Charles Bevier's Page

From your back-in-the-day apartment hunting days, you no doubt remember the code words from the classified ads. “Inviting,” “charming,” and “cozy” all translated into rooms that were so claustrophobically small, you’d have to go outside to change your mind.



But that doesn’t mean a small room in your new timber home has to leave you feeling confined. In fact, reducing square footage is one of the main tenenents of green building. Often, an effective strategy is simply a matter of… Continue

If you’re a fan of the Seinfeld comedy series (by federal law, now in syndication at least four times a day on various cable channels), you may remember the episode where they were installing low-flow shower heads in Jerry’s building. As a result, the show's characters hair soon looked like it had been plastered down with crude oil. Seinfeld's talented writers were tapping into nearly everyone’s first experiences with low-flow shower heads. Remember those back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s? Those… Continue

Investing your life savings in a dream home is near the top of life’s fear factor scale. You don’t want to be taken advantage of, or waste money.



Oddly enough, the builder you select to construct your new timber home is fearful too. Their success is far from guaranteed, since transforming a raw building site into a warm and inviting home can be fraught with a host of challenges. The industry is awash in stories of contractors going out of business thanks to mismanagement, litigious… Continue

There’s plenty of joy at the prospect of making your dream home a reality, but it’s likely you have some anxieties as well. You may worry about making a blunder—some mistake that could leave you with a home that’s less than the dream you imagined it to be.



That’s why we contacted new homeowners to ask what they did right, what they did wrong and any ways they discovered to save money along the way. Keep their lessons in mind when you’re designing your dream timber… Continue

Along with Dow Jones Industrials, land is another commodity that is becoming less expensive to buy. Finally, an upside to the cratered economy! But before you head out to locate a parcel where the buffalo roam, prepare yourself with knowledge. In this new housing economy, many of the rules have changed. To enable you to see the forest through the trees, we’ve compiled a list of strategies to use when land shopping, gleaned from veteran builders and real estate pros.



Make a list,… Continue