Hello and welcome to The Pretty Good Builder. Our name is a spin-off of what we named our a-frame cabin construction project – The Pretty Good AF. And that is a play on the wonderful platform for building a better home – The Pretty Good House. So as you can see – everything around here is pretty good.

As stated in our about page – while my wife and I are licensed and experienced in construction – neither of us had built a house ourselves end-to-end. Moreover, neither of us had worn so many hats (developer, owner, bank, architect, contractor, subcontractor) on a single project or built somewhere remote. The entire experience was both exhilarating – and humbling. Building a cabin or rural home is not like building in the city.

Chances are you are your own utility company, supplies are far away, and you need to harden your structure against things like wildfire.

Our goal with this site is to compile our professional experience with our personal experience of building – and now living – in a cabin in the woods. It seems pretty common that those looking to build a cabin often end up wearing multiple hats and needing to account for the nuances of rural construction and considerations around extreme weather and part-time occupancy. And in our experience – there isn’t really a good source on how to do this unique thing.

What’s unique about choosing appliances for your cabin? What should you consider for your well or cistern system? How do you buy land anyway?

We hope to answer all these questions and more. And if you have questions of your own – feel free to reach out.