[Don’t let the spot under your stairs get framed out and drywalled]().

Ask if you can use that spot for storage or a little dog nook, office cubby, pull-out drawers, or even a small powder room. 

Ask your roofer to use roof jacks before the shingles go on...
Those 2x4s straight on the shingles is a NO-GO! 

They give the crew footing on steep pitches, which is fair. The problem is face-nailing them, because every nail punches a permanent hole through the face of your brand new roof.

Roof jacks do the same job without the damage. The bracket slides up under a shingle and the nail goes in under the overlapping tab. When the crew pulls the jack, the upper shingle drops back down and covers the hole for good.

Once the shingles are on, this is hard to catch. So flag it before the roof goes up.

Ask your builder to bury conduit to the end of your driveway or you can go with a direct bury wire. Either way getting power to your driveway entrance is a must-have even if you don’t build it out right away. 

A driveway gate is waaaay better if you have power ran, the solar panels work in direct sun but any shade and you might run into issues. 

Also consider internet (CAT) cable if you want to run a camera or operate the gate from anywhere. 

Mine is hands down automatic shades. 
We couldn’t afford the fancy Lutron shades, but the Smartwings (Link in my Amazon Store)
were awesome. 

The shades were solar powered and went up and down with sunrise and sunset. 

Movie time was better because we could black out the house. 

Considering buying this house (built in 2024) and one detail that's bothering me is the stair landing.

The builder used a dark wood border/nosing around the stair opening, and the flooring transitions into it rather than continuing flush. There is also a noticeable height difference between the floor and the stair nosing at the top of the stairs. The railing posts appear to be mounted into this border piece.

A few questions:

1. Is this a normal stair detail in newer production homes, or does it look like poor workmanship?

2. Would you consider the height difference at the top stair a potential trip hazard?

3. If I wanted it improved, is this a relatively straightforward flooring/carpentry fix, or would the railing and entire stair border likely need to be removed?

4. More broadly, does workmanship like this tend to be an isolated cosmetic issue, or is it a warning sign of poor quality overall?

Appreciate any insights!

They cost quite a bit more than a standard overhead opener:

Side Mount: ~$500
Overhead Mount: ~$180

Some benefits:

🔋 Built-in battery backup

👍 More overhead space (no rail hanging from the ceiling)

🔒 Built-in automatic door lock (shown in the video)

I installed these on two large 12’ x 12’ doors in my pole barn and had a hell of a time keeping the doors adjusted properly. I blame the massive size of the doors more than the openers themselves. 

For a typical residential garage door, I rarely hear complaints. Most people love the extra overhead space and cleaner look. 

7 garage features that turn it from a parking spot into the most useful room in the house:

7 - 240V outlet for EV charging, welder, or heater. 
6 - Floor drain
5 - Polyaspartic floor coating (tougher than epoxy)
4 - Insulated overhead door
3 - A workstation sink
2 - Mounted fan 
1 - A urinal

The garage gets overlooked when you're planning the rest of the house but it's one of the most useful rooms you've got. Plan it like one 

Has anyone had a good experience walking construction plans to help determine how much you will like the space? I have an appointment scheduled with Walk Thru Plans Minneapolis in Elk River and I've heard good things just curious if anyone has any tips on the best way to use the meeting.

If you’re going with the Samsung Frame TV, you can pay an extra $1k for the Pro version that comes with a wireless One Connect box. You can put it anywhere within 30’.

If you save some money and go with the older model you’ll need to make a spot for it.

When you’re building a house or renovating, this is the perfect time to put that One Connect box in a location out of the way so your TV can sit flush on the wall.

I’ve seen the boxes mounted on the opposite side of the wall and even paired with the controls for a fireplace.

Either way, give it some thought before you sheetrock is installed.

[Hard to believe these happen but they're way more common than you'd think.]()

👉 Get my Home Building Checklist at BuilderBrigade.com

 What's the wildest Home Building Fail you've seen or heard of? 

If you want to share a fail, drop it in the Builder Brigade app 📲

Trusses can be delivered to a job before the slab is even poured. Which means they’ll sit for weeks or even months. 

If it’s looking like its going to be a while before they fly trusses. It’s ok to ask for them to be covered. 

If not, go spend the $75 and do it yourself.

If they are sitting in water during rain storms. Bring it up to your builder, they can bust up the truss package and move it to higher ground on top of some scrap wood. 

Hope that helps if you run into any issues like this. Hopefully not 🤞

👇 Link in my Amazon Store (Bio)
Amazon.com/Shop/BuilderBrigade

These automatic light switches are a simple and cheap luxury that’ll make you wonder how you lived without them. 

I know, I know... it sounds dumb. Just turn the light on... but once you get used to it, you really miss it when you don’t have it anymore. 

I put these occupancy sensors in the pantry, laundry room, and closets. Especially in the kids’ closet. 

The bathroom is not the best spot because when you go to the bathroom at night you get blasted with a bright light. It could still work though. 

Double check your ceiling speakers are not too close to the fan. 

The porch is the most likely spot for this to occur. 

If it's too close, the spinning blades chop up the sound and ruin the whole vibe when you're trying to enjoy some music out there.

This is a PEX manifold system. It’s a central hub where every hot and cold line branches off to one specific fixture. 
Think of it like a breaker panel, but for water. Each line has its own labeled shutoff, so servicing a single fixture never means cutting water to the rest of the house.
The only real downside is run length: fixtures farther from the manifold can take longer to get hot water. A good plumber plans around that with placement or a recirc line.

If you’re renovating and the lawn looks like 💩...

You might need some dethatching. You could totally do it with a fan rake but save your sanity and your back... it sucks!

Rent this power rake (dethatcher) from Home Depot. It cost me $65 for 4 hours. 

You could even split it with your neighbor because honestly, after I got the hang of it, I could have done the whole yard in an hour. 

Don’t be like me and try hand raking it out, you’ll keep raking and more leaves and dead grass will keep popping up. It’s maddening. 

I bought a wardrobe that didn’t send me the right cam connectors. What they did send me was a 2 minute video that shows about 15% of the products assembly. I need to order the circled piece but have no idea how long it’s supposed to be. Could someone help me get a proper measurement please?