 square foot home in the Hudson Valley, New York. We had no construction background. We broke ground in 2021 and ended up owner-building the project ourselves, not out of bravado, but because every bid we received was hundreds of thousands of dollars higher than the project actually needed to cost. We finished in 2023. Everything in this system is drawn from that build and from the projects we’ve helped with since.

The build that put us in this business.
The Garrison House  /  2018–2023
3,000sf Steel, concrete
& glass
$600K Under lowest
qualified bid
33% Under total
project budget
4.17× Equity multiple
on capital invested
Ownerbuilt Developed, managed,
and built by us
Dining area with board-formed concrete wall and floor-to-ceiling glazing
Pl. 01  ·  Dining, board-formed concrete & white oak ceiling  ·  Hudson Valley, NY
02 Qualification

A plain-spoken note on who this is for, and who it is not.

i.This is for you

You’re planning a custom build or a major renovation, somewhere between one and ten million in hard cost. You’ve either found the land or are close to it, and the numbers either work or you suspect they don’t quite.

You’ve received a contractor’s estimate that came back well over what you expected, and you know that asking for a ten-percent cut and crossing your fingers is not a plan. You’d like to understand the difference between a bid that’s inflated, a bid that’s reasonable, and a bid that’s a warning. You’re willing to put in the hours where those hours produce real savings, which in a custom build is almost always before the first shovel goes in the ground.

ii.This is not for you

You’re doing a kitchen, a bath, or a remodel whose scope doesn’t require a coordinated design team. You’re already a licensed builder or developer with ten-plus projects behind you; most of this will be familiar. You want the decisions made for you (the architect, the GC, the vendor schedule, the finish choices) and you’re comfortable paying a premium to hand that judgment off.

You’re looking for a course on how to frame a wall or pour a slab. There are better resources for that work; this isn’t one of them. Our subject is the decisions an owner makes before and around the trade work. These are the decisions that determine whether the project delivers the house you actually designed.

03 The Blueprint

Five modules, built around what an owner actually decides.

01
Module One  ·  10 Sessions

The Strategic Blueprint

ROI  ·  Risk  ·  Readiness
$150 View sessions →

The most expensive decisions in a custom home are made before a single drawing is stamped. This module teaches the quiet arithmetic of feasibility: how to define a vision tightly enough that it can be priced, how to pressure-test a budget against real construction costs in your county, and how to evaluate site viability before you put money down.

It closes with the honest go / no-go conversation we wish more owners had with themselves — the one that separates the project that will actually get built from the project that will quietly die in year two.

02
Module Two  ·  10 Sessions

The Pre-Development Blueprint

Land  ·  Entitlement  ·  Structure
$150 View sessions →

Land is the first place where a high-design project gets away from you. This module covers zoning as it is actually practiced, site analysis for sun, slope, soil and water, the professional inspections every buyer needs and the three or four most owners skip, and the entity, tax, and insurance decisions that determine how the property will be taxed, financed, and eventually sold.

We spend real time on the permit pathway, which is where custom designs most often get watered down into something less than what was drawn. The owner who understands how their jurisdiction actually reviews a set of plans is the owner whose house gets built the way it was designed.

03
Module Three  ·  10 Sessions

The Design Blueprint

Architects  ·  Documentation  ·  Value
$150 View sessions →

A close read of the design phase from the owner’s side of the table. How to hire an architect whose practice matches your ambitions, how to assemble the engineering team that will make their design buildable, how to read construction documents well enough to ask useful questions, and how to value-engineer without collapsing the intent of the design.

We include long-form lessons on the envelope, glazing, lighting, landscape, and the millwork-and-finish decisions that account for nearly a third of the construction budget.

04
Module Four  ·  11 Sessions

The Pre-Construction Blueprint

Hiring  ·  Contracts  ·  Financing
$150 View sessions →

The single highest-leverage phase of the project, and the one owners most often rush. How to assemble a useful bid package, how to level three bids that are apparently in the same currency but not in the same reality, how to structure a contract that protects you without being adversarial, and how to finance a build through a construction loan without being surprised by the draw schedule.

Includes both the owner’s-rep and self-GC playbooks, which cover the same decisions whether you’re hiring a contractor or managing trades yourself.

05
Module Five  ·  12 Sessions

The Execution Blueprint

Construction  ·  Quality  ·  Closeout
$150 View sessions →

The construction phase, walked through in the order trades actually arrive: site and foundations, framing in steel and wood, the control-layer envelope, high-performance openings, MEP rough-in, interior finishes, millwork, stairs, and flooring. Each lesson is framed around what an owner is looking at, what can still be changed, and what it will cost to change it.

Closes with a long treatment of commissioning, the punch list, and the closeout documentation you will need when you sell the house in twelve years.

06, The full set
All five modules, bound together.
Every lesson, every worksheet and spreadsheet, the four calculators, and lifetime access to all future revisions. Save $250 over buying the modules individually.
$750$500
Get the Blueprint →
North elevation at dusk, cantilever and chimney over cleared ridge
Pl. 02  ·  North elevation, late winter  ·  Hudson Valley, NY
04 On the record

Letters from the architects and owners we’ve worked with.

“

In my sixty-year career as an architect, I have never encountered anyone quite like Peter and May.

They took on the construction of an ambitious, architect-designed house and executed it with real rigor. The experience gave them an exceptional depth of knowledge, with the full range of construction trades, and with the ambitions and demands of a serious design practice. They have done this with calm authority and high spirits. We are lucky to have found them.

Daniel Solomon, FAIA Architect  ·  San Francisco, California
“

What once felt like a distant dream now feels well within reach. Their knowledge and network of contractors helped us keep costs down without compromising on quality.

Morgan H. Owner  ·  Upstate New York
“

They have lived the process of building a beautifully designed home themselves, and so their experience, perspective, and attention to detail have been invaluable.

John R. Owner  ·  Family compound, Austin, Texas
05 Common questions

The questions people ask us most.

What do you mean by “owner-led”?

Owner-led isn’t about how much you do yourself — it’s about how informed you are. At one end of the spectrum, you act as your own GC and coordinate every trade. At the other, you hire a GC and let them run the site. Either way, you understand the bids, the contract structure, and the trade-offs well enough to tell a reasonable call from a bad one. Not cynical, not naive. The point is simple: never sign something you don’t understand, and never defer a decision whose consequences land on you.

Do I need prior construction or design experience?

Not at all. The curriculum starts with Vision & Feasibility (goals, ROI, budget) before it touches anything technical. If you can run a complex project at work, you can run this.

What if I don’t want to act as my own general contractor?

Totally fine. Most of our students hire a GC but use the course to stay informed. Empowered clients are the kind who get transparent bids, cleaner contracts, and faster answers because they speak the language. Our lessons on project planning, land due diligence, architect vetting, and hiring and managing a GC will still apply.

How much money or time can I realistically save?

Self-managing typically saves 20–35% on hard construction costs. On a $2M build, that’s $400K–$700K. Even if you hire a GC, the bid-leveling and contract strategies alone can save $50K–$150K. One avoided late-stage change order pays for the entire system.

Is the course relevant for major renovations, not just new builds?

Absolutely. Every workflow in the course, from feasibility modeling through bid-leveling and pay-application review, applies just as well to a major renovation or addition. Where a topic is genuinely new-build specific, we flag it and show the renovation alternate.

My project budget is smaller (or larger) than typical. Will the course still make sense?

The system is designed for builds in the $1M–$10M range, but the principles scale. The budgeting frameworks, contract structures, and risk controls apply whether you’re at $1.2M or $8M.

I’m outside the U.S., will codes, contracts, and cost data still apply?

The strategic frameworks for budgeting, risk control, and sequencing are universal. Where U.S.-specific details arise, like AIA contract references or domestic financing products, we flag them and point you to local equivalents. You’ll also have access to the community channel, where students outside the U.S. compare notes.

Will the course content be updated?

Yes. The core principles are durable, but we refresh the material as the industry evolves, and the private community is where day-to-day practice changes get discussed in real time.

How is Building Blueprint different from other owner-builder courses?

Most owner-builder content is designed for budget homes and DIY trades. Building Blueprint is built for high-design, architect-led projects where the stakes, and the potential savings, are significantly higher. We built an Olson Kundig home. This is the system we used.

How is the content delivered, and how long do I have access?

Each module is a mix of short videos (10–15 minutes on average), spreadsheets, PDFs, and working tools. Access is immediate and for life, including future updates, so you can work through a module in a weekend or return to it phase-by-phase as the build progresses.

What’s your refund policy?

We offer a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. If Building Blueprint isn’t what you expected, email [email protected] within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. We’re confident in the value, but we also know this is a significant investment.

06 Free tools

Four calculators. The same tools we used on the Garrison House.

01 / Feasibility
Project Feasibility Model
A twelve-input model that stress-tests whether a site, a program, and a budget produce a project that actually pencils.
Open tool→
02 / Diligence
Land Diligence Tracker
A 50-point working checklist for evaluating a parcel — zoning, slope, soil & water, easements, utilities, and the four or five inspections most buyers skip. About 10 minutes of honest thinking.
Open tool→
03 / Timeline
Custom Home Timeline Estimator
Answers the question every owner asks: how long until I move in? Map out realistic phase durations from where you are today, based on your site, design, and entitlement complexity.
Open tool→
04 / In development
More tools on the way
Additional working tools for owners are in development — built from the same set we used on our own build.
Coming soon

All four tools are free. No email wall, no gating. Use them.

07  The Book

A book on the owner-led home, in the works.

We’re writing Character Grade, a long-form book with Schiffer Publishing about what we’ve learned from this build and the ones that followed. Leave an email and we’ll write to you when it ships.

No popup. No countdown. One note when the book prints.