Mark, thank you for writing such a great book. I have bought many books to help me through my building process, but yours is the one I go back to the most. I'm on my second home now. It is so much easier the second time around. The first house was such a huge success. It cost us about $100/ft to build with top of the line details, and including a swimming pool (but not including land), and we sold it less than two years later for about $235/ft. We made several hundred thousand dollars profit on that one house! I think it's safe to say owner-building has changed my life. Thanks! Chad in Arizona

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Avoid Sierra Pacific Windows

Posted to Bert- by Bert in Southern, CA on 3/20/2008 10:04:30 AM

What a disaster! Our Sierra Pacific windows and doors arrived days late and all the wrong sizes. When I called the company in a panic, they told me that all of their reps were in a sales meeting, so no one was available to help me. I left several messages for our rep, who eventually text messaged me to tell me he was busy in his sales meeting all day and all night. Eventually they told me to just deal with it and that they were not going to take them back.

Part of the initial sales pitch was that they would send a rep to my house after installation and before drywall, but when I called them to tell them that we are ready for them, they gave me a date that was several weeks out, therefore we will have to stop all construction for about three weeks while we wait for them. Unfortunately, the windows and doors are so hard to slide, I need to wait to see if there is anything they can do to make them easier to operate. Please DO NOT BUY SIERRA PACIFIC WINDOWS. If you want more information you can email me.

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Posted by Guy in San Luis Obispo, CA on 6/3/2008 Guy's Forum Posts: 64 Interview Answers: 1 Average Forum Rating: 3.70 Randomly Selected Image 6/3/2008

Sierra Pacific is a lumber company that figured they could build windows too.  That's like a mining company figuring they can build cars.  With the downturn in housing, it's possible they will not last at either.  I designed a home that used SP windows and every one of them leaked.  Hope no one else learns the hard way.

Construction has begun on the guest house

Posted to Bert- by Bert in Southern, CA on 1/30/2008 6:06:30 PM

We got our plans last month and yesterday we began construction of the guest house.  I have to order windows and doors right away.  I have given serious consideration to either the Sierra Pacific, Marvin, or Pella.  The bid from Pella was $76,000 for doors and windows with shade between the glass. Marvin was $46,000, but they don't have some of the features offered by Pella.  I'm still waiting for the window bid from Sierra Pacific, who's showroom I checked out today.  I was very impressed by their product and their salespeople.  I can't wait to see their bid. If you have a recommendation please let me know.   

Plans are at the county

Posted to Bert- by Bert in Southern, CA on 3/16/2007

We've just submitted our plans to the county of San Diego for permits.  We now have a 2,600 square foot home that will be about 4,800 square ft. with a 1,000 square ft. guest house.  When we are done, we'll end up with over 5,800 square ft. of living area. Today I am going to get copies of my plans shrunken down to 1/8 inch = one foot as is suggested in the book, so that I can use those plans for bids.  Wish us luck and send any advice our way, because we've never taken on anything this life changing before.  We've worked on coming up with the perfect plans for four years and now it's finally becoming a reality.