The August 2 Mansions section of the Wall Street Journal featured a piece written by Beth Decarbo entitled “Construction Hindsight is 10/10: Here are the things I wish I had known before building a house from scratch.”

The article begins on a high note by proclaiming that while the construction process was longer than she had anticipated, “building a house from the ground up has been one of the best experiences in my life.”

The rest of the article laments things Decarbo wishes she had known before construction began. The subheads and copy warn of surprises, disappointment, and even the need to go "underground" to save money. Your Warmmodern Living Lindal Experience would not be that way.

Prospective clients often have notions of what houses cost per square foot in their area. Quite often their notion from yesteryear is lower than this year’s reality.

Using ranges at the outset is not a flim flam approach. Many of my clients come to me on the rebound from a tragic experience with an architect in which their budgets have been exceeded by as much as 100%, a fact that was not known until the house was all planned.

My livelihood depends strongly on my ability to predict price accurately. If I underestimate the cost significantly and my clients cannot build their homes, I have worked for months for no gain. It’s as simple as that.

Designed to perch inconspicuously on a steep hillside with a water view, this modern design is supported by a long stone wall on the uphill side and concrete piers on the downhill side.

Clad in charcoal grey steel with vertical ribs with aluminum clad windows of the same color, the house will quietly take its place on the wooded slope, barely visible from the road below.

In contrast, the interior will glow warmly with Lindal’s beautifully crafted Douglas fir beams and clear cedar liner with furniture-quality lacquer finish.

Lindal Cedar Homes has become the leading producer of systems built modern designs. And, proud to say, Warmmodern Living is the #1 independent Lindal client rep by creating modern designs that are personalized to our clients' home sites, lifestyles, and budgets. We invite you to view our recent work on our website.

We all love looking at the product of the planning process, the final design, the houses under construction and finally completed. How we arrive at that — the planning process — may seem less interesting, but it is in fact just as — if not more — important.