"My business and passion are to help people achieve a dream that will last for several lifetimes - a high quality home. Whether it's for raising a young family or retirement, I use building methods and materials that will endure the ravages of time in a beautiful, comfortable, sustainable way." - Steve Weise, Homebuilder
About Steve Weise
My name is Steve Weise and I'm a fourth-generation builder currently living in the Yakima, Washington, area. My path to becoming a builder has not been direct or straight, but in retrospect, everything I've done in my life has led me to this profession.
Whatever my pursuits, I've always been drawn towards helping people. Building homes, to me, is an extension of the desire to help the world be a better place and the ultimate way to help people connect with their surroundings.
There's an old saying about meeting your destiny on the road you took to avoid it; in my early life I tried a number of different things, but about 23 years ago I was gently and naturally guided back to my heritage of building homes.
Gateway to Building
I had worked summers with my grandfather as a builder, but conventional building wasn't as interesting to me as other pursuits. My world was transformed, though, after a friend showed me pictures of a building made from whole logs; the joinery used in the corners was like a giant puzzle that appealed to my sense of artistry.
Suddenly, I found myself on a fast horse (okay, it was a pick-up truck) to British Columbia to study under B. Alan Mackey, recognized as a world leader in reviving the art of log building in North America. While there I learned how to build traditional log cabins in the old style, eventually working with innovative notches. Next, a friend of the family, a local veterinarian of Cowiche heard that I had experience with log building and commissioned me to build his clinic, about nine miles north of Yakima.
Seizing the opportunity to study timber framing under Ted Benson of Benson Woodworking, I became well-versed in big wood construction. I soon became a log home builder in Sun Valley. Based in Cowiche, Washington, we'd scribe and fit the logs, then ship them to Idaho where I'd assemble them into a house. I still use logs and heavy timbers as accents in many projects.
Quality Building
Today, I utilize various building methods but with the same high quality. Such building practices are more expensive than some conventional ones but superior materials and techniques will stand the test of time. I try to always consider the three-legged stool of design and construction: cost, quality and time. Any compromise to one leg can affect the other two. For example, if we reduce the cost or speed up the time, quality will suffer. If we reduce the quality, resale value (cost) will be affected.
Overall, it is a better bargain to build for quality, durability and longevity, plus it often yields more flexibility. For example, timber framing (the use of 6" and larger heavy timbers as the structure instead of typical 2X4 or 2X6 framing) creates a space that is easily adapted to expansion. A home can literally grow with its owners. A family can build a smaller home that is affordable to them, and then expand as they are able. It yields a very high-quality building, but one that holds its shape as well as its value.
Plus, I like the idea of someday driving by one of my projects many years later with my grandkids and being able to point it out and say, "I built that home a long time ago."
Unique Homes
Every home I build is crafted in a creative way to express the uniqueness of the homeowners. Often, the thing that sets it apart comes out of the process of building. You can't really see a house until it has already begun to take shape, sort of like a wood carver who reveals a design slowly from a chunk of tree except we're adding materials to the design instead of subtracting.
These homes are also uniquely situated on the property, whether we have helped select the site or it's one the homeowners had already purchased. I prefer to blend the house with the site to help it flow with its surroundings.
Community Building
I strive to make my efforts in the Yakima area contribute to the overall health of our greater community. We live in a beautiful region that is rich with natural resources, culture and employment opportunities. From my perspective, my job as a home builder is to help homeowners realize their dreams while also becoming stewards of our collective environment.
With each home, we are building our sustainable community one stick of wood or batt of insulation a time. While my wife, Stephanie, and I were in the Peace Corps in South America, we saw first-hand what a little help can do to improve a community. We helped a small village establish a sustainable farming operation that taught locals "how to fish" rather than simply giving them a fish. It's still in existence today. Even though we had a sense of sustainability back then, it really hit home the importance of setting up a system based on long-term value to the community as a whole.
Which is how I build homes today.
My Co-Workers
Besides the homeowners, one of the greatest assets to me as a builder is my "community" of subcontractors (those are all the experts that I hire to help build a home such as electricians, plumbers, masons, renewable energy systems designers, mechanical equipment installers, etc.). I believe that everyone has special skills and talents, and part of my job is to find out their capabilities and encourage them to reach their full potential.
It is rewarding to discover the hidden creativity in a bathroom tile setter, or see the florid result of a blacksmith using his imagination on a wrought iron railing. Together, we figure out creative solutions that are sometimes unconventional, but always within the homeowners' vision.
If they don't already know about sustainable building, I try to enlighten them with my understanding of new methods of construction, alternative products and new technology that promote more earth-friendly practices.
"Green" Builder
As I went through the steps to become a Green Advantage Residential Certified builder, I realized I've been engaged in "green building" my whole life. Not only does it fit my philosophies of life, it fits my building methods. I work with natural building materials such as stone, timber and glass. I am conservative with resources, trying to minimize or eliminate waste and use products that have been sustainably produced and do not contribute to pollution. All of my homes are energy-efficient from the appliances and windows to the walls and foundations.
I'm also a member of our local Built Green Association, where I participate on committees, educational programs and special events that promote awareness and the practice of sustainable building.
Healthy Home in the Valley
Recently, I had the privilege of constructing an extraordinary Built Green home for a family in Selah, Washington. We worked closely together to create a home that promotes the health and well-being of its inhabitants while showcasing ideas for how a home can contribute to the well-being of the community.
Our focus was on creating exceptionally clean indoor air quality and eliminating allergy and asthma triggers. We incorporated materials that do not contain harmful chemicals and do not off-gas; ordinary things like paint, cabinetry, floor finishes and insulation can harbor nasty VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and we installed only products that were clean of such aggravating substances.
At the same time, we created super energy-efficient walls and roof that help mitigate our extreme temperature swings and save on utility costs. We also installed systems that capitalize on using the sun's energy for heating and hot water, ventilation that further cleans the air, and plumbing systems that conserve water.
As part of our commitment to sharing our knowledge and experience with others, the building team along with the homeowners, opened the home to the public and launched an educational website.
Called Healthy Home in the Valley, this project was awarded the first Five-Star, or highest, rating of the Central Washington Built Green program. It also achieved a national Energy Star rating and meets EPA's tough Indoor Air Plus guidelines.
My Approach
My approach to doing everything arises from an ethic that was instilled me at an early age: to leave something better than I found it.
Over the past 23 years of building for myself, my family and others I've learned that my skills and expertise in building provide an antidote to some of the issues facing us today. As I look at the world around me, I know that there are ways I can make changes for the better and can help your project, too.
I'm familiar with the area. I was born in Washington and went to high school in the Cowiche Valley. At Washington State University, I graduated with a degree in agronomy - the study of food plants. After school I managed a farm in the Cowiche Valley for a couple of years where I tended cattle, cut and baled hay, oversaw irrigation and fertilizer, and mended fences.
I know the cycles of the seasons, how a house will react to the climate, how stormwater will flow down a hillside if it ever rains, what will grow naturally in your front yard.
At my own home, with my wife the horticulturist, we've created a haven of comfort, beauty, safety, abundance, durability, preservation, and health. Our sons grew up in the log home I built, close to the land. Visitors stay in a 100-year old log cabin that I salvaged from the hills and reassembled on our property, with modern conveniences, of course.
How Can I Help You?
If you are looking for a builder to help you create a high-quality, healthy, long-lasting home, I hope you'll contact me so we can discuss your project. Click Here to contact me.
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