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Choosing the right land is just as important as choosing the right house design, and in this episode we break down how to evaluate a building site before you fall in love with the view or the school district. We explain how two “similar” lots can have totally different realities once you factor in buried utilities, old foundations, wetlands, soil problems, steep slopes, floodplains, zoning setbacks, and the true cost of bringing in water, sewer, and power. You’ll learn why Landmark insists on checking that a house actually fits the lot and matches its conditions, how low‑priced land can hide expensive construction challenges, how special foundations, geotechnical reports, and flood‑elevation requirements affect design and budget, and how proper site planning also ties into disaster resistance (hurricanes, earthquakes, high winds, snow loads). Throughout, we will show you how Landmark helps owner‑builders go from “we own this land” to “we understand exactly how to use it,” acting as the engine that connects site conditions, permits, structure, and custom design into a buildable, budget‑aware plan. Of course, if you need help evaluating your land, we can assist with your site plan review to ensure your design fits the property.Transcript:
Steve Tuma: Now, our partnership with customers — it goes deep. We work a lot together, talk to a lot of them every single day. We get to know each other like family and work together. So there’s no sense in, you know, quote, “blowing smoke” to get a sale.
Interviewer: Hello everybody, and welcome to Episode 79 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show.
With me, as usual, is the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993 — Mr. Steve Tuma.
Steve, what’s going on, my friend?
Steve Tuma: Just another day helping people build houses. It’s actually really the design process and helping them get everything set up to build, which is where we really help our customers. They don’t always realize that up front, but that’s really where it comes into play — the support of building a house.
Interviewer: I know you work hard, but I can’t imagine having a better job than yours if it’s what you’re into — and you seem to be into building houses a lot.
Steve Tuma: Well, it’s kind of amazing. We get a lot of thank‑you notes or people leaving positive reviews for us and different things. But once, I got a construction‑paper — you know when you were little kids, the teacher would give you construction paper and you’d cut out a little bear or a car or something and make your own little piece of art?
This lady’s children put it together and said, “Thank you for helping my mom build us a house.”
Interviewer: That’s great.
Steve Tuma: And I was like, “Wow.” I still have it. To see the impact of a new home that a family designed, understood, knows why they’re doing it — working the budgets, the trials and tribulations of just getting the project going — to see the end result and how they look back and how it’s affected a family is incredible.
And then not just the first house. Some families go through — we have one brother and a cousin, I think we’re in 19 houses with them. I have other people that become investors and put rental units up. It’s amazing to see what happens.
Interviewer: That’s got to be a lot of fun.
You know, for this edition of the podcast, I wanted to dive into another one of our comparison topics and give you a chance to explain the pros and cons of different types of homebuilding and different types of houses in general.
So if you’re good to go, let’s get into that.
Steve Tuma: Yeah, yeah. This is going to be an interesting one. Let’s talk about it. Let’s see where it goes.
Interviewer: Yeah. Let’s talk about the differences between building your own house and buying a structure already built. You run into this a lot: “I could buy a new house or an old house, or I could build one.”
Give us the background and pros and cons on both of those options.
Steve Tuma: Well, it’s pretty interesting because what I’ve found is, some people just buy existing and some people just want to build new. So there might be a variety of pros and cons, but what I’ve found is: generally, people that want to build, want to build.
The idea of buying a home — the theory is that you can just move into it. But generally, an existing home needs some type of work, whatever type of work it is, or you’re taking a home that’s there — you can’t adjust it or make it to exactly what it is. So the chances of you finding the exact home that’s absolutely perfect for you is probably pretty limited.
And you also don’t know the condition of it, as well as how it’s been maintained. If it’s an older home, it might need some help — but chances are, mechanicals, insulation, windows, or other things just aren’t as efficient as a new home, which is going to have the better details for it.
So I would say a lot of people go through and build because they know what they want. Sometimes it’s a life’s personal challenge — they’ve been wanting to do it since they were a kid. Other times it’s a financial decision, because the affordability of homes — it’s a big thing in the news now; things are expensive.
So if someone can do some of the work themselves, coordinate it, they can save a lot of money, get some equity in the house. And if they’re financing, what people don’t realize is the savings of $100,000 or $200,000 or $300,000 on a house, compared to adding to your mortgage — what that compounds out to.
I don’t have the exact calculation, but if you save $100,000 on your mortgage — if it’s $100,000 less by building your home than buying an existing — over the course of a mortgage that might save you a quarter of a million dollars.
So it’s not just the “get the house you want” — that it’s energy efficient. It’s also a financial move.
And there’s also the flip side: sometimes people build a bigger, nicer home with the same money than if they went through buying existing.
But that’s the key as to why people build — they know what they want, and they want to do it. And a lot of times people say, “Hey, when I build it, I know how it’s getting built. I know that it’s being built right. There aren’t shortcuts. I can check it myself. I can make sure it’s specified right.”
So I would say a lot of it — some people just lean one way or the other. But the people that want to build — it’s in them. It’s been something they’ve been thinking about. There’s a personal pride. They enjoy it.
And a lot of it — it gets people into homes that otherwise they wouldn’t be able to financially afford. We have some people that save the money — they sell a house, it’s retirement funds, it’s rich uncles, it’s loans. Other people say, “Hey, I’ve got enough to get it dried in. I’ll do that this year. Next year I’ll do the inside.”
And some people might say, “Oh, that’s a lot of work.” It’s like, “Yeah — for two years, to not have a mortgage, that’s pretty cool.”
So there’s a lot of motivations as to why people build a home. Some of it, like I say, is the quality. Some of it is they get the house they want. And a lot of it is the financial position they’re in — that they’re able to put it together.
I’ve only had two people say, “Hey, if it goes over a million or two, I don’t worry about it.” Most people, whether it’s a $200,000 home, $500,000, $700,000, $1.5 million, $3 million, whatever it is — they’re watching their money.
So the guy building a $2 million home is watching the money just as much as a person with a $200,000 home.
And that’s what we’re able to do — give them a set and guaranteed cost for our portion of the project, so that they have better control and understanding of the project that goes into it.
Also, if someone’s buying a home, you don’t know what you’re getting. A lot of people say, “Oh, I’ll buy and renovate.” And yeah, that’s great — you don’t know what’s behind a wall until you get into it.
So I think there are inherent challenges with each one. But a person that wants to build… they just want to build. It’s their thing. And we’re here to help them anywhere in the country.
Interviewer: Is there a time where you’ve just said building a house may be more worth it — or better for you personally — than a panelized home or another type of home? How often do you just tell people, “Look, we can really work with you, but in this case maybe building a house is worth it”?
Steve Tuma: Well, I think it’s always worth it in the long run. I’ll tell you why.
It’s new — less maintenance. In areas of fire, houses will be built with materials that are fire‑resistant. It will be more energy efficient anywhere in the country. It will be more comfortable. It will be a situation where you’re going to get more of the house that you want. You can design the house you want — make the garage bigger, the bedrooms bigger, whatever it is. Browse our home plans for layout ideas.
Is it worth it? There’s a lot of ways to look at it. If you’re looking for the cheapest, cheapest payment — there are ways to do that with a house. If you’re saying, “Hey, I want the value so that my family has what they need to live properly, or for a certain lifestyle…”
If there are people that like the outdoors — we’ve helped a lot of people in the mountain ranges or lake and waterfront where it’s a lifestyle home to say, “Hey, we kayak a lot, or we bike a lot, we rock climb, we’re in our airplanes.” We’re helping some people build homes where their airplanes are in their garage.
So to be able to have that quality of life and get what you want is a big, important thing.
So I think a lot of it depends: if you’re purely driven by the cheapest price, there are ways to design homes that are very, very affordable and you have everything you need. If you’re someone that says, “Hey, I want to be able to fly into my house and then walk out the backyard and go paddling down a river” — we’ve done a couple like that, literally in situations like that, where the person has that lifestyle. We can work with them and get it designed.
What’s weird about it is, it sounds expensive — like, “Oh, a house with an airplane and all this stuff,” or whatever special needs. People restore cars. They have craft rooms. They have baking rooms. They have wood‑shop rooms. They have get‑together rooms for the family.
There’s always a way to make it work, and it really comes into understanding the design of the home.
So when you say, “Is building a house worth it?” it’s like: what do you want?
If you’re someone that says, “Hey, just give me a place for myself and my dog to sleep,” that’s a different priority than someone that says, “I have family get‑togethers, we’re all runners or hikers, we want to live in a community.”
So where do you want your payback?
That’s the thing that someone has to determine — where it’s worth it. With a new home — less maintenance, more maintenance‑free, more set for what’s going on in today’s world: fires, hurricanes, different things like that.
So, in our understanding, what people tell us is: you get more of what you want for the money you choose to spend. And I think that’s the value.
But yeah, are there some parts of the country… if someone said, “Hey, I just want a cheap house” — like, someone told me they bought a house for $89,000 somewhere. You’re not likely to build a 1,500‑square‑foot home to today’s standards for $89,000.
So if you’re in one of those areas where someone says, “Hey, I want to build a new home for $89,000” — it’s not likely to happen. But those communities are few and far apart.
But if someone were to say, “Hey, I’m building a home, whatever, say in Colorado, or California, or Florida, or Iowa, New York” — we’ve got a lot of projects in New York of people getting out of the city on weekends and building — you’re getting the house you want. That is the key.
Just like when you go out for dinner — you don’t just walk into a random restaurant and say, “Give me food,” and hope someone gives you something. You’re like, “Hey, I want a chicken sandwich with guacamole on it,” or something. And that’s what you do.
And that’s what we’re able to do with the house — get you what you want. And the key to it is: understand it up front so you know what you’re getting into, so you can decide if it makes sense for you. That’s what it’s about. Make sure you spend your money and spend your time for something that makes sense for you and your family. That’s the key point.
Interviewer: But it sounds like you’re easily able to navigate the questions concerning financial tradeoffs. There is a difference between building and buying a home that already exists.
Steve Tuma: Oh, there is — because they’re two completely different situations. But where’s the long‑term benefit in this?
If it’s a financial decision, moving in with equity is always really cool. Saving that amount — if you have a mortgage, having a lower mortgage is better. But it’s also likely to be maintenance‑free — you don’t have to do a bunch of repairs.
So the financial freedom is there, but also not having to spend your weekends fixing the furnace every time it gets cold outside. There’s a huge value to having the comforts of life right.
In today’s modern society, people are busy. The kids are at the ball game, daughters are dancing, kids are in school, grandparents need some help, you’re traveling for work. Who really wants to come home and have to fix the furnace? It’s better to know that it works and it’s energy‑efficient, and you’re getting your dollar — for the money you put in to heat or cool your house, you’re getting the most out of it.
So it actually gets into a lifestyle choice, which I think is why people go through and say, “Hey, I want to build. I see the long‑term benefit.” That’s why they do it.
Now, obviously, if you want to go build in the middle of Manhattan, you’re not likely to find a piece of land to say, “Hey, I’m going to build a house there.” So some communities — you’re kind of restricted.
But our customer base — if they do live in Manhattan, they’re building an hour or two into different parts of New Jersey or New York. We have people in Florida building their vacation or winter homes. We have a variety — some people are doing investment properties in different states. So we’re able to help people and do it.
The key to all of this is not just saying, “Hey, buy a house.” The key to it is us helping the customer understand how we can help them with the process so they have a true understanding of the project, so that they can choose to move on on their own and then get into a project that they understand the cost, they understand the design, they understand the elements of getting the home built.
The overall support we provide at Landmark Home and Land Company I think is extremely valuable to our customers. That’s what they tell me.
Interviewer: Is there ever a customer — just isn’t a good candidate to build their own home? Do you have to ever bring people down to earth in that situation?
Steve Tuma: Well, every once in a while. I think what it is, is sometimes people don’t have a full grasp as to what’s involved.
So sometimes there are people — I think they kind of understand it themselves — that, “Hey, if they don’t have the time,” or, you know, “their life cycle just doesn’t work,” it doesn’t go.
But it’s kind of amazing. We have people — some people retired in different countries — that are building homes. They get a local person, or they fly there every once in a while, they have a trusted friend or family member do it.
Other times, people will put a motorhome right at their lot and live there.
So what a lot of people do is they’ll call in and just ask. We’ll give them the answers, so then they can make a decision of what makes sense for them.
Usually people that are, in a sense, biting off more than they can chew — they understand it. But it’s worth talking about, because there’s a lot of stories out there. With the internet, there’s a lot of amazing information out there — and a lot of it’s amazingly misleading.
So we’re happy to talk to people to find out what it is they need, give them a real picture from our 32 years of real, everyday experience with projects around the country, so that they can understand what they’re getting into.
Because it’s actually amazing to see people that have built some of the most beautiful homes — have never built a home before. Or they don’t even understand carpentry. Because a lot of it is really just a management project. It’s a job coordinator. It’s a project manager — which people do every day in their life. They manage their own job, they manage their own household, they manage their own family.
It’s just a perspective of getting the right people to help you. And we’re a beginning step of that — to say, “Hey, if your family’s not in the trades, you’re not in the trades yourself, but you have a strong understanding to say: I can manage an excavator, I can work with a foundation guy, I can work with a framer, I can work with a cabinet supplier” — it’s there. A lot of people do it.
And the pictures that I’ve seen of some of these homes are beautiful — they’re well‑built, they all pass the codes, they all pass inspections. And the pictures — if I showed you a picture of a customer that had never built, wasn’t in the trades; someone that if I explained the person, you’d be like, “Oh, they’ve never built a home.” And then I showed you someone that might be the image of a more “builder type.” You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Interviewer: Landmark has a real honesty too. I mean, you guys are known for that. You’re able to lay out the pros and cons of building your own home as opposed to buying one. I mean, you don’t shy away from telling people what’s probably best for them in the long run.
Steve Tuma: No. Our partnership with customers — it goes deep. We work a lot together, talk to a lot of them every single day. We get to know each other like family and work together.
So there’s no sense in, you know, quote, “blowing smoke” to get a sale. It’s a relationship. It’s very important for an owner‑builder to work with a good company like Landmark. But it’s also very important for us to have a very good customer.
Because if people don’t understand what they’re getting into — if they don’t have the aptitude, desire, whatever it is — it can be a little bit painful. We’d rather avoid it.
So we’d rather have the little heart‑to‑heart talks up front to explain it, so people understand it. Because once people lay it out in their mind and have an understanding of, “Hey, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do this, we have a support system to get through,” it’s amazing.
The number of people that have never built a home that then come back — whether it’s a year later or 10 or 15 years later — and do it again is actually surprising, percentage‑wise, how many people do that.
And then how involved these people get in building their home. They want to do it. It’s a passion.
I’m not really into watching TV, but it seems like everywhere there’s a house‑flipping show, there’s this thing, a house thing. It’s just something that people want to do. And we’re here to help them.
But put a real reality check and a focused set of glasses on there. Everything’s not the “rosy glasses” thing — it’s a lot of work and understanding that needs to happen. But we’re here to help people get into that position if they need the help, so they understand what they’re dealing with.
It’s pretty cool.
And, by the way, we’ve had people — all different types of people, different backgrounds, different financial backgrounds, different educational backgrounds. So it’s pretty incredible to see a cross‑section of the types of customers we’ve had to help — to see that it is really for everyone. Anyone could do it.
I think the youngest customer we had was 21 — the oldest is 83. And the greatest story — one story — he called me up, he was 83; he was 82 when he started. He said, “Steve, I’ve been married to my wife since I was 18. I told her when we got married I’m going to buy her a house.” He said — or he said, “I’m going to build her a house.” He said, “I better do it at 83 before she kills me.”
And there’s just great humor in that. But he followed through, and we worked with them to really, really detail the house out for them, so that when the grandkids come over, the grandpa could go with the kids and show them how to fix their bike, put air in the tires, do different things, check the oil in their car.
And then the mom — the grandma — she loved baking pies, but she wanted a certain window setup where she could see over the two acres in Prescott, Arizona to see the grandkids running around and the grandfather playing with them.
So the lifestyle thing of what we were able to put together for them, as a retirement home where they wanted, and achieve the design for their lifestyle was incredible. He was 83, never built a house. He did it. Beautiful home.
Interviewer: It’s never too late, man.
All right, well that’s about all we have time for for today’s edition of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show.
But before we let you go, Steve, as we do every episode, please let the listeners know how to find out more about Landmark Home and Land Company and what it is you guys do over there.
Steve Tuma: Well, we help people design and build their own homes. The best thing to do is check out our website at LHLC.com. They can check out the website, go through all the plans, go through our videos, these podcasts, different details.
The best thing to do is just submit an inquiry through there. You can send us a direct email. You can look at the plans and pick a specific plan, send an inquiry, and we’ll go straight through there.
And if they want, they can call me on my direct line — my direct cell phone, 708‑205‑2043 — and I’ll help them through the process and talk about seeing if new homebuilding is good for them. It’s fun. It’s kind of fun. It’s really fun.
Interviewer: And there it is, another episode in the can.
Thank you again, Steve, and thanks to all of you for listening to the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show.
So for Landmark Home and Land Company President Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week and we will see you next time.
Thanks, Steve.
Steve Tuma: Yeah, this was a fun one. Let’s help some more people.
