Since we’ve coined a new acronym around here, that of the owner-builder, I thought I would hook you with the thread title, and show you these pics.

We were in Indiana last week, and stopped by to take some photos of a house we built for ourselves, our first attempt at being owner-builders.

Completed in 1996, from a purchased set of plans, this 2,800 sf home sits on a nice piece of lakeshore up in the glacial lakes area of NE Indiana.  There were no mistakes in the plans at all.  100 percent buildable right from the paperwork.

I wasn’t into painting and exterior maintenance at the time, having a real day job then, so we used all Wolverine vinyl products on the outside.  The upper part of IN has an unbelievable aquifer system, so our open-loop well-sourced geothermal HVAC system provided all our heating and cooling needs.  A small discharge went directly into the lake.

The only work I did was the staircase inside, and all of the outside decking, steps, porch work, and the finishing of the screened porch.  Everything else was subbed.  No one got fired, no one got p*ssed off, everyone was a complete pro, and we hit our budget target within less than one percent.  Go Hoosiers!