The Cost of Not Speaking Up During a Build

In this episode of Home: The Second Story, Sheri Scott and Marilyn Moedinger talk with Jenn, a homeowner in Farmersville, Ohio, who built a custom home on 10 acres near Dayton. Jenn’s project moved quickly. The build took about eight months, and the whole process from plans to move-in was about 10 months.

Jenn had a unique perspective because she works for Sheri at Springhouse Architects. She did not go through the full architecture process in the usual way. Looking back, she says she would have paid for the full experience. She saw firsthand how much architects help clients think through details, communicate with builders, and avoid problems before they happen.

One of Jenn’s biggest lessons was that she should have written down the specific things she wanted before design began. She had ideas in her head, but the speed of the project and the stress of decisions made some of them easy to forget. The biggest example was her primary suite. She wanted the bathroom, closet, and laundry to work together in a more efficient layout. She remembered this early enough to change it, but she did not speak up because she felt guilty asking for more help from people who were giving her discounts or favors.

This became a major theme of the conversation. Working with friends or professional contacts can be helpful, but it can also make the relationship harder to manage. Jenn says she would have defined the relationship earlier. When discussing the project, she would want the roles to be client and architect or client and builder. Then they could return to being friends outside of that process.

Jenn also talks about making selections herself, including tile, cabinets, lighting, and custom wood countertops made from trees cut down on their property. The countertops became one of her favorite parts of the house, though there was a stressful moment when the island was installed without the seating overhang she had planned. The woodworker was able to fix it, but Sheri points out that full architectural services could have caught that issue through shop drawings before installation.

The episode also covers the end of the build. Jenn’s project stayed close to budget except for additions they chose, but the schedule became stressful. She and her family were renting, had to move belongings around, and eventually needed the builder to finish quickly so they would not be without a place to live. Sheri and Marilyn use that story to stress how important it is to ask builders how their