In this episode, we talk with Brahm, a homeowner in Cincinnati, Ohio, who recently completed a new custom build in Indian Hill. This was his second time building a home, and while the first experience was rocky, this time around he struck gold—with the team, the process, and the final result. We walk through his journey from initial spark to move-in, digging into everything from design decisions to the importance of asking questions—even late in the process.
We start by getting the lay of the land: the home is a little over 7,500 square feet including the finished lower level, with a four-car garage and traditional architectural styling. Although it began as a French country concept, the look shifted along the way. Brahm shares how life events and COVID-era reflections prompted a focus on aging in place, including designing a dedicated caregiver suite. He also kept a running wish list and created a room-by-room heat map of his old house to guide design priorities—a level of clarity that shaped everything from layout to finish selection.
Throughout the project, Brahm emphasizes the importance of flexibility and mindset. One key takeaway: plan for a contingency in your budget and get comfortable spending it. He tells us how his initial instinct was to cut corners early, but by the end, he was more willing to invest in meaningful upgrades—like expanding stone on the exterior or designing the home gym he always wanted. We talk about the value of speaking up even late in the game, and how his team consistently responded with, “If it’s what you want, let’s figure it out.”
We also hear about the personal touches that made the home truly his: a four-car garage he treats like a showroom, a well-lit and Zen-inspired home gym, and a themed Dungeons & Dragons room that taps into an interest he and his son re-connected with. He credits his successful outcome to a strong builder-architect relationship, an engaged mindset, and making decisions based on how he and his wife actually live—not resale value or trends.
We wrap with some real talk: no project is perfect. Even when the team is solid and the process is smooth, there will always be second guesses and minor regrets. But for Brahm, the joy far outweighs the doubts—and that’s a win.
Second Story Brahm
Speakers: Sheri Scott, Marilyn Moedinger, & Brahm
[Music Playing]
Voiceover (00:02):
Everyone says how horrible it will be to renovate or build your house, we're here to say, it doesn't have to be that way.
Join three seasoned architects as they interview homeowners who recently completed a large project, and ask them one simple question: what do you know now that you wish you knew before you started?
Welcome to Home: The Second Story Podcast.
Sheri Scott (00:27):
Hi, and welcome to Home: The Second Story. We are three residential architects sharing real conversations with homeowners who have taken on a custom home or renovation project. If you haven't already, check out our first episode to hear more about us and why we're doing this.
I'm Sheri Scott from Springhouse Architects in Cincinnati. I'm joined by my co-host …
Marilyn Moedinger (00:49):
I'm Marilyn Moedinger of Runcible Studios in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Boston, Massachusetts. Today, sadly, we do not have Taylor with us, so Sheri and I are going to do our best (laughs), just the two of us today. But we're delighted to welcome Brahm from Cincinnati, Ohio on the podcast today. So, welcome.
Brahm (01:08):
Hi, thanks. It's good to see some faces to the voices though.
[Laughter]
Sheri Scott (01:12):
Right. Excellent.
Marilyn Moedinger (01:15):
Well, we're going to start off as we always do with our quick five. So, these are just sort of rapid-fire questions to help our listeners get oriented to you and the project. So, first of all, where is the project located?
Brahm (01:27):
It's located in Cincinnati, Ohio, more specifically in Indian Hill.
Marilyn Moedinger (01:32):
Was the project a new build, was it an addition, renovation?
Brahm (01:36):
It's a new build that we considered renovation very briefly.
Marilyn Moedinger (01:40):
Okay. When did you start the project and when did you move in?
Brahm (01:44):
Well, that's fun (laughs), and I had to go back and look at some old, old notes. So, we started around I would say December 2020 is when I got in the internet and started looking. We did a lot of research with an old builder, years ago, our first build, and that's another story I won't get into right now. It was not ideal.
And this time, instead of doing all the research we did before, I looked at builders in Mason, Ohio. That's where we lived at the time, and I thought, “Oh, she seems nice,” and that was the end of our research.
We ended up having a video call on February 2021, and initial architect meeting was in May 2021. We looked at some other properties, and we can get into that detail if you want. But we looked at some other properties for various reasons, we kept waiting and ended up just really lucky with a lot in Indian Hill, but it wasn't ready yet.
So, time went on, we went through some iterations on the house build actually for the original property we looked at, and then it went on hold. Then we finally (just jumping ahead, but we can get into the other parts if you want to), it wasn't until July, August of 2023, we closed on the lot; a week later, started clearing it, construction, and we finally moved in November 2025.
And that was actually a month, month or two early because I begged our builder, if at all possible, could we get in before I have shoulder replacement surgery because I'd rather convalesce in the new house than the old one or try to move stuff. And they did a yeoman's job getting it done. The whole crew, they were fantastic to work with.
Marilyn Moedinger (03:30):
And I just want to be clear, you said 2025, did you mean 2024?
Brahm (03:34):
Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, we are in 2025, yes, yeah, yeah, sorry. So, we've been in … well, it’s almost been a year, but thank you for clarifying that, yeah.
Marilyn Moedinger (03:44):
We'll get more into it as we get further into our conversation here. But that does sound like what happens, things take a while to get started, there's the little stopping and starting, there's this, there's that, so yeah, we want to hear more about that. But first, another couple quick questions for you: what is the size of the house and what's the basic style of it?
Brahm (04:04):
So, the style, you guys will have to tell me, I sent you a picture. It started off, it was supposed to be like French country. I don't know if it went off the rails. Then once it went … that was all committed, we saw some stuff we really liked, but we couldn't go back to that.
And so, I have some thoughts on that later on, what would I do different? We like it now and it's really growing on me on the outside, we've just focused more on the inside. What would you guys say the style is?
Sheri Scott (04:32):
I saw the picture. I could see where the inspiration of French country came in. I think you ended up a little bit more traditional.
Brahm (04:40):
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Sheri Scott (04:42):
And pulled away from the French country. But I could see with the cut gables where it was starting that way.
Brahm (04:48):
Well, it's the first and second floor are about a little over 4,600 square feet, but we did almost the entire lower level and which we use is living space. So, if you add that, it's just a little over 7,500 square feet, and then there's a four-car garage, and that's about 1,100 square feet.
Marilyn Moedinger (05:10):
Our last question, there's lots of different ways that you can work with an architect from just buying plans and that's it, to full complete services. So, we're just curious here for you to tell us how you worked with an architect, if you did at all.
Brahm (05:24):
Yes, we definitely did and not having tons of experience building a house, we only built one before, and my wife really handled that project when I was working. I was always under the impression you can go to an architect, but you kind of need the builder because I thought the builder always had the lot.
Otherwise, you go find a lot on your own, it's like well, who knows what other problems it'll be in that it's kind of nice to have a professional who can manage the whole project, that's what you're paying them for. So, it fits and starts, I'd thought about meeting with an architect, just see what a house might look like if we were ever to move.
But by the time we found this builder, they had an architect that she worked with, so we were happy to work with them. In fact, it was the same architect that designed our old house. At least the firm was the same firm, and we were happy with the design, I want to be clear, of the old house. The builder that was a different story on the old house, and he was great to work with.
We went through a lot of iterations to the point that I think sometimes (and I may have misinterpreted this) I got the feel is like, “Hey, you guys need to take a rest and just put it away and don't worry about it for a while because we're never going to end on these changes.” But he was very, very nice about it.
I get that, I could see where that had come from. I think I might've wanted to look at it once or twice more at the same time. Would it have changed that much more? Probably not. So, in the end, he probably made the right call.
There is a point that I thought, well, once … we designed it for a previous lot, and that lot ended up being, that was in Mason and I hadn't built in 30 years, forgot how much it would cost. And I thought, “Oh my God, I don't know that I'll want to pay those kind of taxes.”
I love Mason, love the school system, but then we found out there were some lots in Indian Hill. We never thought we'd move there, they all tend to be quite isolated. But the builder had a lot that was like a traditional neighborhood with cul-de-sacs. My wife kept wanting the privacy of Indian Hill where you're on septic, you've got propane, you're in the middle of nowhere.
And I said, if I sprained my ankle, we're on our own, I'd like to have some neighbors nearby. So, this lot is on a cul-de-sac, 300 feet back, surrounded by woods, and yet I've got all the neighbors that I'd want to interact with-
Sheri Scott (7:45):
Best of both worlds.
Brahm (07:46):
Yeah. So, the architect said, “Hey, the design we already did will work great on this lot, we just need to flip it and it's actually fantastic for drainage.” And I hemmed in going should I redesign for the lot? Let's look at the lot, is there anything we would change?
Now, the previous lot was wooded also, and there's pros and cons to that. I think in the end, it was probably best we didn't. If we had, I mean obviously it's money, we probably would've expanded a little further out and a little further out.
And it's hard to really visualize, you got a wooded lot, you know what you're clearing, it hurts your soul every tree you take down. But some of these trees were over a hundred feet tall, and we didn't want to build a house and have them fall in the house shortly thereafter. So, we cleared as minimally as we could, and Indian Hill, limits how far you can clear, even though you own more of the land.
And I suspect, had we redesigned, we might've gone a little bit bigger, and we would've found we couldn't clear any more trees, and it would've been uncomfortably close. It's hard to predict if anyone would've realized what you could and couldn't. So, it's just one of those things I think I've stopped losing, almost stopped losing sleep over (laughs) if I had a regret or not.
[Chuckles]
Sheri Scott (09:00):
It takes a while to stop second guessing yourself, I think.
Brahm (09:03):
Oh my God, yes, yes.
Sheri Scott (09:05):
Jumping into your journey where you started, tell us a little bit about why you decided to build, what did your life look like? Was there a catalyst moment when you were like, “Yeah, now's the time.”
Brahm (09:19):
We had been going through COVID like everyone else. About that time, my dad had already died a couple years before, but my mom got even sicker. She was in a nursing home for a couple years, and my wife's parents were in the nursing home also, and they were getting worse and worse, and the nursing home seemed less and less great. And it's tough. I mean, it's a tough job for the people, they don't pay them enough, et cetera. And they both died during COVID, not from COVID, just other complications.
And the more we thought about it, we thought, if we can stay out of a nursing home as long as possible, pay someone (if we can afford it at that time) to live in the house and take care of us, and pay them well because it's a very difficult job, but can we give them a nice space in the house also? As much as you want to be at work, they want to be there.
So, we looked at aging and place as well, wider hallway, zero threshold after having dealt with the wheelchairs with our parents and lifting them up over curbs — all of these things that we experienced with them, we were like, how can we address that should one or both of us need that care sooner than later?
So, I had been keeping a list for years, like a wish list of things in a new house. You don't want to do that moments before building. Just anyone who's living in a house now, if you think you may ever build again, start your list now. It's easy, it's on your phone when it pops in your head, you can put it there.
And we thought about the current house, we loved the location, I loved the neighborhood. Thought about staying there, and there's a lot we would've had to do and it still wouldn't have been exactly what we wanted but we could have pulled it off.
Sheri Scott (11:02):
Is that the renovation you had considered?
Brahm (11:03):
Yeah, that would’ve been the renovation. And I never went far enough to actually ask someone, this was me just doing the mental math. And my advisors, financial advisors kept reminding me, when you put money into new house, that money's not going away, it's still part of your state. I always have to be reminded that because you think if it’s out of your account, it's gone.
So, that helped me open up to the idea, okay, let's build. Which is obviously a lot more expensive, but you don't have a bunch of people in your home while you're doing that. And one of the other things I did when we were building is I took our existing house — we still had the plans, my wife was fantastic, kept all the plans from the house so we could even give it to the new owners of the house.
But I got on the computer and basically did a heat map where I indicated which rooms do we use the most and spent a couple days thinking about it. And obviously, cooler colors, blues or white for where we are hardly in there and the stuff we used a lot — just to, again, you can tell the architect all the stuff you do, but I think it helps trying to explain things three different ways and things start to sink in.
Sheri Scott (12:10):
That's great. I have never had a client give me that information before-
Marilyn Moedinger (12:14):
Me neither.
Sheri Scott (12:14):
I would love to have that.
Brahm (12:17):
And it was surprising too because you're challenging yourself, going, well, you think you use this room a lot, but do you really? What's that color versus the other rooms? And it took seconds just doing it with an iPad and a pencil and whatnot, or just printed out and color it with crayons.
Sheri Scott (12:33):
That's a great tip.
Brahm (12:35):
And as I said, yeah, we had that really long wish list and then several sessions meeting with them, and the mantra all the time, which was very helpful. And again, it's going to depend what age, but we'd be like, “Well, should we add this because it's better for resale?” And they're like, “Stop, you're building this for you. This is your forever home. I mean, we'll stop you if you're doing something that's insane that you won't be able to sell the house.” But they said, don't worry about that stuff, build for yourself.
And so, one of the things that we put in the house … we didn't really need a second floor because we basically would live on the first floor. But we added a partial second floor mostly over the garage for purposes of the elder care … well, guests but also, it's basically a suite.
There's a bedroom and a den, so that person, the nurse or whomever, they have a place to escape for a while or if they have to stay overnight, that's where they can stay also. But it's not on the same floor with the patients, they can actually get away for a bit.
Marilyn Moedinger (13:40):
Well, I want to underline something you said 500 times. I mean, there was a lot of really great stuff in what you just said, but also the resale value thing. So many people get hung up on that. They get so worried about well, if I pick this tile versus that tile, will it affect resale value? It doesn't matter. Unless you're flipping it, it doesn't matter.
You're going to live there, especially if it's a forever home. If it's longer than five years even someone's going to come in later and rip out whatever tile you put in and do what they want to do. So, as you said, unless you're doing something completely crazy. Unless you're putting the kitchen in the attic and the living room in the basement, and that's kind of crazy. So, I just want to underline that for our listeners, I think that's spot on.
Brahm (14:30):
And to that point, just branching off from that, my daughter has a very good eye for design and whatnot. There are times where we would pick something out and she'd be like, “Oh, that's so out of style, don't do that. Let me show you stuff.” And she'd show us stuff off Pinterest and TikTok. I'm like, “Kalen, that's what's in style at this minute. I guarantee what we're picking out in a year or two, we'll be back in style (laughs). Like who cares? I want to build what we like.”
And that's what we finally got to, I don't know if she fully agrees with us. Not that we did anything crazy old fashioned, though, there is, when I look at the kitchen and I thought, which my wife handled most of that until I pushed her to spend a little bit more money on something she liked, but she didn't want to spend the money on. I thought wow, this does look like everything that's online now, so we inadvertently got trendy at least in one room.
[Laughter]
Marilyn Moedinger (15:23):
Well, sometimes people call them trendy, but they're just classic (laughs).
Sheri Scott (15:30):
And you're right that those trends are changing over so fast now. It's not like it used to be a generational trend but it's not like that anymore, it's a number of years now. So, I think it's smart to I mean, use those things for inspiration and find what you do like but once you like it, head that way, it's not going to be a mistake.
Brahm (15:52):
Yep, yep. I agree, I agree.
Sheri Scott (15:55):
We've talked a little bit about the design process. You've said a couple of times that you're not sure if you should have backtracked at some time. What would you tell other people if they're in the same position? Would you tell them to go ahead and push ahead because you'll never finish or would you say, take a step back and take a minute?
Brahm (16:16):
So, if I had not been through this process at all (and again, some of it depends on your budget and whatnot), I would've said if it's a new lot, design it for that lot. Particularly, if we had gone from a non-wooded to a wooded, I think there would've been a big problem. But it was already designed for a wooded (area).
And again, what's the money? I mean, this would've been 15 grand to redo it. Now, in view of the scope of this project, okay, that was nothing, not that 15 grand is nothing-
Sheri Scott (16:46):
No, I know what you’re saying.
Brahm (16:47):
But it depends on the project. So, really, really, if one could do this, I would say go through the whole process … like if you go into a virtual reality, go through this whole process, struggle with spending money and keeping the budget low and everything until you're beaten down about what everything costs, and then start over again from the beginning. And suddenly, you'll go, okay, $300 here for an extra outlet is nothing, just do it.
And each of these little things, yeah, could be death by a thousand cuts, but you're not going to stress as much over that. So, there are things early on that we sort of cut corners on, and by the end, this is how much it's going to cost, I don't care. I gave up, whatever, and I kind of wish I had had that mindset earlier on.
Again, it all depends what your budget is and what you're doing. Like when we planned this house, I decided I wanted a budget because you always go over. And last thing I wanted was to hit our maximum budget, then we start building and we realize, oh, we need this or that, and there's no money left.
So, I thought, okay, what's our maximum? Now, I'm taking money away from that, that we can't use for the original design. So, when they come in and say, “Well, do you want to do this” or if we've got a last-minute change, I've got this pool of money over here that I can use and I'm not sweating it.
But it would be a shame to do this very expensive home or any home, and you have to put bottom of the line stuff in that you never wanted to because you don't have any budget left. So, definitely leave yourself that buffer.
Marilyn Moedinger (18:29):
Yeah, that's great advice too. I'm always telling my clients, especially I do a lot of renovations and on those, we're telling people to set aside 20 or 30% of the construction budget off to the side because in renovations, there's a lot of surprises and that kind of thing. And at the end, if there's money left over, great, you can go shopping for furniture or you know that's your savings or whatever.
But the peace of mind that that gives people is exactly what you just described, where you don't have to worry that if you find a $10,000 issue that it's going to be the end of the day, or the end of the project or whatever. I think it's really important also to remember that in order for your architect and your builder to do that right, you need to share the numbers.
Brahm (19:14):
Oh, a hundred percent, yep, yep. And I even told them that this is the number, but here's my buffer, so let's keep it in here and I'd like to not spend the buffer, but if we have to … and thank goodness we did, because there were a couple of big number of things that came up that, well, we knew we were going to have to do a sewage ejector pump just because we're below the sewage.
But that was a 30 grand cost but we weren't sure what it was going to cost yet. A new electrical box had to go in because we were so far back and that was almost going to be another 30 grand, but the developer was supposed to cover part of it. So, the builder got it worked out that we only had to cover 15.
And then the house had a lot less stone on it originally because it was early on the process, oh I don't want to spend a lot of money on stone, but we want stone. And once I saw the rendering (which there's a comment I want to make on the rendering), I looked at it. And I don't want this to come off the wrong way. And I thought, well, it looks like the neighborhood we left, which was a lovely neighborhood. But it just looked like traditional, traditional, like, alright, there's not a lot of character. And they had already started framing and I said, “Can we add stone on there?”
And this was at the point where I'm like I don't care, I'll just spend the money now, you guys are beating me down. And thank goodness, they said, “Well, it's going to cost a couple grand for the architect to redo some stuff.” But you guys can explain it better than I can, but they had to redo some support. But they were able to do that on the part, we're going to add it. And thank goodness because it looks so much better than what it would've looked liked without that extra stone.
But this is that point. Imagine if they had said, “We can't, we're too far along,” and then the whole time it'd be one of those regrets where if I had just been like, you can spend the money. And that's part of it, I'm not saying spend money if you don't have it, it's just, if you've got it, it's hard … old habits are (laughs) hard to let go of.
Marilyn Moedinger (21:06):
And speak up too. Even in that moment where it might have been too late, you were speaking up and I think that's really important, and your team was then able to make that happen for you. If you wouldn't have said anything, you wouldn't have gotten it.
Brahm (21:22):
That reminds me of a great thing about this builder and her whole team, even the site manager, I'm forgetting what his whole title is, but the construction manager. Anytime I'd bring up something like that, and it may even happen with the stone where I might have said, “Well, I kind of should have done stone but I don't know that I can.” It was always, “If that's what you want, we'll do that.”
He said, “Worst case, it's a lot of money, but we can ask the question and let's find out, and let's see if we can do it for something reasonable, or maybe we'll do it at cost in some cases, let's see what it is.” But at the end of the day at least ask the … constantly encourage me even on things where I was just going to go, “I don’t want to waste your time,” they're like, “No, you tell us, this is your house, this is what we're building.”
And they were outstanding at that, where there's so many other builders, it would be like, “Please don't, I've got other things to do, don't waste our time, let's stay focused on this project and get it done, don't distract us.” So, they were just outstanding.
Sheri Scott (22:20):
So, it sounds like you had a great team together with your builder and your architect. And you had mentioned that you didn't do a lot of research this time to choose this builder. So, did you go off a personality, was it a first meeting? Like what led you to think this is going to work?
Brahm (22:40):
So, the previous house, my wife did all sorts of research, met with different builders, et cetera and that wasn't the most ideal outcome. In the middle of COVID, just typed in builders in Mason, Ohio and a couple of sites, a couple that I recognized, I'm like, “I don't recognize this one, let me take a look.”
And she had a little video where she introduced herself on it and like I said, I just thought she seems like a nice person. So, called and we set up a Zoom call, and I really enjoyed talking with her and the process just got a good vibe, and I thought all the energy we put into researching before, it can't be worse. So, it was a great vibe.
And on top of that, as we were building, people would talk and ask, “Oh, you're building, who's your builder?” And anybody who recognized the name would say, “They are great builders. I only hear great things about them,” or it'd be someone who had built with them, and so that was always reassuring.
And then a step further (this was really impressive), I would have subcontractors. So, I always visited the site and I liked talking with the subcontractors because these are skill sets I don't have, and so I always let them know I'm very appreciative of what they're doing, and sometimes I like to watch what's going on if it's not bugging them just appreciate their skill, not to hover and suggest how they do anything, I don't dare. And they would volunteer to me how great this builder was to work with.
And one in particular, I remember it was the appliance guys came out and said, “Oh, what are you guys working on today?” And they said, “Oh, we've got appliances we're putting in.” And he said, “I'll tell you every build you go to, the appliances never fit, that's just a fact of life.” And most builders come back in a week, two weeks, a month.
He said, “These guys get it done the same day, we'll be back within an hour or two, and the thing will fit.” And he said, they're just fantastic to work with. So, I felt the irony of doing no research and how lucky we got.
Sheri Scott (24:44):
You did get lucky. And for our listeners, we ask all of our guests not to name builders because we feel a responsibility to builders to not tear them down. They have a very hard job and some of these conversations are not so positive, so we keep a pretty tight hold on that rule.
But I will say, anyone in the Cincinnati area, if you would like to know who this builder is, please reach out and I'm happy to share that information with you because it was a very positive experience for you, and I love to share that information.
Brahm (25:18):
And you're free to pass my name onto them if they get to the point where they really want some more information, I can give them one-on-one experience with the builder, happy to do that.
Sheri Scott (25:28):
Sure. So, before we really talk hard about construction process, I know we talked earlier and you have a couple specialty rooms in your house. Can you share that just because it's kind of fun to talk about?
Brahm (25:41):
Sure. This kind of gets into the things when you ask what brings you joy in the house because this ties in, it's okay to jump to that for a moment.
Sheri Scott (25:51):
Sure, sure.
Brahm (25:52):
It would be more like what doesn't bring you joy in the house? There is so much that I love about this place and again, I think part of it with the process was that wish list, the heat space, heat map, et cetera.
It goes from, I mean, just even the garage, I was tired of driving in through a garage that is again, these are first world issues. That single bay, when we were doing the design, I said, four-car; I want a four-car garage, and the first design was a separate door for each bale. I'm like, why are we doing separate doors? Well, it's a nicer look on the house.
I said, how about this house is so fancy, it has two giant garage doors because I want to be able to just roll in there with all the room on each side, and if we have to have guests, they can fit in fine. And so, we pushed for that, even though the recommendation would be pretty other … it looks fantastic, I think that way. You saw the picture; I think it looks great that way.
And then I went the extra step and you saw the picture of the gym which we'll get into. It's a similar design in the garage. All white walls with a black strip around, it's like a slat board so you can hang things, but I did it for aesthetics also. And then we did a black and white, what do you call that? Epoxy coating on the floor.
So, it looks like I should be storing a supercar in there, which I don't, but I love the space. My wife would like to store stuff in there, I'm like, “No, this isn't for storage, this is to come in and just have so much space to pull your car in and out.” I mean, it's a luxury, but it's just something silly like that. I still love it every day, I walk in there and love it, and I've got room to grim the dogs in there as well.
Then the gym, so I've worked out my whole life. You wouldn't know what to look at me, but it's just something I enjoy doing. And in the old house, we had a third of the basement was unfinished because at that time, I wanted to spend the money on equipment as opposed to finishing the walls. And it was mismatched equipment over time, and we were moving into the new place and my son, I think he wanted a lot of the equipment. He said, “Dad just get this all to match.”
And the folks that sell the equipment I'd used over the years said they could design, they could do a layout for it, but they didn't have the files for the old equipment. So, smart sales guy, he used new files that showed me beautiful new equipment and it all matched. I said, “Fine, do it.”
But this was one of the things, speaking of pushing on the architect with what you want, he kept making my gym a little smaller. And I said, “No, I need it bigger. I need at least the size I currently have and I'd actually like to go a little bigger.”
And every time I get it back, it was almost like he was … I'm sure he wasn't, but it felt like is he trying to sneak in the smaller one? And I finally did some measurements and I just said, “It's got to be this big” and I'm so happy it is.
I walk in there, the old gym was sort of a neanderthal feeling, which is great, and this one is a nice executive Zen feeling, and again, brings me so much joy no matter how exhausted I get in there.
Sheri Scott (28:53):
Well, that's one of the things as architects when we work with clients, is to find out what their priority is. Because if we don't ask or if you don't share that your gym is a high priority for you, I could see where we would do that. We would probably steal from the gym to add some other things because sometimes honestly, gym spaces are there because you're supposed to have a gym in a house, and when we talk to them, they're like, “Well, we don't really use it.”
Brahm (29:19):
Exactly. They usually are aspirational, so you're right.
Marilyn Moedinger (29:25):
Or gym means just a Peloton in a corner. And personally, I love designing gyms for people like real gyms with all the bells and whistles and everything, because I love to do that as well and it's fun when as architects, you get to connect on something like that with your client.
Because in my head when someone says gym, I'm like, okay, so it's about 20 by 30, this is the lifting area, this is the stretching area and people are like, “No, I just wanted like a closet for the peloton, what are you talking about (laughs)?” I would've been right there with you Brahm (laughs).
Brahm (29:59):
Oh, great, great.
Marilyn Moedinger (30:01):
But sounds like you ended up with a great situation.
Brahm (30:04):
Oh my gosh, yeah, it's great. And lots of light where the old place didn't have any windows.
Sheri Scott (30:08):
I'm waiting for you to tell me about the Dungeons and Dragons room.
[Laughter]
Brahm (30:11):
Yes, so the Dungeons and Dragons room. I don't want to make assumptions so for any listeners that aren't familiar with dungeons and dragons, it is basically a group, cooperative storytelling in a fantasy setting with dragons, knights, wizards, and you roll some dice so there's an element of chance. So, you don't always know where the story is going.
You can do this for free. I mean, the rules you can get online for free and just sit at the table and a set of dice you might have to get, or use an app or something. Or you can go nuts and design an entire room for it and paint little miniatures for it, and buy a special table to play on it. So, there's lots of room and it's all themed, and that's kind of the direction I went.
I mentioned it to the architect that hey, this is just something I do as a hobby now. So, I used to be (just a quick side note) a frustrated actor on the side. I don't sing, I don't dance, just act, and I was going to do a community theater and some independent films, and then COVID hit, and I just kind of lost the muse for that.
And my son talked me into getting back into Dungeons and Dragons when I retired and that scratched the acting itch. Audience is very kind all the time, and you don't get nervous at all, so embrace this.
And the architect to his credit, he decided (and I'm looking at it now), he said, “Let's put some arches in here with a stone.” Because I was saying, I don't have a Disney Imagineer budget, so otherwise I would love to make it look like a medieval pub. There's a way to kind of get that vibe and so he came up with that.
And we had a fireplace put down here, we've got what do you call it? Like a barnwood ceiling, and then we've got LVT on the floor, but we made it look like old barn floor, and then the designer helped us with colors in here, flickering candle lights. Well, you saw the video, it's got the whole vibe and my players, my friends that come out, they can't believe it, they love the thing.
Sheri Scott (32:20):
So, fun. It's so fun. I love unique spaces like that and things that make it truly a custom home. Yeah, that's great, I love that story.
So, a little bit about construction. It sounds like things went pretty smoothly. Were there any hiccups or wonderful fines, or how did you feel about construction?
Brahm (32:42):
Yeah, everything went very smoothly, I would say. I'm trying to think if there was a major hiccup, I would've forgotten. I do remember I was very distressed about where the new electrical box went because we're so far back. The spot it went in, we were dealing with some other family issues at the time and I kept seeing the box sitting on the lot, but not putting two and two together, what it was for.
And then it went in, I'm like, “Oh, why couldn't that have been over like 10, 20 feet?” And again, you go through this process and you start constantly having regrets. You're up at night rethinking, rehashing stuff. And the builder was right, they said, once you're in, you're not going to notice it and stuff.
Still, I was distressed it would prevent how we wanted to put the driveway in because we had 300 feet of driveway- not by choice, it's just because it's that far back. So, I was a little concerned how that would go, but that all worked out.
Oh, there was one thing which I did not love. I hate shutters. They look great, but they're dumb. I mean, look, they're not functional. So I don't want them. We didn't have them on the old house; I didn't want them on the new one.
And during the process, design process, I was told well, you can do manmade ones now, so you don't have to care for it. I'm like, “Oh, okay. I'm not going to have to really paint, except when I paint the rest of the house, yes, they'll be fine.”
So, it comes time to put the shutters up and they're staining them, they looked awful. They looked like plastic, I'm like, “We can't do this.” So, we went with cedar shutters so now I have to take care of shutters. It just kills me. So, that's the one thing I look at every day, I'm like (ugh) shutters (laughs).
Sheri Scott (34:24):
There are so many new materials coming on market all the time and it takes a while for them to go through the paces to see if they're really going to be good products or not. We've faced that almost with every project. Clients and builders will bring new materials, some of them are amazing, and they'll last, they'll be in our rotation for a long time but there's just so much trial and error, unfortunately that-
Brahm (34:55):
The other thing, I don't know if this ties to that question, but I was very interested in a geothermal heat pump. And so, the builder wasn't that familiar with it, but said, “Hey, we'll get the HVAC guys in and meet with them.”
So, when we met with them, it was kind of a weird meeting because I wasn't really getting a straight answer. I was kind of getting veered back towards (at least this is my recollection) towards just your typical HVAC system, air conditioner. And then I'd push again, and it's just like, well, you can do that, but this, and nothing was really a specific answer. So, I finally said, “Well, can I swap it out at any point if I want?” “Yeah, it's just an air conditioner.”
So, we went ahead and did the standard thing, and there's so many things going on, I didn't have time to research this further. I was looking at the experts to tell me what to do, not to do. We've got other people in the neighborhood that have the geothermal heat pumps, no problem, they put it in (well, maybe no problem).
So, now my impression is HVAC guys either really didn't know about it and or just didn't want to deal with it and didn't want to go to a sub/subcontractor, so kind of just take this and don't push it. If I had had more time, I might've researched more. I'm sure if I went back to the builder and said, “My God, I want this, make it happen,” well, she would've. But it was kind of, with everything going on, I kind of let it go.
Now, at the same time, I've got a neighbor who did geothermal and they told him he doesn't need it for the second floor. And they're already past the point of digging the well and everything else, and now he's finding out he kind of needs it for the second floor. And I didn't get the whole story, but it seems like maybe beyond the point of no return on that.
So, even if we had, it might not have done … maybe Ohio's not ready for it yet. We don't have enough experts, that in a few more years, people will really be all over it so I don't know. So, I don't know if it's a regret or not (chuckles).
Marilyn Moedinger (36:55):
And some of those things even like what Sheri was just mentioning about the products, some of these things, just like sometimes products take a while to come online, sometimes technologies are not as prevalent in different areas of the country. I was doing geothermal 20 years ago, but in a different part of the country, so it just depends on where you are and what the subs are used to.
Sheri Scott (37:17):
Yeah. And in Ohio, well, it's a federal tax rebate, but most of our clients are asking about the tax advantage of putting in geothermal and those come and go, and so it also comes and goes when people pull the trigger or not, but there's always a lot of interest in it.
Brahm (37:39):
Interesting. Well, who knows? Maybe just wrong place, wrong time asking for it (laughs).
Marilyn Moedinger (37:45):
As we kind of bring us in for a landing here, I want to ask our biggest question, which to be honest, you've touched on it multiple ways already. Which is kind of a thread throughout a lot of your comments, is knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?
Brahm (38:05):
So, one thing that I didn't touch upon, but it could be unique to me — we are focused on so much stuff on the inside, which is great. I mean, that's really the more important thing. I wish, and I'd recommend this to anybody — when you get your exterior elevation, color it in it with crayons, whatever, it'll do a couple things.
It'll force you to see all the details on it; details you don't notice until it shows up in real life because we have this weird, I call it an eyebrow that I don't like. I'm getting used to it now, but I never saw it in the black and white drawing. My brain never saw it. And then once it's built, you're like, “What the heck is this?”
Actually, we finally got a colored rendering of it, but it's too late in the process to make any of those kinds of changes. So, if you don't know what colors you're going to do for your house, do it anyway because it'll help you really focus on that.
Now, if you don't have time, focus on the interior then, that's far more important I think than the exterior. Because it's still a lovely home and the exterior is growing on me, but every time I see something else, I'm like, “Oh man, I would've loved to have done that.” Not that I would've necessarily thought of it, but that's relatively minor.
And the other is, in addition to getting your budget, get it, particularly if you've always been a saver, get in that mindset and be willing to spend. I mean, not out of control spending, but stop being the penny pincher. And you won't be by the end of the process, I guarantee you, won't be a penny pincher anymore, you'll be worn down, but try to get that mindset early on.
Sheri Scott (39:41):
Well, good, thank you so much for all of the information that you shared, I think this was really good. And it's interesting that even though you had a very good process, and it sounds like from other conversations that we've had with other people's projects, this one sounds like a dream.
It was good, but there are still some regrets. I mean, that may be a too harsh of a word, but there are still things you think about, and I think that's good for everyone to know just to set out that even if it's the very best it can be, there's always something.
And there is no perfect project. There just isn't. In production homes, in any custom home, it's just not perfect. But you have a lot of joy about your project and about the process and the people that you worked with, so that's a huge success, I would say.
Brahm (40:45):
Very much so. Throughout the process, I was always amazed with the number of people involved, the number of contractors, subcontractors, the number of selections, et cetera, amazing. Anything gets done right.
Marilyn Moedinger (40:59):
(Laughs) It's a lot of moving parts.
Brahm (41:01):
Yeah, there's so many moving parts, which if you really think about it, it is amazing what the builder does and why you might want a builder as opposed to doing it on your own, unless that's your forte and you love tearing your hair out and doing that sort of thing.
So, yeah, I was very appreciative, always the process, and I guess what you hope for is you've got a lot more joy than you have regrets at the end of the project, then I would say you have a success.
Marilyn Moedinger (41:28):
Yep. Well, that's a great note to end on.
Sheri Scott (41:32):
Thanks again. I think so too. I think so too. Thank you so much for your time.
Brahm (41:36):
Alright, thank you. It was a pleasure. Good to see you guys.
Sheri Scott (41:39):
So, our wrap up for this episode.
Marilyn Moedinger (41:42):
Well, that was great. I mean, I said it a couple times, but there was like 27 different moments where I was like, “Underline that, underline that, underline that, that's really great advice for folks.” It was clear he was really involved in the process and kind of being an active participant, and I think that there is a big reason why he's so happy with the end product because he was involved in the whole thing.
Sheri Scott (42:09):
And it wasn't his first project, they had built a house before, and it did not go great so I bet he learned a lot of lessons there.
Marilyn Moedinger (42:17):
We should do an episode with him on that (laughs).
Sheri Scott (42:21):
Right, right. But of course, just goes to show all of the advice we give people, like don't pick a builder on a whim, don't just go by, “Hey, they seem nice,” and that's what he did, and this one was a great pick.
Marilyn Moedinger (42:38):
I feel like also though, that's intuition, which, I think intuition is honed over time. So, he had been through a process before, he was probably not picking her based on as much as it sounded like a whim, but there was a lot of things when he was looking at the websites of the other builders and he was like, “Oh, okay, alright.”
And then something about her website and the way she was talking about her work sparked something, and my guess is there was a lot of built-up knowledge behind that, behind him making that decision.
But also, I think the other thing to point out about that is that he was basically saying picking a builder based on vibes, that's the strategy. And I think that's actually great because if you know that the builder has their act together and they're a good businessperson and they're a good manager and all that kind of stuff, then the next most important thing is that the vibe is right.
You need someone who you can talk to honestly, which he brought up several times, you need someone who is the right personality match for you, and they're building your home, like it can't be fighting the whole time.
Sheri Scott (43:54):
Right. And it's a long process. A custom home like this, it was at least … he gave us the timeline, but at least two years in actual design and building. Can we talk about his heat map?
Marilyn Moedinger (44:06):
Oh, amazing (laughs).
Sheri Scott (44:08):
I just love it. I am going to put that in my little noggin here and recommend people do that for us.
Marilyn Moedinger (44:15):
I loved it. I love when owners come to us with … I've never had a heat map but I've definitely had folks come with like lists or all that kind of stuff, which by the way, he mentioned his wish list that he'd been working on for years which I love that.
Sheri Scott (44:34):
And just keep a note open.
Marilyn Moedinger (44:36):
Yeah. People would show up with a binder of clippings from magazines and stuff. Now, people have Pinterest or whatever, and you're not making that list or the heat map under fire kind of, like you're not making it right under the gun. You're making it as it comes up, as you're thinking about it. Not necessarily like, oh, someone asked me to do this. You're doing it because you are thinking about it.
Sheri Scott (45:00):
It's useful to share that with your architect but it's even more useful just to do the exercise yourself as the homeowner so that you know yourself like, oh, I thought the living room was a priority, but we actually don't ever use it. Maybe I just want something that is pretty, that I can look at and what do you really like about it.
Marilyn Moedinger (45:20):
That's right. And then also to take the labels off of room names, that's another thing. Like when people say, “I want a living room, I want a dining room …” and really what we want is a place to hang out with family and friends, we want a place to eat meals, and what does that look like?
Because when you say dining room, everyone gets a picture in their head. When you say a place to eat with family, you're like, “Oh, well, is that at the bar, in the kitchen at the island? Is that a formal table for Thanksgiving? Like, what does eating with your family look like and what are the different ways that that can happen?”
So, I think the heat map or it's also the Dungeons and Dragons room, which can we talk about that for a second? Like that's not going to be on the list of rooms that someone … that if you Google, “What room should I have in my house,” that's not going to come up. But for him to say, I would like a space that supports something that I love to do-
Sheri Scott (46:15):
That's important, yeah.
Marilyn Moedinger (46:16):
Yeah, and then have a little fun with it, with the stone arch and whatever (laughs).
Sheri Scott (46:20):
I know, I know. I loved that when he told me about it the first time, I'm like that's unique, that is a custom home.
Marilyn Moedinger (46:27):
Yes, why just do the same thing — and by the way, for resale value, which he touched on, and I already underlined in the episodes, so we don't need to dive back into that. But the resale value question, you might say, well, what if I'm trying to sell my house and there's a Dungeons and Dragons room? Isn't that going to turn off potential buyers?
No. You just turn it into a different kind of room, like maybe it becomes the movie room or it becomes a different hobby room or something like that. Just because that room is doing that now doesn't mean that a buyer would come in … now, if you make the whole entire first floor dungeons and dragons inspired, you may narrow your pool of potential buyers (laughs).
Sheri Scott (47:07):
Right. But with one room, it comes down to your real estate agent. Like are they a salesperson? Can they talk to somebody and say, oh, but this could be a wine room or whatever your special thing is.
Marilyn Moedinger (47:18):
I also really appreciate what he was saying about how to think about your budget and because that, I mean, I know because we talk about this all the time amongst ourselves, like how stressful that is for owners to come up with a budget, to understand what things cost, to be hit with a sticker shock, and then the emotional process of going through the building process.
And every time you turn around, there's another cost or do you want to move this outlet for $300 or whatever — he was citing some specific examples. So, I appreciate that he was like you've got to get out of this penny-pinching mentality as early as possible so that you're looking at things holistically and carefully.
Sheri Scott (47:59):
And his project, obviously, it was what, 7,500 square feet finished? Which is a big home, a big project, but it's the exact same advice just on a different scale if you have a smaller home, it really is the same advice. You still have to hold back 10%, 15%, 20% in your mind, or share it with your builder or your architect. Like you still need to have that contingency and be able to make some decisions on the fly, and have some money to back that.
Marilyn Moedinger (48:34):
That's right. And to trust your team. I mean, especially, he had to tell (and he did say this in the interview) his team what his budget was, and I think even said, “This is my budget, but minus a certain percentage because that's the contingency, that's the safety net.” And people say all the time, well, I'm afraid if I tell my builder or my architect my budget, they're going to spend it all. Well, yeah, I am, so don't tell me number that you're not willing to spend.
Sheri Scott (49:04):
Yeah, let's have a real conversation about it and tell me where you are, and then we'll help you work with the contingency.
Marilyn Moedinger (49:11):
That's right. And we'll figure out how we can fit stuff into that budget or not, and help you make those tough decisions about what has to … because I haven't had any client yet who had more budget than scope, everyone has more scope than budget (laughs).
Sheri Scott (49:29):
Every time.
Marilyn Moedinger (49:30):
Everyone wants to do more than they can afford no matter what.
Sheri Scott (49:33):
Me too, me too.
Marilyn Moedinger (49:34):
Even if it’s like a tiny project or a gigantic project.
Sheri Scott (49:37):
Yep, yep. Absolutely. Last thing I wanted to touch on just really quick was the rendering. He talked about the exterior in a regretful way quite a bit in that as an architect, that hurt me. I wasn't his architect, but still, I take that to heart because the exterior is important. You drive up, you arrive home, and you see that every single time. And yes, you live inside the home, but the exterior is important to get that right.
And even in just the five years since he started designing, our digital abilities to create renderings and 3D images and things like that, it's just exponential, it's just changing and moving so fast. So, for our listeners, do ask for that stuff and do pay for it because it makes a difference. It makes a difference and how you feel at the end of the project.
Marilyn Moedinger (50:38):
Yeah, I agree. And I think also what I appreciate is that he even mentioned taking the elevation and coloring it in yourself.
Sheri Scott (50:46):
Yep. Something simple.
Marilyn Moedinger (50:46):
And what I liked about that was not necessarily that he was making a rendering, but that was a way for him to engage in the drawing. Because there's so many times that we'll send drawings to owners especially at the end of the project and we're like, okay, here's the 95% set, go through this with a fine-tooth comb, and if you see anything, it's your last chance, and that's very overwhelming.
And obviously with our clients, we've been walking them through, it's not the first time they've seen the drawings, it's very familiar. But still, if they take that set of drawings and they print it out, and they actually, as he suggested, get out some crayons, basically (laughs) and color things in, or make notes or just kind of engage with it, kind of like his heat map, it brings other things out.
So, I think along those lines, the last thing that I wanted to mention was something we've had a few of our guests say, which is to make sure to ask. So, he wanted more stone, it seemed like it was going to be too late. They were already in framing and he's like, “I want some more stone on the exterior.” And his team was like, “Okay, great, here's what it will cost, here's the implications.” And he was like, “Okay, yeah, I want to do that,” and he was glad he did.
And imagine if he would not have asked. Just ask, stand up for yourself and ask the question. If you have a good team, they'll say things like, “Yeah, it's possible but it's really too late to do it in a cost-effective manner. We can still do it, but here's what we're going to have to do to get there.” So, just ask the earliest time you have that little feeling.
Sheri Scott (52:25):
Yeah. And it seems like his team that he chose made him comfortable enough to ask those things. Because even if you go through that exercise and the answer is no, then you still don't have regret because you saw it through and you knew the answer instead of thinking, oh, should I have?
Marilyn Moedinger (52:44):
Yeah, and then later on, you're like, “I never even asked (laughs).” And it can be hard. It's stressful and you're in construction, all that kind of stuff too.
Sheri Scott (52:54):
It’s so hard, and you have a job and you have your life going on, it's a tough process.
Marilyn Moedinger (52:59):
Yes, it is. It is. And as much as we, I was going to say, we wish we were … I don't think we actually wish to be mind readers (laughs) — we aren’t.
Sheri Scott (53:08):
No, that's scary.
Marilyn Moedinger (53:09):
That's a little scary. I often say I don't have X-ray vision when I'm looking at renovation projects, and I'm actually quite glad for that. I don't want X-ray vision actually in life. But anyway, the point is to ask the question and have a team around you who's going to support you in that.
Sheri Scott (53:27):
Yeah. Well, I think those are all good tips and good lessons again.
Marilyn Moedinger (53:32):
What a great story. So glad he could join us today.
Sheri Scott (53:35):
Yeah. Thanks, Marilyn.
Marilyn Moedinger (53:36):
Thank you so much for joining us on Home: The Second Story. If you'd like to come on and share your story, email us at admin@htsspodcast.com. We'd love to have you as a guest. For more inspiring homeowner stories and tips, we'll see you next time.
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Voiceover (53:52):
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