The Process of Building a Custom Home

Learn The Process of Building a Custom Home with Jasper Craft Homes. Explore guides on planning, design, budgeting, timelines and what to expect at every stage of your Pullman-area home-building journey.

Budgeting

The hardest part about choosing an investment property is budgeting. Whether it needs a TON of work, or just a moderate amount, the ability to plan ahead and stick to a plan is CRUCIAL in building your dream home.

Without budgeting, without planning, and forecasting, building your dream custom home would really come down to the ‘Luck of the Draw’.

When you have been a small business owner for 25 years, you understand that forecasting financial expenses is a necessity. Even MORE so when you manage a small company, work part time AND manage a household.

But nothing is impossible, if you know how to manage expenses on the computer. 25 years ago, I don’t know how people would have done this, but now things are easier. Being able to seamlessly use Google Sheets, or Microsoft Excel Online is a dream come true. But not everything is as simple as a simple list of expenses.

But it’s only through Teamwork- working with some great contractors, and being able to rely on other people. It’s a tough process, but I have some tricks up my sleeve, and I’d love to tell you more.. but I don’t want to share ALL my secrets.

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Walk-through / Inventory

Being able to look at a property and imagine a BETTER way to do things is important. The creative process is an amazing journey. Most people have some interesting ways to trick people into spending more than they want to.

One of my friends has this theory that if you want to sell a house QUICKLY you should paint it Yellow. I don’t know about the logic on that.

But I know that many people tackle home improvement projects, and then they find out that they can’t complete the job. Maybe they run out of time, energy and money. Maybe they run out of all 3! But being able to look at a garage that is unfinished and to imagine a new Living Room, there is a certain magic to having a creative eye.

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Identify the Property

This is part of my ‘Recipe for Success’. Many online tools, a lot of ‘pounding the pavement’, dealing with city and county government, and a large amount of patience and persistence do sift through these sources and make a solid, scientific decision. Here are some of the tools that we use to find properties.

We can help~!

Top 10 Sources for Finding Properties

1. Realtor.com – Pullman, WA listings (Whitman County)

Broad, well-known aggregator: lets you browse by city or county (Pullman is featured). Good filter base.

2. Realtor.com – Moscow, ID listings (Latah County)

Same as above but for the Idaho side of the Pullman/Moscow region.

3. Zillow – Pullman, WA listings

Another major aggregator. Good for building alerts / scraping updates

4. Zillow – Clarkston, WA listings (Asotin County)

Covers the Lewiston/Clarkston market

5. Realtor.com – Clarkston, WA listings

Alternate aggregator for the same region—useful for cross-checking.

6. Land.com – Land/Acreage in Whitman County, WA

If you’re interested in land, acreage or rural/ranch type properties in the region this is more specialized.

7. Movoto – Whitman County, WA listings (house‐scale)

Yet another aggregator; adds diversity for your data feed and might pick up listings missed elsewhere.

8. Local brokerage – Beasley Realty (Pullman/Moscow area)

A brokerage focused on the Pullman/Moscow area. Good source for hyper-local listings and possibly off-market or early listings.

9. Local brokerage – Silvercreek Realty (Lewiston/Clarkston region)

Covers Lewiston‐Clarkston valley. Good for capturing that side of the market.

10. Classifieds/FSBO – Craigslist Pullman-Moscow region real estate section
craigslist

Often lower-profile listings (FSBO, land, small parcels) that may not appear in the major MLS or aggregator feeds. Great for finding “hidden gems.”

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Financials

When researching the financial details of building your Dream Custom Home, frequently it takes extra time and effort to be able to see the bottom line.

Being able to research, analyze and understand the financial details is a process that often requires a lot of time and a lot of teamwork. My knowledge and experience working as a real estate agent has shown me the importance of understanding these parts

  • Short Term Costs
  • Unexpected Costs
  • Long Term Expenses

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