To Build a House

My Epic Saga in Custom Home Building

By: Ryan Haag

Narrated by: Ryan Haag

Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Most people dream of building their own custom home, customized to fit their lifestyle perfectly. But for Ryan Haag, life as a US Navy Officer makes building a custom home impossible. There is little point in investing in an expensive, customized home when the Navy sends you to a completely new location every three years. But a change in life circumstances suddenly gives Ryan the chance to build the home of his dreams.

Having prepared for years for this very moment, Ryan is soon awash in loan documents and building contracts, and buried deep in the often murky world of custom home-building. Soon it becomes obvious that this process won't be easy. Challenges abound, from shifty city bureaucrats who throw up roadblocks when least expected to a mortgage company and builder fighting with each other. All of Ryan's preparation is put to the test as he navigates the complicated process of building a custom home from scratch on a virgin piece of land and with a limited budget.

To Build a House explores the glossed-over details of home-building. This isn't a fancy home-building novel with an unlimited budget and expert building crews. This book shows what happens when it all goes wrong. Nothing comes easy in this home-building process. It's hard, exhausting work managing a project that will be your forever home. But nothing in life worth doing comes easy, and this book celebrates the success at the end of a hard-fought victory.

If you want a real story of a real person with real constraints navigating the process to build a home while balancing work, family, and just general life challenges, this book won't disappoint.

©2021 Ryan Haag (P)2021 Ryan Haag

Not what I was thinking

This wasn’t what I was fully looking for but the story was great. It kept me going and also has me looking forward to building my forever home now more then ever. Thank you for all the information and the ups and downs that now I know could come along the way.

It's like a good friend sharing insights

I'm preparing to build a custom home and this book helped to put some things into perspective. Overall, it was easy to listen to his story and it was as if a good friend is sharing insights during a challenging period of life. i would recommend listening to this book if you are about to build a house. The author seems to be a good family man.

Fantastic Story!!!

Such a fantastic story on so many levels! At it's core, this book truly offers a deep dive into the building blocks (no pun intended) of building of home, highlighting all of the unique features you may not necessarily think about.... like crawl spaces. But this book goes so far beyond simple instructions on how to build a home. Ryan does a beautiful job of tying in all of the personal and emotional battles that come with building a home, in addition to the battles of life in general. This story made me laugh, cry, smile, and so many emotions in between. I'm honestly a little sad to be finished with the book, because it really felt like I was listening to a good friend during my drives to and from work. I hope to see more stories from Ryan in the future!

Solid construction of details

This was very well organized book of with personal as well as construction struggles & successes. Very kind to keep the anonymity. I appreciate the specific details. Perhaps even more specifics would have been appreciated regarding choices such as cabinets, floor baseboards, HVAC, h2o systems, hardware, lighting, etc. I guess a book has to have some constraints. I’m sorry about Rebecca. Good luck with the Chapel, being Christian (former Catholic) myself, I’d love to incorporate something such as this in our build. Congrats on your son! Thank you for the list at the end. Glad you were able to be so productive during the lockdown. Keep being such an awesome role model for those kiddos!

Great Story

Twists, turns, and a few tears…all the bases covered. Faith, perseverance, and wit get the author to the finish line of what can only be described as a daunting endeavor.

Must read if you are considering building a custom home

Great story and great details on a customer’s experience of building a home and how complicated that process can be. The author definitely gives you some great insight on dealing with contractors, city government, lenders and all the issues that can arise in a custom build.

Staying strong during life’s struggles

Props to you Ryan!
I originally got this book because I am currently looking to build my own home….by my self…on weekends…with no loans :o fingers crossed! Maybe we can get together for a sequel ha ha. Even though Ryan used a contracter, I learned a lot not just from his construction struggles, and handling life’s as well. Thanks for the heads up! You are truly a strong man Ryan. I am a traveling superintendent and I tell you what, I never hugged my kids harder than when I got home then after hearing your voice telling parts of your story.
Great book, I recommend.

Not what I was expecting but had some tips

This was a lot about life and not as much about building a house. Quick tip: if you don’t want to read about child loss and military work drama jump to the last chapter. All the great tips are there in a neat package.

Must-read if you're thinking of building a home.

Wow. An intensely personal story of the motivation behind and act of building a custom home. Not really a "how-to", but more of a "what to expect" if you're thinking of tackling a similar endeavour. The first third is not what you'd expect (and not for the faint of heart). It's a touching and necessary backdrop of circumstances and motivation that lead up to the project. The rest is a series of not-uncommon experiences in the process of building. This was something I too wanted to do some day. I learned a lot and it definitely left me thinking. Highly recommended.

What a STORY!

Bought this book expecting a self help book on how to build my own custom house, as my wife and I found a piece of property that we are considering building on.

It’s much more than that, and I think tells the more important human aspect of what it’s really like to experience the process of building a custom home.

Ryan tells a great story, detailing his epic adventure from concept in 2016 to final occupancy in 2019/2020. The checklist at the conclusion wraps up some very valuable lessons learned!

Must listen for anyone considering jumping into custom home build. Recommend listen at 1.2-1.3x speed.